How to change default browsers using a non-administrative account

[eric anderson]

Greetings...

I am currently deploying a handfull of PCs with XP SP2. Since some of
our users prefer IE and some prefer Firefox, I would like for them to
be able to change their default browsers using their regular user
accounts, instead of having to call me to change it using my admin
account.

Is there a way of setting these permissions without giving the user
too much access to the registry / filesystem?

Thanks.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Greetings...

I am currently deploying a handfull of PCs with XP SP2. Since some of
our users prefer IE and some prefer Firefox, I would like for them to
be able to change their default browsers using their regular user
accounts, instead of having to call me to change it using my admin
account.

Is there a way of setting these permissions without giving the user
too much access to the registry / filesystem?

Thanks.

Users should not be choosing their browsers. If you're Administering
them, that's your choice not theirs. In my environment, IE 6 is
default and Seamonkey is on the desktop as an alternate. If a users
wants one over the other, they're usually smart enough to choose the
one they prefer.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Is there a way of setting these permissions without giving the user too much access to the registry / filesystem?

Some of the registry locations which store the default browser setting.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.htm
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.html
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.ftp
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.mht
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.mhtml
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.shtml
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\http
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\ftp
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Internet Shortcut

Perhaps you can given then write access to the above keys, and sub-keys and see if they're able to update the default browser setting.

Or you may permit them use the utility which I wrote:

[DefaultBrowser] Set the default browser for your user profile:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/defaultbrowser.htm

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Greetings...

I am currently deploying a handfull of PCs with XP SP2. Since some of
our users prefer IE and some prefer Firefox, I would like for them to
be able to change their default browsers using their regular user
accounts, instead of having to call me to change it using my admin
account.

Is there a way of setting these permissions without giving the user
too much access to the registry / filesystem?

Thanks.