How can I get my son's program to run in an account with no admin rights?

[Mike Barnard]

Hi.

My XP pro PC has me as the main user with full admin. My 4yo son has
his own account, without admin rights, of course. I have installed a
"Bob the builder" game from the BBC from my account, but I can't get
his account to let him play it. "Access is denied".

I've looked up the properties for the .exe file, and can' t see
anything to change. Nothing obvious in the control panel except user
accounts, and I'm not changing his to admin!

OK, where are these rights controlled from please? Thanks.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

These could be restrictions on the file system, a folder where data is stored, or even on a Registry key that limited user's normally do not have permissions to write to. You need to check with the author and see if they have any known workarounds.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi.

My XP pro PC has me as the main user with full admin. My 4yo son has
his own account, without admin rights, of course. I have installed a
"Bob the builder" game from the BBC from my account, but I can't get
his account to let him play it. "Access is denied".

I've looked up the properties for the .exe file, and can' t see
anything to change. Nothing obvious in the control panel except user
accounts, and I'm not changing his to admin!

OK, where are these rights controlled from please? Thanks.

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 application doesn't "know" how to handle
individual user profiles with differing security permissions levels, or
the application is designed to make to make changes to "off-limits"
sections of the Windows registry or protected Windows system folders.

For example, saved data are often stored in a sub-folder under the
application's folder within C:\Program Files - a place where no
inexperienced or limited user should ever have write permissions. (Games
are particularly likely to follow this horrible practice.)

It may even be that the software requires "write" access to parts
of the registry or protected systems folders/files that are not normally
accessible to regular users. (This *won't* occur if the application is
properly written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're
often left with three options: Either grant the necessary users
appropriate higher access privileges (either as Power Users or local
administrators), explicitly grant normal users elevated privileges to
the affected folders and/or part(s) or the registry, 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:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[null2006]

Right-click the application's icon, and select Run as...

Then, at the bottom of the window that opens, select Administrator and
enter the administrator password. Only this program will run with
administrator rights, your son won't be able to run other apps as
administrator.

 

[Mike Barnard]

Hi.

My XP pro PC has me as the main user with full admin. My 4yo son has
his own account, without admin rights, of course. I have installed a snip
OK, where are these rights controlled from please? Thanks.

Hi all and thanks for the replies.

I was suprised to actually get a reply from the current licence holder
for these games as the BBC sold them off a while ago, saying:

"This program can only be run from an Administrators account. The
Windows System file that the program needs to write to, can\'t be
accessed from a Limited User Account. This may be overcome by giving
the program different credentials. To do this:..." (snip detail
already posted.)

So I can get around it for now, but here's hoping they improve for
future releases.

Thanks again.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

They are morons, and that response indicates that whoever answered you has
no idea of what they are talking about. What needs to be done, as indicated
by Doug and Bruce, is to alter permissions on the program installation
folder so that the limited user has full control. If that fails to produce
the needed results, then alter the registry permissions on the programs'
key.

First, determine the installation location. Probably something like
"C:\Program Files\Bob the Builder", and your son's username, like "son".
Then, click start/run, type CMD and click ok to open a command prompt while
you are logged on to your administrator level account. From the prompt, run
these:

cacls C:\Program Files\Bob the Builder /g son:f

Agree to the prompt confirming this with a "y". Then close the command
prompt and log into your son's account and try the game. If that fails, then
log back into your account and click start/run, type regedit and click ok.
Expand the plus (+) signs to reach:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software

and click on the software key. Now look at all the programs listed below and
locate the one for BTB. Right click that key and select permissions. If you
see your son's account in the list of Groups and User names, click on it and
then check the full control option in the lower box. If not, use the add
button to add his account with full permissions.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Mike Barnard]

They are morons, and that response indicates that whoever answered you has
no idea of what they are talking about. What needs to be done, as indicated

snip

Hey, thanks for that. And, er, can I quote you? I feel like a
reply to teck support coming on!

 

[Rick Rogers]

Go ahead, It bothers me to no end when "tech support" replies with answers
that are cop outs. It just indicates that whoever is writing their first
level scripts doesn't know enough of what they're talking about to know when
an issue needs to go to the next level. Either that or the company is too
self involved to actually want to help the users of their software.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[David Candy]

Should have bought Postman Pat and his black and white cat instead.

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to lose a war in Iraq
http://webdiary.com.au/cms/?q=node/1335#comment-48641
=================================================

Go ahead, It bothers me to no end when "tech support" replies with answers
that are cop outs. It just indicates that whoever is writing their first
level scripts doesn't know enough of what they're talking about to know when
an issue needs to go to the next level. Either that or the company is too
self involved to actually want to help the users of their software.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org