Running program with elevated Privileges 1

[FireMike84]

Hello,

I currently run a software for roughly 300 users and it has been working great with people logged in as just regular restricted users. An administrator would have to run the program once on a new computer to register the OCX and DLL files but that was all. Recenlty we upgraded to a newer version that handles registering OCX files and DLL files differently and they attempt to register them everytime you launch the program which obviously causes a problem becuase my users don't have rights to register DLL and OCX files. I am looking to find a way to either create a script that will launch the program with elevated permissions so that it can register the files. Or I am looking for a way to possibly give my users rights just to register OCX and DLL files. So far I have found nothing real helpful on the net and the company the software is with basically told me to make everyone an administrator which I almost not a option. If anyone could help me with this problem it would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks,


Mike Walton
Network+

 

[Pav1977]

How was the software deployed originally? If you use AD then you could look at deploying a patch via GP but I haven't done it yet. Just trying to work out problem with deploying applications over GP, once it's done I'll be looking at upgrades via GP.

Sorry I can't be more helpful at the moment.

 

[FireMike84]

It is actually acting pretty much like a thin client in the sense that we simple update the server software and the shortcut they use to launch the program resides on the server so the update is already done. This new version wants to register DLL and OCX files everytime a workstation launches vs. before were it registered the OCX and DLL files the first time the progam was run on that computer and never needed it again.

Thanks for your comments.

Mike Walton
Network+

 

[itsp1965]

Have you tried using the RUNAS command which will allow you to run the program using the credentials of a different user (even one with administrator privileges).

 

[FireMike84]

Yes I have tried this and that works just fine but I cannot give my users an administrative password because if I do that I might as well give them an administrative account. I need a way that everytime they run that program it will automatically launch it with elivated permissions so it can do the registering of the DLL and OCX files but I can't manually do the RunAs because I would have to be there everytime they launch the program or I would have to give them the password. I have also tried the command line RunAs command with the /savecreds (or something like that) but I have not been successful with that.

Thanks for your comments,

Mike Walton
Network+

 

[itsp1965]

Mike, is it possible to run the command sequence to register the OCX/DLL on startup (via login script) so your user cannot see the credentials being passed, and then they can start the program whenerver?

 

[FireMike84]

Thanks for the suggestion,

Tried that but the problem is that the program attempts to register the DLL and OCX files as part of its startup and it they error for any reason it will not run the program even though it would probably work.

Thanks,

Mike Walton
Network+

 

[kmkeshav]

I don't think we have a definite solution for this.

First of all, I would like to ask you one question: why the software attempts to register its ocx and dlls each time it starts?

Rather, if you have any updates/patches for the software, better deploy it via Group Policy through AD (as a MSI package) with elevated privilages which doesn't require administrative credentials.

Hope this will be useful.

-Keshav / IT Consultant

 

[tfg13]

Any chance of doing some permission changes with dcomcnfg.exe?

 

[porkchopexpress]

You could try this free app written by Tek-Tips member Greg Palmer to solve this very problem.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk/software/runasuser.asp

In the new version the password is now encrypted with a 64bit Cipher to stop the discovery of the password.


You know what Jack Burton always says at a time like this...

 

[tfg13]

Man, I forgot about that nice program. Good update porkchopexpress!

 

[FireMike84]

First,

Thanks to everyone who posted a response I really appriciate it. I have found the solution to the problem, there appartently is a registry entry that they need rights to, to be able to registry the DLL and OCX files within the program. I will definatly try the suggested software because I can see where this issue could arise again.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

Mike Walton
Network+