admin rights to specific files

[Dave Cullen]

I'm writing software to control machinery in my company's manufacturing
plant. I'm using a third party dll that allows access to the computer's
hardware. Three files are required: the dll, a .sys file and a .vxd file.
These reside in Windows / System folder.

The problem I'm having is that the dll will not respond unless the user has
full admin rights on the computer. This is understandably unacceptable to
the IT dept. I'm not saavy in Win XP security features, so I'm asking you
guys if there's any way to allow full access to specific files in that
directory without compromising the entire machine?

Thanks

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Place the files in WINDOWS\system32 or add WINDOWS\system to the Path. The
WINDOWS\system folder contains DLLs, etc. for Windows 9x programs, for
backward compatibility, for old applications that look for a System folder.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Dave Cullen]

Thanks for the response. It doesn't seem to matter which directory I put
it in, I get the same results.

Isn't there a way to "register" a dll with Windows so that any user can
access it?

dave

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Hi Dave,

Isn't there a way to "register" a dll with Windows so that any user can
access it?

Any .dll, .ocx, .cpl and some .exe files need to be registered in the
registry.

You use the Regsvr32 tool (Regsvr32.exe) to register and unregister object
linking and embedding (OLE) controls such as dynamic-link library (DLL) or
ActiveX Controls (OCX) files that are self-registerable. Regsvr32 registers
..dll files as command components in the registry.

<quote>
A self-registering file is a file that can enter information about itself
in the Windows registry and remove that information upon uninstallation.
Other types of files can be used without entering information into the
registry.

The installation of a self-registering file consists of installing the file
to its desired location and then registering the file on your computer.
Sometimes. because of system specific issues, self-registration may fail,
causing an error message to appear, for example, "Unable to register the
file xyz.dll". When an installation is unable to register a file, you may
need to register it manually to make sure that the application works.
<quote>

Type: regsvr32 /? in a command prompt for help.
Actually it will display the usage if you type regsvr32 /? in the Run
command.
Click on the RegSvr32 popup window to give it focus, hit Ctrl + C to copy it
and paste into Notepad or whatever.

---------------------------
RegSvr32
---------------------------
Unrecognized flag: /?

Usage: regsvr32 [/u] [/s] [/n] [/i[:cmdline]] dllname
/u - Unregister server
/s - Silent; display no message boxes
/i - Call DllInstall passing it an optional [cmdline]; when used with /u
calls dll uninstall
/n - do not call DllRegisterServer; this option must be used with /i
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

More info here...
Regsvr32
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/regsvr32.mspx

Also for Regsvr32 HELP, paste the following line into Start | Run and click
OK...

hh ntcmds.chm::/regsvr32.htm

If the files are in the Path, in the sytem32 folder for example, you do not
need to type the path with the command.

The command: regsvr32 dfrgui.dll works fine, but so would this...
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\system32\dfrgui.dll

Explanation of Regsvr32 Usage and Error Messages
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249873

Get IT Done Reregister DLLs in the Windows Registry with Regsvr32
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6270-1054872.html

HOW TO Register an ActiveX Control (.ocx) Manually
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/146219

INFO How Regsvr32.exe Registers and Unregisters COM DLLs
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/207132

You may receive failure messages while unregistering a DLL that you were
able to correctly register before
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832926

You Receive a DllRegisterServer Error When You Try to Register a DLL by
Using Regsvr32.exe
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827659

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In