Gnimble
Member
Hello,
My account set up is that I use a standard account but when needed, install software under the administrator account (using standard account but give admin privilege when installing). Unfortunately, when I do this, the software register fine but shows up as unregistered when I run it in the standard account. I always have to right click and run it as admin for the registration to be valid. Is there a way to get the software to be registered under the standard account?
Thanks,
-G
mikiem2
Moderator
When you register an app it stores that info on your hard drive, often in a hidden fashion based on the idea that hiding registration info makes it harder for someone(s) to develop a crack, which is basically a method of registering the software so it'll work without paying for a license.
If the registration info is stored in the program's folder, it's accessible to anyone or any account on that PC/laptop -- if you install the app to the default Program Files [or Program Files (x86)] folders you may need to run as admin to register since it often requires elevated privileges to write to those folders, e.g. in win7. Note that a few apps store their registration info in Windows' system folder, which also requires elevated privileges to write to. If the registration info is stored in the user account folders, e.g. C:\ Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ ... in Vista\7\8, or in the User sections of the registry, only the account(s) where it was registered can access that data -- in those cases the app should be installed/registered for every account where you plan on using it. Also, writing to the registry [e.g. to store registration data] may require elevated privileges [i.e. run as admin] depending on the version of Windows & the type of account, while certain sections of the registry require elevated privileges Always.
Now, software doesn't always behave the way we think it should. Some apps need to be set to always run as admin in win7 64 for example, while other apps will not run properly that way -- in either case "not running properly" may or may not include reporting that the app's not registered. And some few apps will not run properly on more than one user account -- their DRM might be keyed to whatever files/data installed to the user account, and either limited to one activation or simply won't work with two or more sets of user-based data.
And finally, even when the registration &/or activation data is there, one of the app's processes has to check it, & if that process doesn't run the way it should, it'll report that app is unlicensed. Particularly in win7 or 8 64, Usually it's a good idea to run any newly installed app as admin the 1st time, especially if you're trying to run it in an account other than the one where it was installed. That allows the app to write any needed files &/or registry entries so every part of it, including the license checking, runs as it should [note that I said that *Allows* the app to write that stuff, but that doesn't mean that every app will].
At any rate, long story short you just have to take each app as it comes, & use whatever methods work with or for that app -- programs don't all behave the same way so there's no one, universal method that works 100% of the time.
ChrisS
Administrator
Standard accounts are limited in read/write access and you aren't supposed to install programs through them. You're supposed to logon an Admin account and then "install for all users" or for specific users through the admin account.
The simplest solution is to elevate the account to an admin account. You're using it as an admin account so you might as well make it one.
Gnimble
Member
Thank you Mikie, Chris, for your explanations.
I'm running as a standard account for two reasons. The first is primarily for security reason; Windows is full of security holes and I do a lot of online research for around three dozen graduate students who come to me, I want to minimize automatic exploit as much as I can when visiting websites that I don't know about. The second is that I often leave my laptop to presenters at meetings or to students to do research, so I prefer that they don't install software or do things I would not want them to do. I don't want to always be switching users during those time to use applications installed on the computer.
Most programs I installed create profiles for all users on the system, so this is not a problem when I use them under different accounts. Recently, I uninstalled all the Give Away of the Day software because all of them showed up as unregistered; this is before I realized that had I run them as admin, they would run as registered. Bonk myself on the head there as I've installed many.
I believe the "install for all users" requires the installer to be flagged as such as some programs give me the options for all users and some don't. The program icons for the Give Away of the Day software are made available for all users, but not the registration information; so that is my initial question, how to make that available when the program itself was made available. But as you said, it may be a limitation or restriction of the Give Away of the Day software.
Thank you for your answers again.
Blessings,
-G
mikiem2
Moderator
I want to minimize automatic exploit as much as I can when visiting websites that I don't know about. The second is that I often leave my laptop to presenters at meetings or to students to do research, so I prefer that they don't install software or do things I would not want them to do. I don't want to always be switching users during those time to use applications installed on the computer.
Whether for GOTD offers or just plain security you might want to look into software that prevents changes, either by preventing them outright, or by re-directing any/all hard drive writes to a virtual disk that's then cleared & abandoned on re-boot. Your research results could be saved to an external drive to minimize you're having to do any sort of switching things in Windows, & these sorts of setups or app normally have provisions for the times you actually want to make changes, e.g. update Tuesday &/or GOTD.
mandrakeman46
admin
I have a question about signing in. Is a person's forum username and password the same for signing into the GAOTD website?
mandrakeman46
admin
OK Gnimble. Thanks for the advise! Sorry that I took so long to respond, but I don't use this forum very often. But, you were right. I use my forum sign-in info. to sign into the regular giveaway site.
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