STarnge User issues when upgrading from Home Basic to Home Premium

[Meghiddo]

I had to reinstall Vista (4th time in 11 months!) due to issues I won't go into (file permissions and such). I did so from three DVDs, the Home Basic disc that came with my computer, and upgrade disc to go up to home premium, and another upgrade disc to go to Ultimate.

The problems began after installing the first disc. It got to the point where I had to set up a user account. I tried to name it "Administrator" and was told the user identity was already in use. So instead I made the user name "Meghiddo". But when it finished and logged on to the desktop, I opened up the start menu and at the top it said "Administrator".
So I went to the user accounts and sure enough there was one for Administrator and one for Meghiddo. Since I was logged in as Administrator I just went ahead and deleted Meghiddo, hoping it would be the end of the problem. BTW, I was able to access folders and such without getting asked if I wanted to continue by that annoying pop up.

So I went on to the Home Premium disc. I got to the same point where I needed to choose a user id, and once again I was told Administrator was taken. I put in Meghiddo again and it accepted it. When I got to the desktop I went to start and indeed I was logged in under Meghiddo this time. But, under the users folders, there was no "Administrator" account, only Meghiddo. And now, When I try to access certain folders such as "c:\PerfLogs" it comes up with the pop up asking if I want to give myself permission. This is reminiscent of the reason I decicded to reinstall in the first place. I do a lot of programming and use SQL server and other things, and I kept having problems with file permissions (as AnnMarie already knows all too well). This also happened when I went to the third upgrade disc.

So before I totally set things up I am hoping to find out if I will continue to have problems. If so, I am just going to reinstall with the Home Basic disc and forget about it, it has become way too much of a hassle.

So here is my question I guess:

When I right click on c:\Program Files and go to properties and then security, none of the users or groups have "full access" or "write" checked. Here is each user or group and what he has access to:

CREATOR OWNER - no checks except a greyed out special permissions
SYSTEM - ditto
Administrators (Meghiddo-PC\Administrators) - ditto
Users (Meghiddo-PC\Users) - checks on read and execute, list folder contents, and read
Trusted Installer - check next to list folder contents and the greyed out special permissions check

So as you can see, no users or groups have a check next to full control, modify, or write. So I am guessing this is going to be a problem in the future? Or is this supposed to look this way? Unfortunately I didn't check this area after installing from the first disc when I was actually logged in under administrator.

I have gone through a lot of fixes trying to get this to work before doing the reinstall and nothing at all has worked. I am about ready to toss this thing and build a new one (I did not build this one btw).

Thanks for reading this book,
Meghiddo

edit: I havent done any of the updates whatsoever. Not even SP1

[AnnMarie]

Meghiddo, I think some of your issues may stem from you trying to create an account called Administrator. Vista already has a hidden account called Administrator and a User account with Administrative permissions doesnt exist in the form that was present in Windows versions prior to Vista.

Now all users have standard user accounts which denote the level of access they have and are logged in as standard users by default. This means that Admins are logged in with administrative privileges disabled. To gain access to Administrative options, the user must provide the necessary credentials via Admin Approval Mode. See User Account Control here.

You can read more about UAC here (What's User Account Control in Windows Vista?)

I had to reinstall Vista (4th time in 11 months!) due to issues I won't go into (file permissions and such). I did so from three DVDs, the Home Basic disc that came with my computer, and upgrade disc to go up to home premium, and another upgrade disc to go to Ultimate.

I dont understand why you didnt just upgrade from Home Basic to Ultimate? Why the upgrade to Premium?

When I right click on c:\Program Files and go to properties and then security, none of the users or groups have "full access" or "write" checked. Here is each user or group and what he has access to:

CREATOR OWNER - no checks except a greyed out special permissions
SYSTEM - ditto
Administrators (Meghiddo-PC\Administrators) - ditto
Users (Meghiddo-PC\Users) - checks on read and execute, list folder contents, and read
Trusted Installer - check next to list folder contents and the greyed out special permissions check

So as you can see, no users or groups have a check next to full control, modify, or write. So I am guessing this is going to be a problem in the future? Or is this supposed to look this way? Unfortunately I didn't check this area after installing from the first disc when I was actually logged in under administrator.

That's normal.

[Meghiddo]

When I tried to go from home basic to ultimate it told me my version wasn't high enough to make the upgrade. But the upgrade discs came from my school so I only had to pay 10 a piece for them.

So far I haven't had any problems with this. The only thing that worries me is the fact that I was logged in as the Administrator after installing from the first disc, but then on the subsequent discs I was unable to. But I will look at that link and follow the instructions from there.

Like I said, no problems yet, I was just in the middle of reinstalling all my stuff again. And if you say those file permissions are normal then I am happy with it. If I have any problems again I am just going to stop after the first disc.

Thanks as always,
Meghiddo

[AnnMarie]

When I tried to go from home basic to ultimate it told me my version wasn't high enough to make the upgrade. But the upgrade discs came from my school so I only had to pay 10 a piece for them.

That's odd. Home Basic to Ultimate is an upgrade path featured here.

So far I haven't had any problems with this. The only thing that worries me is the fact that I was logged in as the Administrator after installing from the first disc, but then on the subsequent discs I was unable to. But I will look at that link and follow the instructions from there.

I dont know what might have happened but if everything is working ok, I wouldnt worry about it. Meghiddo, just a hint. It always a good idea to have a second account with Admin permissions then if something goes wrong with your main account, you can log on to the other and rescue your data without having to jump through hoops.