Lab 10 Windows User Accounts & File Sharing (Windows 7)

Lab 10 – Windows User Accounts & File Sharing (Windows 7)

Task 1: View the current User set up of the Operating system

Task 2: Users Folders & Public Folders

Task 3: Create a New User Account

Standard & Administrator

Task 4: Check out user capabilities to the C:\Users folder

Task 5: Sharing with Everybody, Somebody or Nobody

Task 6: Sharing with Nobody

Task 7: Using Fast User Switching

Task 8: Log on Automatically

Task 9: Using the Computer Management Facility

Use your VM account to complete the following tasks.

Task 1: View the current User set up of the Operating system

Your VM (and most PC’s) has been set up to be used by one person. They therefore have only one user account. That account has full administration rights to all the files and control setting of the operating system. They can if they wish delete any file they want, including essential operating system files.

What user type are you? ……………………………………………………

Where did you find this information out? ......

What other user accounts are on your computer? What is their account type?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

You have a password on this account from lab 9. Write down the password. ………………………………

If this hasn’t been done, put a password on the account now!

Task 2: Users and Public Folders

What is in C:\Users folder?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

List folders contained in C:\Users\Public folder ?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Create a folder called reports in the Public Documents folder on Public. Put a file in this folder called report1.txt.

We will use and view this later.

Task 3: Create a New User Account

If sharing your PC with others, it is a good idea to set up a user account per user. Having two or more people share a single account often leads to problems. You might not want to share all your files with other people. In what other situation would you need separate user accounts?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

A. Creating a new User Account- Administrator

Create a new user called Sam, make the account type Administrator. Put a password on this account.

There are two types of user accounts, what is the difference between them?

Computer Administrator:-

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Standard User:-

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

B. Creating two new User Accounts - Standard

Create a standard user Liza in your computer which has standard access. No need to put a password on this account yet.

Note: Liza’s account will now be initialised. i.e.Users folder set up etc..

Create another standard user Tom. Login as Tom to initialise his account.

Change the desktop background image for these new accounts and the screen savers.

Task 4: Check out user capabilities to the C:\Users folder

A. Check out Standard user capabilities to the C:\Users folder

View the files you have access to as Liza in Windows Explorer. You will see the C:\Users folder associated with the account you have logged into.

What is this folder called? ...... Hint: has a little lock on it.

As a standard account, can she see the C:\Users folder associated with the other user accounts?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

As a standard account, can she access the C:\Users folder associated with the other user accounts?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What happens?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Explain why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

As a standard account, can she access the C:\Users\Public folder ? …………………………

Open the file Report1.txt and write your name into it and save it. Was Liza able to do this?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

B. Check out Administrator user capabilities to the C:\Users folder

Change the desktop background image for this new account and the screen saver.

View the files you have access to as Sam in Windows Explorer. You will see the C:\Users folder associated with the account you have logged into.

Can Sam see and access the C:\Users folder associated with the other user accounts?

C:\Users\Liza folder Y/N? ……………………

C:\Users\labuser folder Y/N? ……………………

Explain why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Task 5: Sharing with Everybody, Somebody or Nobody

What access does Liza have to the folders and files created on the C drive i.e. can she see and modify them by default?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What access does Sam and Labuser have to the folders and files created on the C drive i.e. can they see and modify them by default?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Create a folder on root C:drive called Lizas folder. Create a text file in this folder called Lizas file.txt

Default Access

What access does Tom have to Liza’s file by default?

Can he read it? Can he modify it?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How to change the permissions?

Right Click C:\ Liza folder, choose Share with and choose last option, Specific people

Enter Tom and set permission: Read and save by clicking share.

What security measure does it now ask you to do?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Note: Therefore you need administrator permission to be able to set sharing rights.

Continue by typing in one of the Admin user’s password.

Also set Network Discovery to Yes.

