UAC and installers

When installing programs under a limited user account, start menu shortcuts
are not created for the current user. These installers do not have the
option of creating shortcuts for 'all users.' I suspect that these type of
installers would need to be rewritten. Is this correct or is there some
setting that will allow installers to behave like before.

Additionally, programs that have profiles or user settings (e.g. Firefox),
you you choose 'run the application' at the end of the install, the
application actually runs as administrator. So if you run the application
from the installer, customize the application, close the application and
then re-run it, the customization is 'lost' (actuall it is attached to the
administrator account). Again, I suspect that the installer would need to be
rewritten to lower credentials at the end of the installer or is there a
setting somwhere in group policy?

Thanks
CoreyH

> are not created for the current user. These installers do not have the
> option of creating shortcuts for 'all users.' I suspect that these type of
> installers would need to be rewritten. Is this correct

Yes. These installers were not designed properly to take into account how
people use Vista.

> Additionally, programs that have profiles or user settings (e.g. Firefox),
> you you choose 'run the application' at the end of the install, the
> application actually runs as administrator.

Right, if you are running as a standard user then that is how it works. You
should not use that feature. It should go away.

>Again, I suspect that the installer would need to be
> rewritten to lower credentials at the end of the installer or is there a
> setting somwhere in group policy?

There is no setting in Windows. The installer was just written to not take
into account the best, most secure, way to run Windows Vista.

It's a real pain but the solution is to temporarily make the user an
administrator while installing the program. If you use Run as administrator
or get a UAC prompt and specify an account while running as a standard user
the process will run as the account you specified. There is no way around
this without compromising security. The problem is caused by poor
programming on the part of whoever created the installer and/or the program
but it is a problem nonetheless.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Corey Hildebrandt" <> wrote in message
news:CE763658-881A-4895-8142-...
> When installing programs under a limited user account, start menu
> shortcuts are not created for the current user. These installers do not
> have the option of creating shortcuts for 'all users.' I suspect that
> these type of installers would need to be rewritten. Is this correct or is
> there some setting that will allow installers to behave like before.
>
> Additionally, programs that have profiles or user settings (e.g. Firefox),
> you you choose 'run the application' at the end of the install, the
> application actually runs as administrator. So if you run the application
> from the installer, customize the application, close the application and
> then re-run it, the customization is 'lost' (actuall it is attached to the
> administrator account). Again, I suspect that the installer would need to
> be rewritten to lower credentials at the end of the installer or is there
> a setting somwhere in group policy?
>
> Thanks
> CoreyH

Thanks for the reply. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing a setting
somewhere.

CoreyH


"Kerry Brown" <*a*m> wrote in message
news:%...
> It's a real pain but the solution is to temporarily make the user an
> administrator while installing the program. If you use Run as
> administrator or get a UAC prompt and specify an account while running as
> a standard user the process will run as the account you specified. There
> is no way around this without compromising security. The problem is caused
> by poor programming on the part of whoever created the installer and/or
> the program but it is a problem nonetheless.
>
> --
> Kerry Brown
> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
> http://www.vistahelp.ca
>
>
> "Corey Hildebrandt" <> wrote in message
> news:CE763658-881A-4895-8142-...
>> When installing programs under a limited user account, start menu
>> shortcuts are not created for the current user. These installers do not
>> have the option of creating shortcuts for 'all users.' I suspect that
>> these type of installers would need to be rewritten. Is this correct or
>> is there some setting that will allow installers to behave like before.
>>
>> Additionally, programs that have profiles or user settings (e.g.
>> Firefox), you you choose 'run the application' at the end of the install,
>> the application actually runs as administrator. So if you run the
>> application from the installer, customize the application, close the
>> application and then re-run it, the customization is 'lost' (actuall it
>> is attached to the administrator account). Again, I suspect that the
>> installer would need to be rewritten to lower credentials at the end of
>> the installer or is there a setting somwhere in group policy?
>>
>> Thanks
>> CoreyH
>