Why do I need to run CMA as admin?

[stikkypixie]

I never had this with the other games?

[Moon]

Actually, it applies to all other games, and always has (well, since Vista came out). It's required for the eLicense activation to work properly under Vista/Windows 7 due to their new UAC.

[Erwin]

Am interested in that as well. I find there are some programs that tell me that I require ADMIN status, when I am (or should be) Admin. Lots of things about Win 7 that are a little odd (altho' it's still better than XP or the execrable Vista).

[Moon]

I find there are some programs that tell me that I require ADMIN status, when I am (or should be) Admin.

Starting with Vista, your default account does not have full admin rights when UAC is enabled (which it is by default). Even if it's the only account on the PC, you may have to "elevate" your privileges for certain things. eLicense is one of those things. Another one is anything you want to write into your Program Files or certain other directories.

The basic idea of UAC is legit, but the implementation by MS is rather lacking IMO, especially because users are not made aware of it in the docs and (even worse) not when errors pop up.

Martin

[stikkypixie]

Actually, it applies to all other games, and always has (well, since Vista came out). It's required for the eLicense activation to work properly under Vista/Windows 7 due to their new UAC.

I can play CMSF without having admin rights, that's my point. Is there anything different? (on the same Win7 pc obviously)

[Erwin]

You may have a low UAC level. Go check it. If so, see what happens when you raise it to one of the top 2 levels.

[stikkypixie]

You may have a low UAC level. Go check it. If so, see what happens when you raise it to one of the top 2 levels.

When I start CMSF I don't get an error that I need admin rights. When I start CMA, I do get that error. I don't see how raising my UAC levels will change anything?

[Edit] Ok, I checked my other games and now everything requires UAC. This is quite annoying. What has changed? Can't it be put back the way it was?

[Schrullenhaft]

Is CMSF installed in the '\Program Files' folder ? If it is not, then that is why UAC isn't requiring you to have 'Run as administrator' rights to play the game. UAC protects the '\Program Files' (or '\Program Files (x86)') directory from being written into by any program. You have to specify specific administrator rights to a program in order for it to do that. Otherwise files are written to a hidden 'Virtualstore' directory that supposedly fools programs into thinking that they've made writes to their directory within the '\Program Files' directory. It usually works, but sometimes it doesn't.

[stikkypixie]

Is CMSF installed in the '\Program Files' folder ? If it is not, then that is why UAC isn't requiring you to have 'Run as administrator' rights to play the game. UAC protects the '\Program Files' (or '\Program Files (x86)') directory from being written into by any program. You have to specify specific administrator rights to a program in order for it to do that. Otherwise files are written to a hidden 'Virtualstore' directory that supposedly fools programs into thinking that they've made writes to their directory within the '\Program Files' directory. It usually works, but sometimes it doesn't.

The games are installed in a folder where I (regular user) have all rights to. And like I said before installing CMA, I never needed admin rights to run them. CMA is also installed in the same folder, but now all my BFC games needed special permissions.

[Moon]

Not sure what to tell you except what I think about how UAC has been implemented in Windows (and I am not sure I can share my thoughts on a public forum regarding this topic)

Your CMA installation changes nothing about the other games (or about how Windows and UAC are working). Perhaps Microsoft support has some clue...?

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Oh tell me about the f-ing UAC. Yesterday I tried cleaning old files from what used to be my primary HD. Turns out windows doesn't trust me to delete MachineKeys whatever I do, which included some pretty unsafe things. Much aggravation later I just evacuated what I wanted to keep and formatted the whole thing.

Bastards, utter bastards. My own files aren't mine any more, who do they think they are? Where's the old "I wouldn't do that if I was you"?

[Mord]

Yet another reason I am holding onto XP as long as I can.

Mord.

[teeps]

Perhaps Microsoft support has some clue...?

A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - that is the funniest thing I've read in ages

[stikkypixie]

Ok, I googled and found this solution:

Error Message:

"eLicense Control

In order to finish initialising, this application must first be run by a

user with administrator privileges.

Please contact your system administrator for help. 5"

Solution:

Check your permissions on the files, lcmmfu.cpl and mmfs.dll, located in the root of your %Windows% directory. The usergroup "Everyone" should be able to Read Data, Read Attributes and Read Extended Attributes.

Additionally the file lcmmfu.cpl, which implements the eLicense Control under the "Control Panel" or "My Computer" and the shell extension when you right click on your application icon or shortcut, should also include the Execute attribute for "Everyone".

For instructions about setting up permissions and auditing see your Windows online help.

So I went to my Windows folder and saw that my user had no permissions whatsoever. I went and changed and now no more UAC prompt. Hopefully this will be useful in the future.