The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5) - 2 login at 1 PC @same time

2 login at 1 PC @same time - possible?

Hi,

In my office I have 2 logins, each has its own access rights. Is it possible to have 2 logins to the network at the same time with one PC? Should I use VMWare or something like that?

Thanks b4hand,

james
Sunday, March 14, 2004

You can log into group shares using various accounts associated with the shares, but for Active Directory or Domain space I think it's one login per PC.

Li-fan Chen
Sunday, March 14, 2004

If you're using XP you could.

Jack of all
Sunday, March 14, 2004

Jack --> I use XP. How to do it?
Li Fan --> I don't have admin rights to create user grouping, not even for local machine (One of my id has limited admin rights, only to install apps, write to registry, and grouping users application using GPOs).

Thks

james
Sunday, March 14, 2004

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/fastuserswitching/

;-)

veal
Sunday, March 14, 2004

I'll assume you mean 2 interactive logons at the same time a la Terminal Server.

I know of one

http://www.thinsoftinc.com/products_winconserver_info.html

Licensing is a bit murky though........

Motown (AU)
Monday, March 15, 2004

Hmm, James, perhaps you'd better be more specific.

*I* thought he meant connecting to two network shares using different credentials. For example, to do some minor filesystem cleanup that requires admin privileges, while still logged into your user account. I've had occasional problems doing this on Windows (with the error "The network folder specified is currently mapped using a different user name and password").

If that's the case, James, VMWare would be a workaround. If you have access to a Unix or Mac computer, they use Samba, which can connect to multiple shares on a Windows server with different credentials.

Nate Silva
Monday, March 15, 2004

http://tinyurl.com/2479k

Nate Silva
Monday, March 15, 2004

Like Nate said above, please be a bit more specific as to what exactly do you want to achieve.

If your purpose is to access 2 different network resources using different user accounts, then you can use the "net use" command. Sample:

Go to the command prompt. Type:

c:\>net use x: \\somepc\someresource /user:mydomain\myuser

Hit Enter. Windows will ask for password if required and you have x: ready to access.

In case you have 2 shares on the same machine and want to access the shares using different user accounts, then you can use the "net use /delete" option to remove the previous share and connect using a different user again. Sample:

net use x: \\somepc\someresource /user:mydomain\myuser

Then,

net use x: /delete

And again

net use x: \\somepc\someotherresource /user:mydomain\anotheruser

More help can be found by using "net use /?" at the command prompt.

If what you want to achieve is something else, post back.

T-90
Monday, March 15, 2004

net use doesn't work.

net use /user:user1 x: \\share\users && cd \user1
<pw>

ok, x: is now mapped. i want to copy a file there from \\share\users\user2

net use /user:user2 y: \\share\users && cd \user2
hah, yeah right. it will use user1. (unless this has changed since last i looked).

but anway, who knows what the original person's questions was. terminal services sounds like a good answer, though you'll probably need win2k or something to pull it off or lots of licenses.

mb
Monday, March 15, 2004

I do use net use currently.

What I want is something like virtual desktop but instead of 2 or more desktop sessions with same userid, I want to use different userid at the same time on different sessions.
Or at least fast user switching without having to logoff.

Thanks

james
Monday, March 15, 2004

You will probably be able to do what you intend using the RunAs service (aka as Secondary Logon).
RunAs (which has been in Windows since 2000) allows a user to run a program under diferent credentials than the current users logon. You can invoke it from the command line (e.g. type "runas /user:OTHERDOMAIN\otheruser cmd" for a command shell under the OTHERDOMAIN\otheruser account) or, more convenient, by specifying it directly on a shortcut. To do this make a shortcut (e.g. on the desktop) to the program you want to run under another account. If this is just something you want to do once, then hold down the shift-key and right click for the context menu on the item. You can now select "Run As" and a dialog will appear promting you for the Username/password of the account yuou wish to use.
If this a thing you want to do often, you can also specify this in the shortcut settings itself. Rightclick the shortcut, select "properties" and check the "Run as different user" checkbox.
A common use for this is to run generally under a less privileged account, while only RunAs programs under the Administrator account when absolutely nescessary.

Just me (Sir to you)
Monday, March 15, 2004

mb,

If you do not delete the first connection, and try to create another connection to the same machine, then I agree that it'll use the same user account (unless something has changed, as you said). That is why I said to first delete the existing share (using net use /delete) and then sharing the other share.

Or do you mean that even if I delete the share and again use it giving another user ID, it will still connect with previous user account only?

T-90
Monday, March 15, 2004

Here's how to do it in Linux:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/XFree-Local-multi-user-HOWTO.html

Jonas B.
Monday, March 15, 2004