Understanding Permissions and Rights

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SEE ALSO

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For a list of Windows 2000 rights, see Table 27-2.

Windows 2000 distinguishes two types of access privileges: permissions and rights. A permission is the ability to access a particular object in some defined manner—for example, to write to an NTFS file or to modify a printer queue. A right is the ability to perform a particular systemwide action, such as resetting the clock.

The owner of a resource (or an administrator) assigns permissions to the resource via its properties dialog box. For example, if you are the printer owner or have administrative privileges, you can restrict someone from using a particular printer by visiting the properties dialog box for that printer. Administrators set rights via Local Security Policy in Administrative Tools. For example, if you have an administrative account, you can use Local Security Policy to grant someone the right to load a device driver.

NOTE

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In this book, as in many of the Windows 2000 messages and dialog boxes, privileges serves as an informal term encompassing both permissions and rights.