Vista - Registry rights under Vista

Hello,

I am a developer. What parts of the Windows registry are writable and readable
under an Standard User account? I assume that branches off
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software are okay, but I need to be able to make changes for
all users. If this can only be done under an Adminstrator account I still have a
problem. I can create a key under HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software in Regedit in an
Administrator account, but I get an access violation when I try to create it by
calling RegCreateKeyEx from within my application. Is this the right location in
the registry for all-user information, and, if so, how do I write to it from
within an application?

"DavidW" <no@xxxxxx> wrote in message
newscV8l.125866$sC4.70343@xxxxxxYou're right. Standard user account cannot modify global system branches or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER of other users.
This is one of locations.
Have look at the Windows Installer - it is designed to support
the installation type that you need.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...88(VS.85).aspx

Unfortunately, this is not very simple or intuitive as we'd like it
Your team or project lead should be able to guide you further.

Good luck,
--PA

Tyro wrote:I'm sure it does, but where? Where is it explained why a registry key can be
created in RegEdit but the same key cannot be created from an application? It is
not under RegCreateKeyEx in the VC++ documentation. Microsoft probably provides
the answer to just about every question asked here...somewhere. The hardest part
about writing software used to be designing and writing your code. Now it is
finding the right information.
Nope.

Pavel A. wrote:If it can only be done as an Administrator then so be it.
That doesn't look like what I need, unless something special is required during
the app's installation to enable it to write to that location once it's
installed and someone runs it. I did notice that if the app was launched from
the installer (i.e., checkbox to launch when installation complete) the accesses
worked, but they did not work on subsequent launches.
Can you give me an idea what I'm looking for? Some sort of installation
attribute? I'm using InnoSetup for the installer.
I am the lead.
Thanks.

DavidW wrote:IMHO you should be looking for making a MSI package
that can be automatically "elevated", so it can do "administrative"
install for all users.
This is the only valid way to install a system-wide app by a
no-admin user (if enabled by policy).

Or, you can redesign the app so that it can be installed locally for
each user, and not require tampering with global system locations.

I haven't used Inno for a while - maybe their latest versions
support what you need. The version I knew, did not.

Regards,
--PA

"DavidW" <no@xxxxxx> wrote in message
newscV8l.125866$sC4.70343@xxxxxxYour question applies to much more than Vista. Non-admin users haven't been
able to edit other user or machine registry data since Windows 2000.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms995853.aspx

The only difference in Vista is that by default, unelevated admin users
can't either.
http://www.kinook.com/blog/?p=40

You might want to rethink whether you really have to do it, but if you must
modify the registry for all users, during installation (require admin
rights), you could make a subkey of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE editable by all
users.

--
---------------------
Kyle Alons
http://www.kinook.com

Kyle Alons wrote:I know, but the difference with Vista is that the RegCreateKeyEx call fails even
for an administrator. It works in XP.
And that appears to be what's killing me. I don't get an elevation prompt
either. The call just fails with "Access denied".
I do, because the software controls an external device and some settings
associated with it apply to all users. Most of my registry values are in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
Thanks. That worked. (It didn't work for HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT, though, but I
don't mind switching to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).

DavidW wrote:Ahh, here is your problem AND how we are going to fix it. The elevation
prompt isn't triggered by behavior that requires elevation. It is triggered
by the file name or the manifest embedded in the executable. Google for
runAsInvoker vs runAsAdmin. Once you mark your program runAsAdmin then the
elevation prompt will appear and RegCreateKeyEx will succeed.