[RESOLVED] Writing to %program files%, UAC, Manifests, Windows Styles

As in my case, I can confirm that currently my program (exe approx 8 mb) is being used on different Windows platforms, 32-bit or 64 bit, without any manifest, and without any problem.

So far, users on assorted Windows systems, e.g. XP/Vista/Win7 can install and run all functionalities of the program without a problem. Over the years, there had been exchanges of mail between some users and myself, that is why I can vouch the above-said (in the first place they wouldn't have paid if they could not install and run the program, secondly they would have written to me if they bumped into any problem).

Therefore, it appears to me that if one does not care about the cosmetics aspect (and not intending to intrude into a restricted system area), his/her programs would run as usual without a manifest.

Thank you again. Cheers.

Edited: As far as the installation is concerned, VB's P&D is used, but much modified (e.g. to avail desktop icon, to provide submenu items in Windows program menus).

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Originally Posted by petersen

Therefore, it appears to me that if one does not care about the cosmetics aspect (and not intending to intrude into a restricted system area), his/her programs would run as usual without a manifest.

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Dilettante, Petersen, & Wilis: THANK YOU for the amazing insight into these subjects! Your work has really helped clarify some of the muddied water I've been wading through (I'm not as smart as you guys - hopefully my code will still be valid and I'll still be breathing by the time I get through half of the volumes of info you've provided).

petersen: Your statement seems to be backed up by Si the Geek's definition in his post Si the Geek's discussion of Virtualization:

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Originally Posted by Si the Geek

Virtualisation (Windows Vista [and possibly later versions too])
On Vista if a user does not have permission to work with a file, Virtualisation comes in to effect.

This is a process to deal with programs that seemed to work properly on Windows XP/2000, but only because they were not tested properly under limited user accounts - if they had been, the issues described in 'User Permissions' section above would have been noticed.

What Virtualisation does is let the program think that it has got permission to work with those files, by creating copies of the files in a special location, and automatically re-directing the programs requests for those files.

While this allows badly written programs to run on Vista, it is not a perfect solution - one example of this is that if one user runs the program and it makes changes to one of the files, it will not be seen by other users who run the program (because the virtualised files are per-user)."

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Seems he says that as long as users have full rights to modify a writeable file, Vista and 7 will not virtualize them.

I'm not averse to including a manifest file eventually, but want to make sure it's really necessary before I climb that hill right now. I understand the ramifications you guys discussed herein.

I'm also using Inno Setup and it seems very straightforward to set the rights.

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Originally Posted by Set me As newtype

Seems he says that as long as users have full rights to modify a writeable file, Vista and 7 will not virtualize them.

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That is the way I made it sound (the FAQ article isn't really about that, so I didn't work out+explain the full detail), but I'm fairly sure that it isn't as simple as that - I have a feeling that files in protected locations ("Program Files" etc) require a manifest to be writeable without virtualisation.

Please see, in dilettante's post #11: "With the proper rights (for example write rights if you want to write to a given file) no virtualization will take place with or without a manifest. In many cases you end up giving full access on the folder to the Everyone group, and any files created there after you do this will also have those rights. There are lots of different rights: read, write, update, excute, delete, etc. so "full access" is often simpler than struggling over fine granularity."

Let's say I have one database in ProgramData\My Name that I want users to read/write. In my Inno Setup script, I grant full permissions/rights to all users for the folder and file.

Straightforward (no shenanigans).

Is a manifest file needed to prevent virtualization?

I am trying to comply (still and always). There just seems no way to get help with writing a manifest file quickly enough.

I'm fairly sure that what you intend to do will be fine, as ProgramData is not a protected location (thus any extra details of virtualization shouldn't come into effect).