Locked down work laptop

[Danny]

Our work laptops have always been very locked down, but until very recently we still had the ability to install and uninstall programs using standard Windows XP functionality (Set Program Access and Defaults).

However this was removed during a recent update, which was annoying as it was useful to be able to install some software on a temporary basis for "investigative purposes".

Is there anyway of running Windows XP install/uninstall functionality in some other way?

 

[derall]

If admin privileges have been restricted, probably not. Or you might be able to install, but not for All Users.

Try running portable apps from a USB stick to bypass the restrictions. Check out these portable suites - you should be able to find something amongst them to suit your needs.

 

[Bman]

If you have admin access you could just change the policy regkey to re-enable it

 

[Bman]

I used to work on a government helpdesk where all the PC's were so locked down, you couldnt even run CMD! I had a whole list of .reg files that would unlock everything whenever I logged in

Thinking about it, you probably dont have admin rights as your using "SPAAD". But for example :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciesExplorer]
"NoSMConfigurePrograms"=dword:00000000

Chuck that in a text file, and rename it to somthing.reg Whenever you run that .reg file, it should re-enable the feature (Assuming its not just you who is locked down)

 

[Danny]

Thanks for the replies

Bongman - as far as I know I still have rights to install programs. However I am a little wary about doing so in case I cannot uninstall them and then get my knuckles rapped.

Derall - I'll check out the portable suites.

 

[Bman]

Well in that case Danny, Its all down to not getting caught

Have you considered virtual machines?

 

[Danny]

I get the following error message if I try and run the file. Any suggestions?

 

[Bman]

For a start, thats got your work username included in the path. Now I know your surname

Right click that file, open with notepad.
Delete all empty lines so the file starts with :
"Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00"
try again

 

[Danny]

Thanks that worked - hopefully you won't shop me to our help desk

Have you got any more useful reg files - for example do you know how I can renable the Mail icon in control panel?

 

[Bman]

Try this :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl Paneldon't load]
"mlcfg32.cpl"=-

 

[bonj2]

you can install programs that are published using clickonce, but that doesn't help you if the program you want to install isn't and you don't have control over it.

 

[thomas]

Thanks for the replies

Bongman - as far as I know I still have rights to install programs. However I am a little wary about doing so in case I cannot uninstall them and then get my knuckles rapped.

Derall - I'll check out the portable suites.

Try installing something legitimate then...if you can uninstall it you should be able to uninstall other stuff too.

 

[muts]

Try this :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl Paneldon't load]
"mlcfg32.cpl"=-

Hi Bongman, I also suffer from a really over locked down laptop at work, tell me is there a way of adding myself to the administrators group?

 

[gaz]

Depends how it's done. If it's all on the domain, no point even trying.

 

[Jezston]

I remember working at a company who's computers were SO locked down, you couldn't put shortcuts on the desktop, and you couldn't change the display resolution and refresh rates - this last one was particularly absurd as all these old 15" CRT monitors which could do 1024 x 768 @ 100Hz were all set to 800 x 600 @ 60Hz! Utterly infuriating!