Did anything major change between Windows 8 and Window 10 regarding file permissions? I haven’t had any trouble except for one user who says he can’t get the app to launch for users on the PC they’re using. The app writes a registration file to ProgramData\MyApp and checks this file when launching. The fix has always been to allow users write permission to the MyApp folder, but this user says that didn’t work. Not sure what to tell him at this point. Has anyone else seen issues? Any fixes to suggest?
How are they are starting your application, with a double-click? Try right-clicking on the App icon and choosing Run as Administrator.
I told them they could set the app to run as admin, but they’re not too happy with that arrangement. Still should be able to double-click the icon and users should be able to use it that way. Many others do.
Did he mention any error message ?
No. It just doesn’t launch. But I know from experience that’s usually the issue.
Does the file NEED to be shared among users of the machine, or could it go in Users\\AppData? (SpecialFolder.ApplicationData vs. SpecialFolder.SharedApplicationData)
You might have him check the Windows 10 Event Viewer app if it’s available. It may be logging a Windows-related error that will help troubleshoot. It’s typically available via the Start Button - All Apps - Windows Administrative Tools - Event Viewer.
Depends on how the permissions / security is setup on the system. I run into this a lot with users that install my apps on a company machine. At home they can run it just fine. But on a company machine they needed elevated permissions to run. The problem with company machines is often an IT person will install, but the actual user will be running under a different username and profile (see Tim’s comment above).
You didn’t say if that helped that user, but if it does, they should be right-click on the program icon, choose Properties / Compatibility Tab and set the option to “Run this program as administrator”, so that they don’t have to think about it again.
Thanks, Merv. I will relay this to the admin and see what he says. As you say the actual user will be running under a different username and profile, but if the permissions for ProgramData\MyApp are set for users to be able to read/write/execute shouldn’t that work? ProgramData and the app’s folder within that should be there for all users, right?
I am certainly no expert on all the Windows File / Permission issues, others can probably better comment. I just run into this a lot, and having the user run the program as administrator solves these type of issues a lot.