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I am (still) using Visual Studio Professional 2013. I've been using InstallShield LE to create the Setup.exe for a Windows 7 desktop app with no issues. However, when installing the app on Windows 10 machines, the app does not run correctly (can't read my ini files for examples). Changing the exe to "run as Administrator" resolves this.

However, I have to go into every Windows 10 install and change this manually. Not practical.

Is InstallShield LE on 2013 NOT Win-10 compatible (e.g. need to upgrade to VS 2016??) or is there a setting in LE that can be changed for compatibility with Windows 10?

Stein Åsmul
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IrvineCAGuy
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1 Answers1

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It is possible to modify the ACL on the settings files (during installation) to make them writeable for standard users. This is commonly used, though very undesirable. See issue 14 here in a list of common design problems in MSI files: How do I avoid common design flaws in my WiX / MSI deployment solution?

I doubt Installshield LE has any features for this ACL modification. WiX does, as does the commercial edition of Installshield and Advanced Installer. There are other tools as well that may support it.

Another "solution" that I don't recommend, but that is still used by many: How do I force my .NET application to run as administrator? I suppose this is effectively what you are doing? See this answer as well for an important note (it is a different answer from the same "thread").

The real solution is to re-design your application to not store settings files in the application installation directory, but rather store your settings in HKCU in the registry, or in a settings file stored in the user profile. Regular users can obviously write to these locations.

Not 100% the same, but very related. An answer with a list of options to allow an application to write to HKLM in the registry: Per Machine App Registration. Recommended read / skim.

Stein Åsmul
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  • If you're not able to redesign your application to write the files in the correct location, you could also add a custom action at the beginning of the install to make sure that it is being run as administrator. If not then don't allow the install to proceed. This is something I've done in the past. – Doc Jan 18 '18 at 12:20