Re: Install application for All Users

On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:52:23 -0500, rowan.bradley wrote:

> When I install an application it gives me a choice of install for all
> users, or just for the currently logged on user. What difference does
> this make? Does it simply affect which desktop, start menu and quick
> launch bar the shortcuts get installed into? Or does it make all sorts
> of other differences in the registry or elsewhere?
>
> If I have an application that was installed for one user, and I want to
> make the application available to another user, or to all users, can I
> simply create shortcuts to the application in the appropriate start
> menus and desktops and bingo - everything works - or is it much more
> complicated than this?
>
> How do I deal with anything that the application has stored in the
> AppData folder?
>
> Thanks - Rowan

That will work for at least some applications, i.e., ones that don't use
the user's AppData folder, but I'm also unsure about the AppData problem.
You could certainly try running a couple of your programs to see what
happens.

Pick one that doesn't use AppData and one that does...

I don't have a two user computer, so I have no direct experience. I also
always choose "all users" when it's offered to me, so I couldn't be sure
even if I had some experience.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:17:17 -0700, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

> On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:52:23 -0500, rowan.bradley wrote:
>
>> When I install an application it gives me a choice of install for all
>> users, or just for the currently logged on user. What difference does
>> this make? Does it simply affect which desktop, start menu and quick
>> launch bar the shortcuts get installed into? Or does it make all sorts
>> of other differences in the registry or elsewhere?
>>
>> If I have an application that was installed for one user, and I want to
>> make the application available to another user, or to all users, can I
>> simply create shortcuts to the application in the appropriate start
>> menus and desktops and bingo - everything works - or is it much more
>> complicated than this?
>>
>> How do I deal with anything that the application has stored in the
>> AppData folder?
>>
>> Thanks - Rowan
>
> That will work for at least some applications, i.e., ones that don't use
> the user's AppData folder, but I'm also unsure about the AppData problem.
> You could certainly try running a couple of your programs to see what
> happens.
>
> Pick one that doesn't use AppData and one that does...
>
> I don't have a two user computer, so I have no direct experience. I also
> always choose "all users" when it's offered to me, so I couldn't be sure
> even if I had some experience.

I didn't install anything new, but I logged in to a guest account (one that
I made for guests, not "Guest").

I tried a few programs that didn't have entries in the guest's AppData.
They all ran (except my newsreader - it detected that it was already open).

A couple of them asked for my Administrator password - maybe they were set
to run as administrator (I didn't bother to check).

After running a couple of them (VLC, for instance), there was a new folder
in the guest's AppData. Others didn't create one.

The main problem is that I have no recollection as to whether I installed
any given program for all users. I'm not totally sure I *always* do it,
even though that's what I said above. Also, I don't know how to find out.
Google might help, but I'll leave that up to you.

The experiment was pretty tedious (always switching users to see what was
in my AppData, for instance), so I didn't test a lot of programs :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)