NP700Z3A Easy Settings Requires Administrator Password

Hi,

I've been in touch with Samsung about their Easy Settings software, as I have noticed the following:

1. It installs and runs automatically for all users.
2. It is required for media key functionality.
3. It requires an Administrator password to be entered every time a non-administrator (i.e. Standard User) logs in.

It doesn't seem right to me that Standard Users should have to be asked for an Administrator password *every* time they login. Samsung insist that it's software is native system software, and so either runs for all users (with elevated privileges), or it doesn't run at all (i.e. uninstall it!).

What are people's thoughts/experiences with this? Is there any technical reason why their software *must* run with elevated privileges, and why their software *must* run for all users?

I don't want to lose media key functionality if I can help it, but I also don't want to give my administrator password to the standard users on my system.

I'm using a Samsung NP700Z3A-S03AU with Windows 7 x64.

 

The reason for Easy Settings needing Administrator privileges is that it needs to be able to change both the registry and the BIOS. You may be able to use some of the information in this thread to set up the essential components of Easy Settings to start with administrator privileges when Windows starts.

John

 

Hi John,

Something I don't understand is this:

if Administrator access is required to change both registry and BIOS, how does a program like the ElanTouch control panel interface run and work with the touchpad *without* requiring an administrator password each time?

If we're talking about interfacing with hardware, what is the difference between Samsung's program interfacing the function/media keys, and Elan's program interfacing with the TouchPad?

Why does one require an administrator password and not the other?

 

OK, you've identified the flaw in my logic although the one difference is that Easy Settings can change the BIOS but the Elan control panel can only change the registry.

If you only need to give your various users the Fn key functionality then you only need the dmhkcore.exe module within Easy Settings. See the thread I previously linked to learn how to install this separately.

John

 

@nanite: Your observation that Easy Settings is poorly designed is absolutely correct. The Administrator requirement is just one more example. As John already pointed out, I believe the reasons are:

1) Easy Settings changes registry settings in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch which are only accessible to Administrators. ElanTouch settings are stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch (technically just a pointer to the HKEY_USERS branch) which is accessible to the logged in user. This is common to all well behaved apps: Only Administrators can install them (in order to access the \Program Files folder and HKLM registry branch) while users can change settings within that app (only accessing the HKCU registry branch).

2) Easy Settings accesses BIOS functions -- I presume through its SABI.SYS Kernel Driver. This is normally a no-no for well behaved software, though I am not sure it strictly requires Administrator access. (My programming days ended almost 20 years ago )

You will appreciate that the new Easy Settings 2.x solves this problem and does not require Administrator privilege to run. I just tested it: I was able to change my wife's account back to Standard User, and everything still worked. You should be able to get it through SW Update, although you may need to specifically enter your computer model and look for the latest Easy Settings or Settings package.

Alternatively, with Easy Settings 1.x, if you follow John's advice to uninstall it and just "sideload" dmhkcore.exe (called EasyDisplayMgr by Samsung) you will have basic Fn-key functionality. You will not be able to open the Control Center with Fn-F1, though, nor use Silent Mode (Fn-F11). You can still load Control Center with a shortcut to ControlCenter.exe -- but that will require Administrator approval.

A less drastic approach is to simply tweak how Easy Settings is loaded:

3) Open Task Scheduler (Windows Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Task Scheduler)

4) Select Task Scheduler Library

5) Disable the following two tasks: EasySpeadUpManager and SmartSetting (just right-click and select Disable).

This will provide Standard Users with Fn-key functionality and keep most of Easy Settings' other background features running (if you consider that a good thing ). But again, Silent Mode (Fn-F11) won't work, and Control Center can still only be opened by Administrators.

Let me know if this works for you.

 

Hi There

I'm hoping I've added my question in the right place? I have a Samsung NP900X4C Notebook which I seem to have hit a wall with in relation to setting up standard user accounts because of the administrator password prompt - and wondered if the above would work for my laptop as well?

