Non-administrative users can't access MSI file robert5933[ at ]gmail.com 06.07.2007 16:27:41 We use the Windows Installer built into Visual Studio 2005 (Setup and Deployment). I have a very basic question which has been haunting me for the past few days. I can't seem to find the answer to it anywhere. We need our install file to install our program to a PC such that all users can use the program. These users do NOT have administrative rights. Here are the steps we've been following: The administrator installs the program to the PC and chooses the option to install the program for all users. That all seems to go well. However, when a non-administrative user logs in and clicks on the desktop shortcut created for him, Windows Installer attempts to access the original msi install file in order to complete the setup for that user. That's the problem. This msi file may still on the install CD. Or, it may be on the hard drive but inaccessible to a non-administrative user. So ... I obviously am doing something basically incorrect. Please set me straight. What is the correct way to install a program so that all non-privileged users can use it and get setup correctly? Thank you.

Re: Non-administrative users can't access MSI file "Phil Wilson" <pdjwilson[ at ]nospam.cox.net> 06.07.2007 19:36:57 This is normal in the sense that it happens depending on how you designed t he setup. For example, if you have any files in user-specific folders, these files will be created for the installing user but missing for the other users who run the app, so Windows will attempt to install the missing items. Details depend on where you've installed files and registry items. -- Phil Wilson [Microsoft MVP-Windows Installer] <robert5933[ at ]gmail.com> wrote in message news:1183739261.420997.207000[ at ]m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com... [Quoted Text] > We use the Windows Installer built into Visual Studio 2005 (Setup and > Deployment). I have a very basic question which has been haunting me > for the past few days. I can't seem to find the answer to it > anywhere. > > We need our install file to install our program to a PC such that all > users can use the program. These users do NOT have administrative > rights. Here are the steps we've been following: > > The administrator installs the program to the PC and chooses the > option to install the program for all users. That all seems to go > well. However, when a non-administrative user logs in and clicks on > the desktop shortcut created for him, Windows Installer attempts to > access the original msi install file in order to complete the setup > for that user. > > That's the problem. This msi file may still on the install CD. Or, it > may be on the hard drive but inaccessible to a non-administrative > user. > > So ... I obviously am doing something basically incorrect. Please set > me straight. What is the correct way to install a program so that all > non-privileged users can use it and get setup correctly? > > Thank you. >

Re: Non-administrative users can't access MSI file robert5933[ at ]gmail.com 06.07.2007 21:09:20 So, do you recommend as part of our install procedure that we copy the entire msi file to a location that all users have access to? It seems like that is overkill especially when only a few settings need to be taken from it for each additional user. I think there is some key piece of information--conceptual or otherwise--that I'm missing. On Jul 6, 12:36 pm, "Phil Wilson" <pdjwil...[ at ]nospam.cox.net> wrote: [Quoted Text] > This is normal in the sense that it happens depending on how you designed t > he setup. For example, if you have any files in user-specific folders, these > files will be created for the installing user but missing for the other > users who run the app, so Windows will attempt to install the missing items. > Details depend on where you've installed files and registry items. > -- > Phil Wilson > [Microsoft MVP-Windows Installer] > > <robert5...[ at ]gmail.com> wrote in message > > news:1183739261.420997.207000[ at ]m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com... > > > > > We use the Windows Installer built into Visual Studio 2005 (Setup and > > Deployment). I have a very basic question which has been haunting me > > for the past few days. I can't seem to find the answer to it > > anywhere. > > > We need our install file to install our program to a PC such that all > > users can use the program. These users do NOT have administrative > > rights. Here are the steps we've been following: > > > The administrator installs the program to the PC and chooses the > > option to install the program for all users. That all seems to go > > well. However, when a non-administrative user logs in and clicks on > > the desktop shortcut created for him, Windows Installer attempts to > > access the original msi install file in order to complete the setup > > for that user. > > > That's the problem. This msi file may still on the install CD. Or, it > > may be on the hard drive but inaccessible to a non-administrative > > user. > > > So ... I obviously am doing something basically incorrect. Please set > > me straight. What is the correct way to install a program so that all > > non-privileged users can use it and get setup correctly? > > > Thank you.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text -

Re: Non-administrative users can't access MSI file Christopher Painter <chrpai[ at ]yahoo.com> 09.07.2007 16:26:57 If you have a component who's keyfile is part of the users profile, then yes, it has to repair iteself for each user who logs on. In order for this to happen the MSI has to be available to each user. But make sure non-priv users only have READ access to the MSI. Due to the way elevated installs work, the SourceList locations are `trusted`. If a non-priv user was to have write access to the MSI and had enough skill, he could hack changes into the MSI and do all sorts of things including granting himself elevated privs.