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Non MS apps & locked registry keys

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4 replies

by flidmouse

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Hi,

Having installed a non Microsoft application ( Corel 2000 & others ),while logged on as admin on a Win 2K PC, even though a normal user has been given the correct permissions, the program still tries to access locked registry keys, & therefore dies.
Investigation has shown that the app appears to be trying to access random parts of the registry which was not set up by its installer & so are locked. So far, we have manually unlocked a 1000+ keys to get this to work...which is boring...
Without giving the users admin rights is there another solution to this problem ?

Rob

4 replies

by mike_mds

Were you logged in as the local admin account or a domain admin? I've installed tons of non-MS apps to workstations logged in as the local admin (authenticating to local box, not domain controller).

by flidmouse

With respect to Answer 1 ...

1) Logged in as local admin on a standalone system
2) Logged in as local admin only on a Novell 5.1 network ( Our University NOS )
3) Logged in as Admin for both network and local box, using both locally & networkedinstalled apps.

If we give users admin rights only, the problem does not occur, but we are trying to avoid that as our users (students) have this funny habit of trying to undo all our honest, hard work etc...

by mike_mds

Stumbled across this today in Win2k Security Tech Ref from MS Press today (it is quote pulled from book).....

"To run most noncertified applications on Windows 2000, end users will need to either be members of the Power Users group, or you'll have to loosen the permissions for the User's group."

It goes on to say that if you don't want to make users Power Users, you can use the incremental template (compatws.inf) to apply relaxed security setting to the registry thru the security configuration mmc snap-in.

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