Fix error

In this article you can find the steps after that you can change security setting for Windows XP and also Windows Vista. It’s recommended to follow these steps if some changes in the security changes have negative effects to the computer and when no backup is available from which to restore. This solution does not restore all security settings that are applied when you install Windows. To restore security settings to the default settings are two options.

Option 1: Automatically
Step 1: Click here
Step 2: Click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Option 2: Manually
The steps below do not apply to Windows XP Home Edition, or Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium editions. To restore security setting for Home editions, either uses the Microsoft Fix, System Restore or a backup.

Note: After security settings are applied, you cannot undo the changes without restoring from a backup. If you are uncertain about how to restore your security settings to the default settings, you must make a complete backup that includes the System State (the registry files). Items that are reset include NTFS file system files and folders, the registry, policies, services, permissions, and group membership.

To restore your operating system to the original installation default security settings, follow these steps:
1. Open a new Command Prompt:
2. In Windows XP

o Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
In Windows Vista
o Click Start and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
o In the results area, right-click cmd.exe, and then click Run as administrator. You will be prompted to type the password for an administrator account. Click Continue if you are the administrator or type the administrator password. Then, click Continue.

3. In Windows XP, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

In Windows Vista, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

You receive a “Task is completed” message and a warning message that something could not be done. You can safely ignore this message. For more information about this message, see the %windir%\Security\Logs\Scesrv.log file.

Next steps After you run this Microsoft Fix it (or complete these manual steps), standard user accounts may no longer appear on the log on screen when you start your computer or try to switch users. This occurs because standard user accounts are removed from the Users group when you reset Windows security settings. To add the affected users accounts back to the Users group, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then All Programs or click Programs.
2. Click Accessories, and then click Command Prompt (Windows XP). Or right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run As Administrator (Windows Vista).
3. In the Command Prompt window, type net users and then press ENTER. A list of user accounts is displayed.
4. For each accountname listed in the Command Prompt that is missing from the log on or switch user screen, type the following command and then press ENTER:

net localgroup users accountname /add

5. Now go to the “Did this fix the problem?” section.

More information: In Windows Vista, the Defltbase.inf file is a Security configuration template for the default security. You can view the settings for this file in the following location:
%windir%\inf\defltbase.inf