So far I've backed up, removed the partition (used Acronis True Image to backup) and removed the following;
Absolute Reminder
Bing toolbar
All 15 of the wild tangent games
All Norton products (I use eset)
e-pop
multimedia pop
Windows live messenger
Windows live Mail
Windows live writer
windows live mesh

I also removed Samsung software launcher - and I'm wondering if this was a mistake. Basically now when I try to log on to my standard user account - I get asked to enter the administrator passwords for;
FFSRConfig
SWM Agent
Easy Speed up Manager
Smart Settings Programme

And then I get the message " You have been logged on with a temporary profile. You cannot access your files and files created in this profile will be deleted when you log off. To fix this, log off and try logging on later. Please see the event log for details or contact your system administrator". I can't access anything on my standard user profile.

At the moment I've deleted my standard user profile (having back it up to the desktop) - however I guess if I don't sort out this issue I'll have this with any non-admin account? I'd like to create another account for my partner, but had the same challenges when I did (couldn't even set up the user) so have deleted that for now as well.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated - really would like to understand what I've done!

PS - If this is not the right place to put the thread - I'm probably going to need some help to move it to the right place..

 

@UrbanLuddite: (what a handle )

Samsung's software is not very well behaved, in this regard and others. The suggestion I gave above should avoid Administrator prompts for Easy Speedup Manager and Smart Settings, both of which are part of Easy Settings. But you will lose Silent Mode (Fn-F11 on my PC) and Easy Settings will no longer restore some settings on startup (such as disabling Bluetooth) .

A better way may be to find the newer Easy Settings 2.x which solves this need for Administrator accounts altogether. Use SW Update and follow the suggestions given in this thread to find Settings 2.0.0.30 (or newer) for Win8, then extract Easy Settings 2.0.0.30 for Win7 from that package.

It looks like you currently have the older Easy Software Manager running. If you load it (and have internet) it should update itself to SW Update. That will also eliminate the Administrator prompt you currently get from SWM Agent. If you still have problems with Easy Software Manager or SW Update after you got everything else running, you can uninstall them, then check manually for updates in the future.

I am afraid I don't know what FFSRConfig is; I don't see it on my Series 7. Maybe others can say.

Check the post linked here for my take on which Samsung bloat can be removed in general. Again, based on my Series 7.

You will want to do all of this from an Administrator account. Then you can add Standard User accounts later (or change account type from Administrator to Standard User).

Let us know how it goes.

Oh, I almost forgot: Welcome to the forum. No worries, you're posting in the right place

 

I have a folder on my NP900X4C called "c:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Fast Flash Sleep Resume\" which contains FFSRConfigurer.exe. I think it carries out two functions as it sees fit: (i) Create a hibernation partition for Intel Rapid Start Technology and (ii) does some configuration for the ExpressCache. The contents of a file called ModelEnvironment.ini gives a useful clue about what happens:

John

 

Thank you for posting that, John. This would seem to be the module that balances the sizes of Rapid Start and ExpressCache partitions on the iSSD. I remember you and I touched on this subject a few times in the past. Admittedly, I never dug any deeper into it, as I don't have Rapid Start on my Series 7.

As it relates to Luddite's problem, I have a hard time seeing why this thing has to run (requiring Admin rights) on every login, since the partition sizes are only set once. But clearly it does. Maybe that problem, too, can be solved by going to Easy Settings 2.x.

On a different line of thought, given that this FFSRConfig DOES run on every start, I wonder if it's the culprit that (unintentionally) causes ExpressCache to flush on every reboot for some users. Member vesayreve was having that problem, and despite valiant efforts has been unable to solve it (as of about a week ago).

 

I agree that the configuration program should only need to run once. Sometimes the commands don't get deleted once they have done their work. I would test whether the program needs to run by deleting the last "e" in its name then rebooting the computer and watch what happens.

John

 

Clearly I should keep an eye on these things..

Sorry for being very rude and not saying thank you for all the good advice - really appreciate it and I'm going to tackle all this tomorrow evening when I have a bit more time to carefully follow your instructions, - will let you know how I get on.

