install software under one user but other other users can use it

J

Johnathan Smith

I installed my palm desktop under one user account but I would like to give
my wife (diff user) access to us. I copyed to the softcut to the program
but shes getting errors with some dlls but it works great under my account
 
C

Chris Jackson

I don't know about Palm Desktop in particular - you might want to just
install it again on her account. It will copy right on top of the existing
files.
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Greetings --

This is quite common 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. 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.

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."

Palm software, in particular, has always (well, at least since the
WinNT days) been problematical in this respect. For some obscure
reason, it seems like it has never been properly designed to operate
in a secure business environment and synchronize with a secure,
multi-user OS. To give your Palm software the functionality you need:

1) Log in as Administrator.
2) Add the normal user account(s) to the workstation's local
administrators group.

For each account that must use the Palm software:

3) Log out and log in using the normal user account.
4) Install and configure the Palm software.

When all account(s) have been configured:

5) Log out and log in as Administrator.
6) Remove the normal user account(s) from the workstation's local
administrators group.
7) Log out and log in using the normal user account(s).
8) Use the Palm software as desired.


Bruce Chambers

--
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having both at once. -- RAH
 

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