Running program as Administrator - always

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Hello all,

I have a XP machine that has a program (Cpat MD80; it's aviation software)
that will only run under the Administrator account. Now, it will run under a
user account with limited rights, if I right click and run as Administrator.
I have given all rights to the program, folder to the 'Everyone' group.
Still it does not work. Is there a way that when the user clicks on their
account on the welcome screen, that when they need to run the program that
the program can be configured to run-as Administrator always? I cannot
afford to give out the admin password to anyone. Any help will be greatly
appreciated.
--
Regards,

David Cruz
Coordinator, Information Services
 
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cruzx wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a XP machine that has a program (Cpat MD80; it's aviation software)
> that will only run under the Administrator account. Now, it will run under a
> user account with limited rights, if I right click and run as Administrator.
> I have given all rights to the program, folder to the 'Everyone' group.
> Still it does not work. Is there a way that when the user clicks on their
> account on the welcome screen, that when they need to run the program that
> the program can be configured to run-as Administrator always? I cannot
> afford to give out the admin password to anyone. Any help will be greatly
> appreciated.


You may experience some problems if the software was designed for
Win9x/Me, or if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly
designed. Quite simply, the installation routine for this application
doesn't "know" how to handle individual user profiles, or the
application tries to make changes to "off-limits" sections of the
registry or protected Windows system folders. Quite often, you can make
this software available to other users by _copying_ the Start Menu
folder and Desktop folder shortcuts from the user profile from which the
software was installed in the corresponding folders in the user
profile(s) in which you'd like the software to be accessible. If the
application is something that can/should be made available to all
current and future users, copying the shortcuts into the corresponding
locations of the All Users profile will do the trick.

For some obscure reason, game developers in particular seem to not
understand WinXP's file security paradigm, and require even limited
users to have unnecessarily high privileges to protected systems
folders. For example, saved games are often stored in a sub-folder
under the game's folder within C:\Program Files - a place where no
inexperienced or limited user should ever have write permissions.

NOTE: This may not work if the software requires access to parts
of the hard drive and/or registry that are not normally accessible to
regular users. (This won't occur if the application was properly
written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're left with
two options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher access
privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), or replace
the application with one that was properly designed specifically for
WinNT/2K/XP.

Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307091

Additionally, here are a couple of tips suggested, in a reply to a
different post, by MS-MVP Kent W. England:

"If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with
limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the
program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which
is the default.

C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:c

where "appfolder" is the folder where the application is installed.

If you wish to undo these changes, then run

C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:r

If you still have a problem with running the program or saving
settings on limited accounts, you may need to change permissions on
the registry keys. Run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\Software\vendor\app,
where "vendor\app" is the key that the software vendor used for your
specific program. Change the permissions on this key to allow Users
full control."

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Thanks Bruce.... I am going to take a stab at it this week. Thanks again.


--
Regards,

David Cruz
Coordinator, Information Services


"Bruce Chambers" wrote:

> cruzx wrote:
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I have a XP machine that has a program (Cpat MD80; it's aviation software)
> > that will only run under the Administrator account. Now, it will run under a
> > user account with limited rights, if I right click and run as Administrator.
> > I have given all rights to the program, folder to the 'Everyone' group.
> > Still it does not work. Is there a way that when the user clicks on their
> > account on the welcome screen, that when they need to run the program that
> > the program can be configured to run-as Administrator always? I cannot
> > afford to give out the admin password to anyone. Any help will be greatly
> > appreciated.
>
>
> You may experience some problems if the software was designed for
> Win9x/Me, or if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly
> designed. Quite simply, the installation routine for this application
> doesn't "know" how to handle individual user profiles, or the
> application tries to make changes to "off-limits" sections of the
> registry or protected Windows system folders. Quite often, you can make
> this software available to other users by _copying_ the Start Menu
> folder and Desktop folder shortcuts from the user profile from which the
> software was installed in the corresponding folders in the user
> profile(s) in which you'd like the software to be accessible. If the
> application is something that can/should be made available to all
> current and future users, copying the shortcuts into the corresponding
> locations of the All Users profile will do the trick.
>
> For some obscure reason, game developers in particular seem to not
> understand WinXP's file security paradigm, and require even limited
> users to have unnecessarily high privileges to protected systems
> folders. For example, saved games are often stored in a sub-folder
> under the game's folder within C:\Program Files - a place where no
> inexperienced or limited user should ever have write permissions.
>
> NOTE: This may not work if the software requires access to parts
> of the hard drive and/or registry that are not normally accessible to
> regular users. (This won't occur if the application was properly
> written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're left with
> two options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher access
> privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), or replace
> the application with one that was properly designed specifically for
> WinNT/2K/XP.
>
> Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307091
>
> Additionally, here are a couple of tips suggested, in a reply to a
> different post, by MS-MVP Kent W. England:
>
> "If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with
> limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the
> program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which
> is the default.
>
> C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:c
>
> where "appfolder" is the folder where the application is installed.
>
> If you wish to undo these changes, then run
>
> C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:r
>
> If you still have a problem with running the program or saving
> settings on limited accounts, you may need to change permissions on
> the registry keys. Run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\Software\vendor\app,
> where "vendor\app" is the key that the software vendor used for your
> specific program. Change the permissions on this key to allow Users
> full control."
>
> --
>
> Bruce Chambers
>
> Help us help you:
> http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
> You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
> both at once. - RAH
>