member local administrators

I have a Windows 2003 SBS and have installed Vista on one of my laptops. Typically for a new computer in the local domain I go to IE and go to http://Washington/ConnectComputer to install the W2K3 SBS software for the clients. When I do that with Vista, it tells me the the user (an Administrator account) has to be part of the local Administrators group. The online Vista documentation tell me to put the add in to computer management but Vista tells me local Group policy is disabled and to use the 'Manage Accounts' where there is no way to add a user to a group.
Any thoughts? Thanks, Ron -- Ron

Hello,
This sounds like you are getting hit with UAC (User Account Protection). This is a feature in Vista that prevents programs from running with full "administrator" privilidges unless you explicitly allow them to (from the 'This program needs your permission to continue' dialogs).
Some programs will automatically ask to be given administrator permission, while others will require you to give them the permission manually. This sounds like the latter case :)
If you have to download the software from the website you mentioned and then run it by double-clicking on it, do this instead:
- Right-click the file, and click Run As Administrator
Or, if the software installs directly from within internet explorer, you will need to open an "administrator" internet explorer, like so:
- Click Start - Type: iexplore - Right-click iexplore when it shows up under Programs, and click Run As Administrator - Browse to the website and go thru the process
And this should get you set up.
If things refuse to work right after following these steps, this is a bug (probably with the SBS software). It is possible to completely disable UAC, and make administrator accounts work just like they did in Windows XP, although it is highly recommended that you do not do this.
The option is in Control Panel -> Users Accounts and Family Safety -> User Accounts -> Change Security Settings
Good luck :)
- JB

Thanks JB. Running IE in Administrator mode works. -- Ron
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

Hello,
This sounds like you are getting hit with UAC (User Account Protection). This is a feature in Vista that prevents programs from running with full "administrator" privilidges unless you explicitly allow them to (from the 'This program needs your permission to continue' dialogs).
Some programs will automatically ask to be given administrator permission, while others will require you to give them the permission manually. This sounds like the latter case :)
If you have to download the software from the website you mentioned and then run it by double-clicking on it, do this instead:
- Right-click the file, and click Run As Administrator
Or, if the software installs directly from within internet explorer, you will need to open an "administrator" internet explorer, like so:
- Click Start - Type: iexplore - Right-click iexplore when it shows up under Programs, and click Run As Administrator - Browse to the website and go thru the process
And this should get you set up.
If things refuse to work right after following these steps, this is a bug (probably with the SBS software). It is possible to completely disable UAC, and make administrator accounts work just like they did in Windows XP, although it is highly recommended that you do not do this.
The option is in Control Panel -> Users Accounts and Family Safety -> User Accounts -> Change Security Settings
Good luck :)
- JB