Power Users Cannot Install Programs in Windows 2000 Professional (278874)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
This article was previously published under Q278874 SYMPTOMS When you are attempting to install a program on a Windows
2000 Professional-based computer, you are unable to successfully complete the
installation, and you receive a message that states that you need to be a
member of the administrators group to install this software. CAUSE This behavior occurs due to one of the following reasons:
- The program attempts to install a service (most operating
system utilities such as Anti-Virus, Backup, and Diagnostic
software).
- The program has not been written to the Windows 2000
application specifications.
- Some legacy programs attempt to replace operating system
files.
- The installer program of an application may specifically
check to see that the user is a member of the administrators group.
RESOLUTION Contact the Independent Software Vendor, and request an
update for Windows 2000, an updated MSI Package, or an upgraded version of the
software.
To work around this behavior, make the user, who is
installing the program, a member of the administrators group. STATUS This
behavior is by design.MORE INFORMATIONPower Users and Software Installation in Windows 2000 The following white paper, "Default Access Control Settings in
Windows 2000," from Microsoft TechNet states that programs can be installed by
a member of the administrators and power users groups: Abstract: Power Users are between Administrators and Users in terms of
system access. The default Windows 2000 security settings for Power Users are
backward-compatible with the default security settings for Users in the Windows
NT 4.0 operating system. In short, Power Users are indeed powerful.
Ideally, Power Users should be able to perform any task except for the
administrative tasks described above. Thus, Power Users should be able to
perform per-machine installs and uninstalls of applications which do not
install system services. In practice, Power Users cannot install many
legacy applications because these applications attempt to replace operating
system files during the Setup process. Application Compatibility Toolkit ACT Download and review the ACT Application Compatibility Toolkit
from the MSDN/Windows 2000 Web site: The ACT contains white papers on ensuring that your application
is compatible with Windows 2000 as well as some utilities for testing for
application compatibility with Windows 2000. Application Compatibility Online Database The application compatibility online database is available to
assist users in making software selection choices. This database is located at:
Installing Applications as a Member of the Users Group All users should be able to install an application for their use,
rather than for anyone on the computer. However, a non-power user is not going
to be allowed to write to the Program Files directory; that user will not be
allowed to write to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. During Setup, if the installer package
tries to open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and Setup is not being run by a user with
write permissions to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (power users, and administrators), the
user receives the following message: You are not allowed
to install this application for all users on this machine; do you want to
install this application for personal use?
Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 7/13/2006 |
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Keywords: | kbenv kbinfo kbsetup w2000setup KB278874 |
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