Yes that was my initial attempt it was only when that failed that I started to pursue other ideas. I read somewhere about deleting the desktop.htt files but that did no good as well.
Main Topics
Browse All Topics
Loading Advertisement...
Question
Active Desktop Recovery Issue
I was trying to utilize the following solution (see below) to my Active Desktop Recovery Issue in XP (SP3). And it works to a point, but it is not a solution. Most of our users operate at the restricted level of user. If I promote them to be part of the administrators group I can then do the this hack and the problem will appear to have been corrected. I can log off, reboot what have you and the problem is still gone. However as soon as I demote the user back to the restricted level of user the problem comes right back. A subsequent look at the registry reveals that ForceActiveDesktopOn has been reset to 1. I have attempted to perform the registry edits through run as on regedt32 but even then the registry changes and then changes back. HKEY_CURRENT_USER seems to dynamically reset depending on the user and the privileges of that user. Any more thoughts would be most welcome.
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Softwar
Explorer]
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwa
Explorer]
Value Name: NoActiveDesktop
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = disable restriction, 1 = enable restriction)
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get
Instant Access to this Solution
- Plus...
- 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
- Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
- Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
- Never be left without tech help again
Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.
- "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
- "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
- "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.
See what Experts Exchange can do for you.
Got a question?
We've got the answer.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
Need individual assistance?
Our experts are ready to help.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Want to learn from the best?
Read articles from industry experts.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Working on a long term project?
Store your work and research.
Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.
Trusted by the world's most respected brands.
Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.
Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Free Tech Articles
-
WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
-
SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
-
Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
-
Create a Win7 Gadget
This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
-
Outlook continually prompting for username and password
There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
-
Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...
Cloud Class Webinars
- Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
- Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
- IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
- Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
- Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
- How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...
Join the Community
Give a Little. Get a Lot.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
Answers
Could it have anything to do with this:
http://www.experts-exchang
Note: If the "Turn on Classic Shell" setting ( in User Configuration\Administrati
check to see if that is being used first cause that would cause that to auto populate the active desktop being off.
Next what do you mean by restricted? Are these groups that you have created yourself or are you using the default limited accounts? are these connected to a server? If they are connected to a server you will need to edit the group policies on the server for that group and it will get sent to all the computers.
"I have attempted to perform the registry edits through run as on regedt32 "
First of all, when you do a RunAs, to make a change to HKCU, it is making it under the profile of the user credentials that you used to launch teh RUNAS, not the one logged in currently....
By default, unless they are an admin, thier rights will be limited to those registry keys.... Try allowing Full control to the EXPLORER subkey, to the Users Group.....Just for testing at least....
Here are two options regarding the modification of the registry keys.
http://www.experts-exchang
You need to make sure that you put the batch file that will modify the registry in the location identified in this link. I was able to modify all registries in our domain by the options listed in that link.
I was waiting to get more information. On one of the computers I was simply able to toggle active desktop on and off which straightened out the situation. That however did not work on the other. I have had no luck in adjusting the rights in HKCU as that is dynamic and when I adjust the access rights it loses the changes in preference for the appropriate settings for that user. I have not been able to more then reference the login script idea as that is not in my purview to change. I guess I am still looking for a solution as opposed to just covering up the symptoms.
I am sorry, I posted my last reply in a hurry and I suspect I was not very clear. We have between 100 and 200 computers on our network. Most of our users login as restricted users utilizing the local group of users (default limited accounts). We already have a group policy in place and it is working just fine for the majority of our units. We have just a small hand full that are experiencing this Active Desktop Recovery issue. The issue directly ties into the users local profile. I can login to the same machine using another user and the group policy is strictly enforced including but not limited to the setting of the company wide wallpaper. I suspect this is being caused either by some corruption or possibly an intrusion of some sort that so far has gone undetected. For that reason I am questioning the use of a permanent login script for all of our users in order to rectify the issues of a few. If I am missing something then please elaborate further.
If the registry mod isn't configured to run under the computer portion of the group policy, then it runs with the permissions of the default users. This would explain it rolling back (if it was ever modified to begin with.)
You mentioned that the people having this problem make up a small group. Have you found any common themes (Group membership, image build, make/model, software installed, etc..)?
Take one of the problem pc's and run Malware Bytes against it: http://www.malwarebytes.or
Dump Event viewer: http://windowsitpro.com/ar
-or-
Use this cool utility: http://www.eventlogxp.com/
If you make a startup script to handle the HKLM reg mod, it should work fine. You cant do modify a Policies key (there are 4 of them) as a limited user, even though a limited user has FULL CONTROL of theier Profile, and most other registry keys under HKCU. I think the machine startup script is the wqay to go....
I had this error on two different computers in our facility. After a while I was able to solve the first one by simply activating Active Desktop and setting it up with a URL. When that worked I simply deleted the current active desktop and all was right with the world. This solution did not work on the second PC so I began to revisit all of the solutions from the top. Once again gpedit did not cut it but a comment made on the 21st provided me with an idea. I went ahead and enable "Turn on of the Classic Shell" and on this computer it solved the problem. While I think some of these other ideas might have worked this was the one I chose so game over. Thanks to everyone who participated!
3 Ways to Join
Business Accounts
- Perfect for organizations
- Multiple users
- Save over 36%
- Create a Business Account
Answer for Membership
- Earn free access
- Showcase your knowledge
- No credit card required
- Sign Up to Answer
Loading Advertisement...
by: mrmarkfuryPosted on 2009-03-20 at 15:27:40ID: 23944501
Have you tried checking the group policy to allow active desktop instead of editing the registry?
Start > Run > gpedit.msc
Check
User Config > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Active Desktop > Enable Active Desktop
&
User Config > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Active Desktop > Disable Active Desktop