 

Thank you for the update. No problem, these things can be very time consuming. Let us know how it all goes

 

@Dannemand I'm in the position of being an IT professional and one of my supported departments has ordered over 100 of the series 900 Samsungs. They too come with the Easy Settings issues you describe but I cannot find where or how to get version 2.x you mention. The software update does not include this feature.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the forum, spleggy. I think you could be our new best friend here, as surely someone who just bought 100 Series 9 units for his business must have SOME clout with Samsung

I understand, you certainly cannot have those machines all running Admin Users. The way to get hold of Easy Settings 2.x is to use SW Update (a newer incarnation of Easy Software Manager which came with earlier models) to download and save the Settings package for Win8. Inside that package is a Win7 folder containing Easy Settings 2.x.

If you are running Win7, you may have to use the Find model feature in SW Update to look up Win8 software. There is a more discussion in the thread linked below (among other places):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...zip-up-their-easy-settings-app-folder-me.html

That said, I really think you should be in a great position to ask Samsung their official answer to how you can run those 100 PCs as Standard User. You shouldn't have to go through back alleys like I am describing here to find the right software. SW Update should offer it right away for Win7.

Let us know hos it all goes.

 

This reminded me to give the newer version a try. It took a few attempts to find a model that actually offered the Windows 8 drivers but NP900X4D-A06US does.

Run SW Update > Find Model > United States > Series 9 then select NP900X4D-A06US then Windows 8 > deselect everything offered then select Settings then Export.

Installing easy Setting 2 switched off my calibrated display profile by selecting the Standard Effects but re-selecting No Effects fixed that. (A calibrated display profile makes a noticeable improvement in the visual quality).

John

PS @ spleggy: Slightly off-topic but see this thread about getting Intel Rapid Start Technology working properly. There's now a V2 (link near end of thread) but it's not offered by Samsung's SW Update.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Quick update.

I'm using the NP900X3C-A04UK model and running windows 7. What's interesting is that last week there were no downloads for this model via the SW update tool. Like the previous poster I was reduced to guessing a model I hoped would be "close enough" and grabbing the download for that.

However as of this morning I now have Settings 2.0.0.31 (and the Windows 8 download includes a Windows 7 subfolder as observed) which I obtained by giving them my ACTUAL model number. I have my fingers VERY crossed here (makes it difficult to type ), but it appears to have resolved a number of problems and/or niggles on top of which we do longer need to hand out admin/power user rights to Joe User.

In the meantime I have a support call open with Samsung so maybe I'll get an official answer (and I'll share here if I do). Hopefully the message will get across that they cannot assume the end user will be an administrator.

We're "rolling out" 110 of those to a customer after Easter so let's hope it goes smoothly.

 

Hi All

Just to say that having read through all of the commentary (and understanding most of it!) I've sorted out the administrator logon problem, following all of the solutions offered..basically you are right Dannemand, I had the old version of SW Update, updating has enabled me to get rid of the FFSRConfig prompt, BUT, the other three shields were still flashing up..

So, went back to the post and was able disabling the other three settings requiring passwords, which appears to have done the trick - thank you! Wish I'd done it before SW Update went to town on my mouse driver, which I've only just managed to get back in action again as again, worked fine in admin setting, and then ceased to click in my daily account.

I'm very glad I found this forum otherwise may have taken 'easy speed up manager' into my own hands and seen how much faster the laptop would have gone if I'd thrown it out of a window.

Will come back to see what Samsung say to Spleggy. Maybe the newer models will come with this glitch ironed out, is disappointing on something that I am really enjoying. For somebody like me who struggles technically this has been a large number of hoops and I'm seriously adrift beyond 'username' and 'password'.

Many thanks though Dannemand & John. Really benefited from your expertise.

 

@UrbanLuddite: Thank you for the update. Sounds like you're on the right track now.

It's not your fault for not being a complete geek. You shouldn't have to in order to use these PCs. I think Samsung is getting better at it, I just wish they would make these improvements more easily available to Win7 users as well.