Accessing domain users profile for troubleshooting an issue

[zillah]

Hi

In the domain environment (win2003 AD) and clients are XP prof, what would be the practical procedure if we want to trouble shoot a PC client if he/she has an issue with installing printer , sending an email , an error,,,etc

Although I have got the password for a local admin for all PCs clients, but I guess when to login to the client profile himself/herself rather than local admin to troubleshoot.

Yes when the client has already logged in we can do the work, but I prefer to do that after work (when employees knock off) it gives us more time and flexibility especially when we need more time .

Without knowing the password for a client (i.e. domain user) how can we troubleshoot his/her profile?

I am aware that we can reset his/her password, but this is not a practical solution I believe.

For instance I faced this issue today I accessed work network via VPN connection and I tried to log in to a PC client as local admin (not login to his/her profile because I do not know what is the password) and when I tried to add a shared printer to that PC it was added successfully to admin profile and I asked him to log in to his profile to test the printer if it was installed or not , he told me that he could not print ,,,,for me to check that and confirm what he is saying I guess I need to login to his profile ,,,,Doesn’t it ?

Thanks

[jdc2000]

Some printer and other drivers and software need to be installed under the user account that will be using them for them to work properly. For those, you need to remote in to the computer when the user in question is logged in. There really isn't an alternative. Once you are controlling the computer, you may need to temporarily assign admin rights to the user, depending the driver or software. Google "makemeadmin" for help with this. Be aware that there are some drivers and software that will not work on user accounts that do not have admin rights.

[zillah]

Thanks jdc2000 for this insight.

my second question what about accessing domain user profile for any other issues apart from a printer problem ?

Cheers

[jdc2000]

It would depend on what the issue was. The usual solution is to set up all of the client computers with a tech support admin login. Then you can troubleshoot any issues that don't require the nowmal user's account to be logged in.