Software Deployment

The answers are located on MSDN @ http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=allusers%3D1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.itninja.com%2Fquestion%2Fallusers-1-or-2&ei=KmR7T_HlMNSmsALR67GNAw&usg=AFQjCNFX91Gv40bchxqoYJZON24agO9RKw

ORIGINAL: Fau
Googling it up to now has given me different results! Really?!? Well, I used the search term

. "windows installer" +ALLUSERS

and got this http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367559(VS.85).aspx as the first hit. If anyone feels like arguing the toss with Microsoft, feel free.

TK,

Yeah I read that from the link Ian provided.
However I can't seem to understand how the "property acts differently depending on the operating system".

Windows XP and 2000 performs either a per-machine or per-user depending on the user's privileges when ALLUSERS=2; admin or regular user.

For Windows Vista and ALLUSERS=2 it also does this if I interpret the information correctly.
If the user decided to enter the admin credentials in the UAC/LUA dialog or whatever MS is calling it now ;) it will perform a per-machine as the user will now be elevated with admin privileges, same as for XP & 2K. If the user for some reason fail to provide the correct credentials (password) the installation fails. So it seems that on Vista a per-user install will be performed if the user does not enter the admin credentials meaning; normal user without elevation.
So the three operating systems described seems to work the same when ALLSERS=2 IMO.

If you do not agree or have any real-life experience please post your details.

/Kim

I don't have any real-world experience with it as I've always used ALLUSERS=1. I just remember reading up on this a couple of years ago when researching a technical paper I was writing.
According to the MSDN article, with XP, it sounds like ALLUSERS=2 doesn't fall back to a per-user install if the admin credentials aren't there. It doesn't explicitly say that, but it's very odd that they call out XP and 2000 seperately when the behaviour is the same?
Also, with Vista it doesn't automatically fall back to a per-user install... which is a different behaviour.
The only way to find out is to test it... but I'm not that bored today. It would be nice to settle the issue though.

As an aside, I can't see why anyone would want to use ALLUSERS=2.

According to the MSDN article, with XP, it sounds like ALLUSERS=2 doesn't fall back to a per-user install if the admin credentials aren't there. It doesn't explicitly say that, but it's very odd that they call out XP and 2000 seperately when the behaviour is the same?
Well, Microsoft's description seems not to be that clear all the time.
I'm sure that if the user is an admin it will perform an per-machine install.

I havn't played a lot with Vista so can't say for sure how the UAC affect is for the ALLUSERS property with a value of 2.

Fau,

The way I understand it is:

ALLUSERS=2
Attempt to install per-machine, if not possible attempt per-user

ALLUSERS=1
Attemp to install per-machine, if not possible fail

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong - just my understanding of it.

Thanks,

Dunnpy

Thanks Ian, that's exactly what I wanted!

Seems I got unlucky on my search...
used ALLUSERS+Property and yielded nothing good... Oh well!

Keep in mind this property acts differently depending on the operating system.

ORIGINAL: turbokitty

Keep in mind this property acts differently depending on the operating system.

It does?
Could you elaborate a bit more please

/Kim

I went to find a doc on this to reference for you and it's actually detailed in the MSDN article linked above.

[blockquote]Windows Vista: Windows Installer version 4.0 complies with User Account Control (UAC). If the user has user access privileges, and ALLUSERS=2, the installer performs a per-machine installation only if Admin credentials are provided to the UAC dialog box. If UAC is enabled and the correct Admin credentials are not provided, the installation fails with an error stating that administrator privileges are required. If UAC is disabled by the registry key, group policy, or the control panel, the UAC dialog box is not displayed and the installation fails with an error stating that administrator privileges are required.[/blockquote] [blockquote]Windows XP: If the user has user access privileges, and ALLUSERS=2, Windows Installer performs a per-user installation and uses the folders in the user's profile.[/blockquote] [blockquote]Windows 2000: The Windows Installer performs a per-user or per-machine installation depending on the value of the ALLUSERS property. If the ALLUSERS property is not set, the Installer does a per-user installation. If the ALLUSERS property is set to 1, the Installer attempts a per-machine installation. The per-machine installation succeeds only if the user has administrative access privileges on the computer. If the ALLUSERS property is set to 2, the Installer first attempts a per-machine installation. In this case, the per-machine installation succeeds only if the user has administrative access privileges on the computer. Otherwise, the Installer does a per-user installation.[/blockquote]

Wouldn't a ALLUSERS=1 just solve the issue? I mean, if our base is to have our packages available for everyone on the machine AND ALSO having the msi's installed always always by an Administrator, we could force ALLUSERS=1 and the problem would then be nullified... What do you think?

Yes.. if one of your requirements is to always install the app per-machine, then you want to use ALLUSERS=1.
Like I said, I can't imagine why ALLUSERS=2 was even created as an option. Perhaps to facilitate pointless nerdy discussions like this one.

Yes.. if one of your requirements is to always install the app per-machine, then you want to use ALLUSERS=1.
Like I said, I can't imagine why ALLUSERS=2 was even created as an option. Perhaps to facilitate pointless nerdy discussions like this one.


LOLOLOL!
Oh god, this probably just made my afternoon! Thanks TK! hehehehehe