What does Read/Write permission mean? ………………………………………………………………………

What does Read permission mean? ………………………………………………………………………

Can he access C:\Lizas Folder ? ……………………

Can he create a folder in C:\Lizas Folder? ……………………

Can he create a file in C:\Lizas folder? ……………………

Open the file, Lizas file.txt. Type in your name and save it. ……………………

What happens?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What does the Read permission mean? …………………………………………………………

i.e. Can Tom modify and save changes to Lizas file.txt ? …………………………………

Task 6: Sharing with Nobody

Now change the settings on C:\ Liza Folder to share with Nobody.

Note: this will require administrator permission.

Can he access C:\Lizas Folder ? ……………………

What happens? ………………………………………………………………

Can they access C:\Lizas Folder ? …………… Can you create a folder in C:\Lizas Folder?..……

Can you create a file in C:\Lizas folder? ……

Can he modify Liza’s file? ……………………

In Summary of above:

(a) When a user has Read permission on a file,

Can they open the file ? ………………………………………………

Can they type into the file? ………………………………………………

Can they save the file? ………………………………………………

(b) If a folder permission is set to Sharing with Nobody,

Can an Administrator user open the folder ? ………………………………

Can a Standard user open the folder? ………………………………

Task 7: Using Fast User Switching

You have been using the Fast User Switching feature of 7. What is the Fast User Switching feature?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Why is it important?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Note: DO NOT shutdown machine when testing this on VM, just log off.

What are the memory implications of using the Fast User Switching feature?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Read: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IE/windows7/Switch-users-without-logging-off

Disable the Fast User switching according to above weblink.(details near end of webpage)

Write down the steps used to Disable the FastUser switching.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Re-enable the Fast user switching.

Task 8: Log on Automatically

If you are the only person or the main user of your computer, you might find having to log on every time you restart to be a bit annoying. Perhaps you’d prefer that whenever you start your computer, you automatically logged in, so that you go straight to your XP desktop, a process called automatic logon. Windows can be configured so that only one user is automatically logged on.

Going to set it up so Liza will automatically log in.

Read: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/auto-logon-windows-7.htm

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Note: Before proceeding, make sure Liza account has a password.

Also, careful when you get to this window. Make sure you type in Liza

Set it up so that the computer automatically logs Liza in. Explain how you did this.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

To test this, shut down the computer and restart.

What happens if another user wants to logon with automatic logon?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How do you disable the automatic login?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Task 9: Using the Computer Management Facility

A. Investigate: Use this facility to view the properties of user accounts.

View the properties of the user Liza – what groups is she a member of?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

View the properties of the user Sam – what groups is he a member of?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

B. Investigate: Use this facility to create a new user and set their type.

Create a new user account called Bart, No need to put a password on this account.

Don’t forget to login to Bart’s account to initialize it.

What type of user account is Bart? ......

When Bart is created, right click for Bart’s properties in the C:\Users folder and Member Of tab (see below).

Is it possible to make Bart an administrator user at this point? ......

How do you do this? Hint: Add him to another group.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

C. Investigate: Use this facility to look at the groups section.

Check who is listed under the Administrators group and the Users group.

D. Delete user account Sam and all his files using Computer Management->Users.

How did you do this?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Revision Questions (Taken from a past exam paper)

Q1. Create a standard user called Fred. Important: Login to Fred’s account after creating it.

Can C:\Users\Fred folder be seen and accessed by any other users of the computer, i.e. a computer administrator or another standard user?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q2. How would you set up your computer so that it automatically logs Fred on very time you start the computer? Explain clearly how you set this up, stating what menus you used.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q3.

a) Can a standard user see C:\Users folder associated with the other user accounts? ……………………

b) Can a standard user access the C:\Users folder associated with the other user accounts?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

c) If a standard user, creates a folder on the C: drive, can they set the Share permissions on that folder?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

d) If an Admin user, creates a folder on the C: drive, can they set the Share permissions on that folder?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

e) If Read permission is set on a file for a Standard user, can they save to that file? …………………

f) If Read permission is set on a file for an Admin user, can they save to that file? …………………

g) If Share with Nobody permission is set on a folder, can a Standard user save to that folder?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

h) If Share with Nobody permission is set on a folder, can an Admin user save to that folder?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Lab 10: User Accounts Page 10 of 11