Troubleshooting HelpDesk Web Admin

If users cannot successfully relocate databases or perform other tasks with HelpDesk Web Admin, check that there is a global group named YOURDOMAIN\CensusAdminsGroup, and that the user (especially if the user is a domain user, not a domain administrator) is a member of this group.

HelpDesk Web Admin uses your Windows credentials to run tasks if you are a member of the CensusAdminsGroup group or the local Administrators group on the HelpDesk Server computer. Otherwise, HelpDesk Web Admin runs tasks as CensusUser.

Members of the CensusAdminsGroup group (or of the local Administrators group on the HelpDesk Server computer) have the required permissions to perform any task with HelpDesk Web Admin. The CensusUser account, on the other hand, cannot perform IIS-related tasks such as unloading virtual directories (when logging off users), and may not be able to relocate databases to other computers.

During installation, the Setup program creates the CensusAdminsGroup group and adds all members of the domain Administrators group to the CensusAdminsGroup group. Setup also adds the CensusAdminsGroup to the local Administrators group on the HelpDesk Server computer. The purpose of the CensusAdminsGroup is to control access to Web Admin.

If Setup was unable to create the CensusAdminsGroup, you can create it manually.

For example, if you want to allow a domain user that is not a domain administrator (because domain administrators already belong to the local Admins group by default) to use the Relocation tab, you can create the CensusAdminsGroup and add the domain user to the group. This allows the domain user to perform tasks that are typically only available to local admins:

    Managing SQL Server databases and physical files.

    Logging off Vector HelpDesk users (which requires permissions to control IIS).

To manually create the CensusAdminsGroup after Vector HelpDesk is installed:

1    Create a global group named CensusAdminsGroup in the domain.

2    Add CensusAdminsGroup as a member of the local Administrators group of the Web server.

3    On the Start menu, click All Programs > Vector > HelpDesk > HelpDesk Tools > Set Up Global Group.