User Account Considerations

Applies To: Windows MultiPoint Server 2011

This topic describes issues that you, as an administrative user, should consider as you create and manage user accounts. You manage user accounts in the Users tab in MultiPoint Manager. For more information, see the Manage User Accounts topic.

User account types

A user account is a collection of information that tells MultiPoint Server which files and folders a user can access, what changes they can make to the MultiPoint Server system, and each user’s preferences, such as desktop background. Each person accesses their own user account by using a unique user name and password. MultiPoint Server supports two types of user accounts:

  • Administrative user accounts are for individuals who will use MultiPoint Manager to use and manage the MultiPoint Server system. For more information, see Create an Administrative User Account.

  • Standard user accounts are for individuals who will regularly access stations, but will not manage the system. Typically, you should create standard user accounts for most MultiPoint Server system users. For more information, see Create a Standard User Account.

User name and password considerations

Administrative users can perform tasks that affect all other users of the MultiPoint Server system, such as install software or change security settings. For this reason, administrative users should have unique user names and passwords that are known only to them.

One important consideration of user accounts is that each user account is allocated a unique Documents library in Windows Explorer that includes the My Documents folder. If the standard users on your MultiPoint Server system will store private documents in their Documents library in Windows Explorer, they too should log on to the MultiPoint Server system using a unique user name and password known only to them. For more information about storing documents in Windows Explorer, see the Manage User Files topic.

Tip

For stronger system security, all users’ passwords should be strong passwords. A strong password is one that cannot be easily guessed or cracked, is at least eight characters long, does not contain all or part of the user’s account name, and contains at least three of the four following categories of characters: uppercase characters, lowercase characters, numbers, and symbols found on a keyboard (such as !, @, #). For more information about how to create strong passwords in Windows, search for strong passwords in Windows Help and Support. For more information about how to use Windows Help and Support, see the Use Windows Server Help topic.

See Also

Concepts

Create an Administrative User Account
Create a Standard User Account
Manage User Files
Use Windows Server Help
Manage User Accounts

Other Resources