How to run Scenarist as a normal user only, Windows, question, account

andy

Hi, everybody:

I don't know if this is the right place for this question, but it seams the most likely, so here it goes.

I installed Scenarist but it only allows me to use it while logged in with an Administrator account on Windows XP Professional.

If I try to run it as a normal user it keeps asking my serial, and when I supply it, the damn thing closes itself after the initial wizard questions are replied. If I reopen it, it goes all over again for the ask_serial-gt;wizard-gt;exit routine.

Has anyone got Scenarist running as a normal user? It's just an annoyance to have to log as Administrator to run it.

Thank you very much for your time.

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Lazarus Long

I never log in with an account that does not have administrative privilages on the system.  That being said, I've never seen the problem you mention.  You would probably be best served by contacting Sonic tech support and asking them what the problem might be and/or how to resolve it.

TRILIGHT:

Thank you for your reply. I'm waiting for feedback from Sonic on this matter.

I came to Windows from the Linux world (well I didn't come to Windows I just use it for video stuff), so I feel shivers while running an O.S. with administrative right when I think that an unprivileged account is enough to do the trick.

Windows is a bit reluctant to this way of running it (well, not just Windows but some programs also, for instance DVD Decrypter has to be installed both in the administrator account and as the user or else DoItFast4U! when run as the user will fail to detect it - it's DoItFast4U!'s fault since it is looking for a key in the HKCU registry instead of in HKLM, or so I think so), but I normally can trick it to run as I want. The problem is that no program should require to be run with administrative rights if it isn't doing any system or administrative task, for instance maintenance or configuration or the like. Nevertheless it's easier to code a program this way; it removes a whole layer of complexity, so some companies just do it.

In my opinion, it is also a bad idea logging in with administrative rights for day to day tasks (Linux System Administration 101 first rule ) since your system gets more prune to damages caused either by virus, worms and the like or simple human error, resulting of the fact that a administrator account is almost unrestricted in what it can and cannot do. I realize that up to Windows ME all logins where unrestricted, but since the NT branch merged with the 9x (Windows 2000 and now Windows XP) we have the ability to use unprivileged accounts and as it may be strange to get used to them, if we take the effort, we will be protecting our system and also can relax our attention a bit regarding human errors.

Thank you once again for your feedback.

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Lazarus Long

When you isntalled Scenarist, did XP ask you if you wish to install the program for all users, or just for the administrator? I only use Win2k, and I often find that Win2k asks me such a question when I install certain programs.Arky  ;o)

Arky:

Originally posted by Arky
When you isntalled Scenarist, did XP ask you if you wish to install the program for all users, or just for the administrator?

Unfortunately not, this is program dependant, not O.S. dependant, and is what I meant when I stated on the above post that some companies decide not to deal with the extra layer of complexity required for checking if all the functions are secure and able to be run down-leveled.

Thanks for your interest.

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Lazarus Long

I know this doesn't cover your quot;securityquot; issues with logging in with administrative rights, but I would just add your other user(s) to the administrative group so that they have the access to use the program.  I've seen this problem before and the final answer I received is that Scenarist REQUIRES admin privs, no matter what.  Maybe the latest versions, which I don't own, don't have this problem.  You could possibly mess with specific file and registry rights until you figured it out, but that would take a huge amount of trial and error.

Plus - In windows, even normal, unpriveleged users can destroy just about anything on the computer(Even guest can do a lot!).  It rarely stops worm and virus attacks like it might on a Linux/Unix box.  If you want Windows to be safe while logged in as a normal user, you'll have to rewrite the entire thing, or employ very lengthy system policies.

Or, if you want, solve your problem - Use Maestro.  Almost as powerful, MUCH easier to use.  AND - it isn't so picky.  Heck - you don't even have to install it.  You could run it off a cd if you wanted to.  Our audio/visual department switched over to it and have been much happier ever since.  (Our finance department was happier too  - less pricey)

I agree that too many Windows programs force one to run using Administrator privileges.  Like Lazarus, I also come from the Unix background where logging on as root for other than maintenance or installations is generally unwise.

The best that Windows 2000/XP has to offer is to use the quot;
Run With Different Credentialsquot; capability.  It is available as a commandline utility in quot;%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\runas.exequot;.  For the GUI users, one can create a shortcut of the program (that must be run as Admin) and go to Properties-gt;Shortcut-gt;Advanced to enable checkbox.  For those Linux/Unix affectionados, it is analogous to using quot;/bin/su -cquot;.  It runs only that program in elevated privileges and allows you to use/login-as a underprivileged account for most other tasks!

See more at details at ?kbid=307091 and windowsxp/p...chooseacct.asp

it's DoItFast4U!'s fault since it is looking for a key in the HKCU registry instead of in HKLM, or so I think so

Never found a place in HKLM where there's any DVD Decrypter keys. If you have, then let me know. Otherwise, it'll continue to operate like that.

Eyes`Only:

Originally posted by Eyes`Only
Never found a place in HKLM where there's any DVD Decrypter keys. If you have, then let me know. Otherwise, it'll continue to operate like that.

I didn't explain myself in the correct way.

In reality it is DVD Decrypter fault (if you can say that - I believe it is just a poor choice). What DVD Decrypter should do is create two keys, one in HKLM with global parameters (and this one should be the one that other programs should look for), and one in HKCU with the user preferences. I understand that since DVD Decrypter doesn't create the former key the later must be used by other programs. It was not my intention to bash anyone, especially you (I love your program).

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Lazarus

Thanks for the compliment.

Sorry, didn't mean to be so short, but in reality you did say,  quot;it's DoItFast4U!'s fault since it is looking for a key in the HKCU registry instead of in HKLM, or so I think soquot;

I considered adding a dialog where you could specify where a program was installed, but I was asked not to by the authors of the apps, because many apps need to be installed using their installer (DVD Decrypter, and DoCCE4U for example) or certain registry keys will fail to be where they should be, eliminating certain features of the program. By allowing a user to specify the location of the executable, I'm bypassing this requirement, and the authors do not like that. Of course, I must respect their wishes, if I wish to have them respect mine, which they in part do by continuously working with and beside me to fix a feature here/add a feature there, etc.

Originally posted by Eyes`Only
Thanks for the compliment.

Sorry, didn't mean to be so short, but in reality you did say,  quot;it's DoItFast4U!'s fault since it is looking for a key in the HKCU registry instead of in HKLM, or so I think soquot;

You are right, at the time I wrote it I was just observing the behavior of the programs, not the registry, so I thought that DVD Decrypter was behaving standardly, regarding the registry usage. That's well done for me to be trusting appearances (shame on me ).