Executing installed game from *all* accounts (not only admin)

[acrux14]

I think I need some basic Windows support here. Not knowledgeable on
this area...

I'm using Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 SP2 Build 2600, and I have
installed a game for my kids. I have 4 accounts on this system, mine
being the only admin account with the other three being limited
accounts for the rest of the family.

The problem I have is that this game that I installed - which requires
a CD be left in the CD drive for playing - will only run from the admin
account (where it was installed from, of course). Icons and shortcuts
were installed on the other accounts, but when trying to run the
application it will just ask for the CD to be put in the drive. When I
do so, Autorun pops up the main menu with just the Install options
available, as if it were not installed at all.

Looks like a file permission issue to me, but I don't know anything
about Windows internals. Is there any place where I could tell the OS
that this app should be allowed to run from limited accounts. Should I
de-install and re-install in some different way?

Thanks!

J.

 

[Larry Gardner]

Have you tried to run the Install as the limited Users. Some applications
ask not to REALLY install anything ... just to place registry keys in the
registry for the user.
Microsoft Office works this way. You can install as Admin, but the first
time the another user accesses an Office component, it installs a piece of
it in the registry in support of the user.

Try creating another Test user account and see what happens. That way if it
doesn't to as I said (since I don't know the Game), you haven't mucked with
any real users and can just destroy the Test User.

I always leave a test user on the system ... just for these reasons.

 

[acrux14]

Have you tried to run the Install as the limited Users. Some applications
ask not to REALLY install anything ... just to place registry keys in the
registry for the user.
Microsoft Office works this way. You can install as Admin, but the first
time the another user accesses an Office component, it installs a piece of
it in the registry in support of the user.

Try creating another Test user account and see what happens. That way if it
doesn't to as I said (since I don't know the Game), you haven't mucked with
any real users and can just destroy the Test User.

I always leave a test user on the system ... just for these reasons.

Thanks for your reply, Larry.

So, let me see if I got this right... you suggest that I uninstall the
game, create a test user account (agreed - it's a good idea to have
one), and then install it from the test user account?

Or are you just saying that I try to go ahead and install from the test
user account, *without* previously uninstalling anything?

J.

 

[Malke]

I think I need some basic Windows support here. Not knowledgeable on
this area...

I'm using Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 SP2 Build 2600, and I have
installed a game for my kids. I have 4 accounts on this system, mine
being the only admin account with the other three being limited
accounts for the rest of the family.

The problem I have is that this game that I installed - which requires
a CD be left in the CD drive for playing - will only run from the
admin account (where it was installed from, of course). Icons and
shortcuts were installed on the other accounts, but when trying to run
the application it will just ask for the CD to be put in the drive.
When I do so, Autorun pops up the main menu with just the Install
options available, as if it were not installed at all.

Looks like a file permission issue to me, but I don't know anything
about Windows internals. Is there any place where I could tell the OS
that this app should be allowed to run from limited accounts. Should I
de-install and re-install in some different way?

Rather than making new test user accounts, you should contact the game
mftr. for a patch or workaround. The game is obviously trying to write
to a part of the file system which is off-limits for non-administrative
accounts. This often happens with old or poorly-written software that
doesn't understand operating systems with permissions. See this article
by MVP Rick Rogers:

http://www.rickrogers.org/xpsware.htm

If you get nowhere with the game mftr. (perhaps it is too old for
example), you can run the free utilities Filemon and Regmon to see
where the game is trying to write. Then you can change the permissions
on those locations.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Regmon.html

Malke