Power Users Cannot Install Programs in Windows 2000 Professional

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This article was previously published under Q278874

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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.

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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.

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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.

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STATUS

This behavior is by design.

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MORE INFORMATION

Power 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:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Bb742509.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Bb742509.aspx)

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:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=24DA89E9-B581-47B0-B45E-492DD6DA2971&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=24DA89E9-B581-47B0-B45E-492DD6DA2971&displaylang=en)

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. 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?

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