Answer to August Reader Challenge
The Add New User feature can be used only to add an existing domain user to a local group of a computer that's part of a domain. This feature is useful if a domain user has low permission levels but the local computer has a software application that requires higher permissions for the computer on which the application runs (QuickBooks is an example of this type of application). It’s also useful if you want the user to perform other administrative tasks on this computer, but you don’t want to raise the user’s domain permission levels. By adding the existing user to the local Administrators group, you don’t elevate the user’s permissions on the domain. To add a brand new user to a local computer, when that computer is a member of a domain, you must use the Local Users and Groups MMC. To get there, right-click My Computer and choose Manage. Expand the Local Users and Groups section in the left pane, right-click the Users folder in the left pane and choose New User. Follow the prompts to create the new local user and assign membership in the appropriate group.
July 2006 Reader Challenge Winners
Congratulations to the winners of our July 2006 Reader Challenge. First prize, a copy of "Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, Second Edition," goes to Robert Brennan, of California. Second prize, a copy of "Learning Windows Server 2003, Second Edition," goes to Kent Ifland, of Kansas. O'Reilly & Associates Publishing publishes both books.
August 2006 Challenge
Solve this month's Windows Client challenge, and you might win a prize! Email your solution (don't use an attachment) to [email protected] by Aug. 10, 2006. You MUST include your full name, and street mailing address (without that information, we can't send you a prize if you win, so your answer is eliminated, even if it’s correct).
I choose winners at random from the pool of correct entries. I’m a sucker for humor and originality, and a cleverly written correct answer gets an extra chance. Because I receive so many entries each month, I can't reply to respondents, and I never respond to a request for a receipt. Look for the solutions to this month's problem at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=93023 on Aug. 14, 2006. Or subscribe to Windows Client Update, the email newsletter for desktop admins, at http://www.windowsitpro.com/email.
The Challenge
A reader of one of my books wrote to ask for help. She administers a domain and wanted to add a new local user to one of the computers on the domain. She logged on the computer as a Domain Admin, opened the Users applet in Control Panel, and went through the New User Wizard, setting up the new user. Windows issued a failure message that told her the user didn't exist and therefore couldn't be made a user on this computer. The last line of her e-mail message asks, “Surely a Domain Admin has the right permissions to create a user, so what’s the problem”?
Can you provide an answer for “What’s the problem”?
