[wix-users] A package that can be run elevated or not elevated

[Griesshammer, Christoph (GE Healthcare)]

I've done a good amount of research on trying to figure out whether I can make a package that can be run both elevated or not elevated. From everything I keep reading, I see that one of the big drivers in requiring elevation is that most packages require an install to 'Program Files'.

My package does not have an upgrade, by which I mean, you can install multiple versions of the same package, and they are independent.

The goal of my package is to require an admin install, only the first time. After that a user should be able to install versions of the package without requiring admin privileges.

To do this, we have the user run as an admin the first time, so that we can set permissions to full for users as well, on the folder where future installations will also install to. Then the user should be able to make changes to the location, without being an admin.

The legacy package I am replacing, dealt with this by delivering the files to a temp location, and then having custom actions copy it the files to the appropriate Program Files location. When you ran it the first time, you had to have admin privileges, but after that you were fine to run as just a normal user, because the permissions were set on the folder. But this went against every rule of Windows Installer, and made everything a headache (especially for me, now). It was done in InstallShield.

My question is, can I make a package that can run elevated, but also run not elevated, granted that any action that would normally require admin privileges is allowed to run without admin privileges because it has been granted the right?

Christoph Griesshammer
GE Healthcare IT
Software Engineer

T: 978-395-5770
E: christoph.griesshammer at ge.com<mailto:christoph.griesshammer at ge.com>
http://www.gehealthcare.com<http://www.gehealthcare.com/>

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