Managing VoxPro User Accounts
Relevant for VoxPro versions 4/5/6 on Windows 7 and above.
The default location for the VoxPro user configuration file is:
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\Users_Local.inf
The default location for VoxPro user accounts (audio files) is:
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\<username>
Users_Local.inf is a text file that may be opened and edited with NotePad or WordPad. Close VoxPro before making any changes to this file.
Users_Local.inf is a simple list of full pathnames to each user’s account, one per line. For example, this configuration specifies three user accounts (Susan, Mark and MorningDrive) in addition to the built-in Admin and Guest accounts:
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\Administrator
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\Guest
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\Susan
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\Mark
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\MorningDrive
User accounts may be located anywhere on the LAN, whether a local hard drive or a mapped network drive. Let’s say that you have a large D: drive you would like to use, and that you’ve created a root level folder called “VoxPro Audio” on that drive. To move the Susan, Mark and MorningDrive accounts to that location, edit Users_Local.inf accordingly:
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\Administrator
C:\Users\Public\VoxPro\VP_Depot\Guest
D:\VoxPro Audio\Susan
D:\VoxPro Audio\Mark
D:\VoxPro Audio\MorningDrive
Note in this example that the Admin and Guest accounts have been left on the C: drive. We recommend this in the event that the D: drive (or any other drive where you put VoxPro accounts) crashes or otherwise goes missing – you’ll still be able to log in to the Admin or Guest accounts.
Changing the path in Users_Local.inf does not physically move the users’ audio files. You must do that manually, in Windows. (For example, by using File Explorer or the command line shell cmd.exe.) In our example, you would simply drag the Susan, Mark and MorningDrive folders from the VP_Depot folder on the C: drive to the VoxPro Audio folder on the D: drive.
Once the files are in the correct location, and Users_Local.inf has been edited and saved, you may restart VoxPro.
A Few Shortcuts
Users_Local.inf is the only record VoxPro has of the locations of its user accounts. Thus, you may also add and delete users simply by editing this file; that is, adding or deleting the appropriate paths to those accounts.
Starting with VoxPro 5, you may also change the default location of newly created user accounts. Login as Admin, go to Accounts/Add User and set the default root folder for user accounts to your preferred location. (That folder should exist already.) This does not move existing user accounts, but it does apply to all accounts created henceforth.
Network Access to User Accounts
In order to enable remote access to a user account (that is, to be able to log in to a user account from another VoxPro machine that does not own that account), at least two conditions must be met. The folder where the account resides must be shared to the network, and all users must have full read/write permission in that folder. These are WINDOWS settings and must be configured in Windows, not VoxPro.
Typically, the folder C:\Users\Public is already shared (hence its name), which has the side effect of sharing all sub-folders contained therein. If you create a folder on a different hard drive, you’ll need to explicitly share it if you want to access it from any machine on the network. To share a folder, right-click on its name, select Properties from the pop-up menu, select the Sharing tab, and then click the Share button (if not already shared).
Next, you must ensure that all users have access rights to the folder being shared. Here we are speaking of WINDOWS users, which are distinct from VoxPro user accounts. (In fact it is common for all VoxPro users to share the same Windows account.) In the Properties dialog box for the folder, select the Security tab, then click the Edit button. Give your users “Full Control”, which includes full read and write access.
One last thing: even with Sharing and Permissions set up correctly, Windows will still not allow unfettered access to files from a remote machine unless you have login credentials to the Windows account that owns those files. There are two ways to bypass this requirement:
1) The remote user is logged into a Windows account that also exists on the local machine, using the same password (or no password). In other words, create a common Windows account for all your VoxPro machines, and have all users log into that account.
2) The C:\Users\Public folder is special in that it can be configured to allow network access even without a password. In the Windows Control Panel, open Network and Sharing Center, click “Change advanced sharing settings”, open the last section called “All Networks”, select “Turn on sharing so that anyone with network access can read and write files in the Public folders” as well as “Turn off password protected sharing”.
If you are on a corporate domain, remember that your organization's file access rules and Group Policy reigns supreme under Windows.