log in as administrator

I'm a single user of a win2k SP3 system. I had the rig built with me as the administrator, and have never before been challenged by the OS. A game which installed and ran well last night now gives me a message ( "Confirm that the play disk is in the drive" ) associated with a known Win2k problem with this game (Diablo II). The manufacturer advises logging in as administrator and then running the game. How do I determine my status; how do I log in as administrator; and how can I be sure I return to the very well-behaved system I now have?
H.

 

There is no quick way to determine the priv. level of an account. About all you can do is check the local users & groups, groups section and make sure the account is a member of the administrator group. That should tell you what is needed unless there is a problem with the account.

Occasionally an account will become corrupt and some things will either quite working or work in a quirky fashion. No good way to repair the account in most cases either.

I suggest you create a new user account and add it to the administrator group. Then reboot and log on with that account and see if you can run the game. Set up a password for the account since for some reason, 2K seems to like passwords.

If all is well, let us know. If not, check your event logs for errors or warnings that look related and post back with the problem and any additional information you've managed to find.

 

creating new account

I can find (I think) the area where all this gets done (My Computer>Manage?) I'm listed as a member of the administrators group, along with "Administrators ". Is it here that I create the new account and assign a password? And how do I log on? The machine simply boots to the desktop without requesting logon.

 

That's the correct place for creating a new account.

If you (or someone) set up the autologon using TweakUI or similar, easiest to use the same app to undo it so you get a normal 2K welcome/logon screen.

If the account you are using has a password I'd expect a stop at the logon screen as well so you might add one.

A great utility for toggling autologon off and on is Here. Free and they write great utility apps.