Bug Launcher asks for Admin

[rm5248]

Hey Danpaul, can you fix your launcher to not ask for admin rights every single time it starts up?

 

That'd be great, since even the documentation from MSDN says to not run a program as admin, you should ask first.

 

Alternatively, what's the URL to download packages from?

[danpaul88]

It is by design that it requires admin rights, the UAC manifest is deliberately setup to always run in admin mode. This is required to write game files into the program files directory (the default install location) and for writing HKLM registry keys for system wide values (ie: which games are currently installed and where they are).

 

Whilst it would be nice to have a background service handle these tasks (which is how Steam works) I don't have the time to decouple the code to that extent in the near future, although I have done a few bits and pieces in that direction when I've been working on relevant classes.

[Plokite_Wolf]

That'd be great, since even the documentation from MSDN says to not run a program as admin, you should ask first.+

Microsoft believes the common user is a total moron, which is why they make such warnings. Most of the time lately, they are right. I've had UAC disabled since I got this laptop two years ago and I didn't regret it one single time even for a bit.

 

UAC does nothing but limit and annoy. Kill it with fire and it won't annoy you anymore.

[rm5248]

It is by design that it requires admin rights, the UAC manifest is deliberately setup to always run in admin mode. This is required to write game files into the program files directory (the default install location) and for writing HKLM registry keys for system wide values (ie: which games are currently installed and where they are).

 

Whilst it would be nice to have a background service handle these tasks (which is how Steam works) I don't have the time to decouple the code to that extent in the near future, although I have done a few bits and pieces in that direction when I've been working on relevant classes.

 

It'd be rather nice to be able to do this. Since this has been an issue for several years now.

 

 

 

That'd be great, since even the documentation from MSDN says to not run a program as admin, you should ask first.+

Microsoft believes the common user is a total moron, which is why they make such warnings. Most of the time lately, they are right. I've had UAC disabled since I got this laptop two years ago and I didn't regret it one single time even for a bit.

 

UAC does nothing but limit and annoy. Kill it with fire and it won't annoy you anymore.

 

 

In general, running things as admin is a Very Bad Idea. This is the oldest and simplest way to secure a computer: don't give a process more resources than it requires. A launcher does not require admin privileges to start a game. Or to download a game.

[Einstein]

But it does require admin rights to install it....unless Program files is now open for free editing from non admin users? Sure, it could install games to some random folder in the user's profile with no rights at all but thats silly IMO. No other users could use them then. Or do I misunderstand this?

 

Question: What bad thing could happen from this program that we know isn't malicious running at admin level? If it doesn't do anything bad, what is the fear here? I really do feel like I'm missing something. Or do all installers just not need to run as admin anymore for writing their needed reg edits and copying their needed files?

[rm5248]

But it does require admin rights to install it....unless Program files is now open for free editing from non admin users? Sure, it could install games to some random folder in the user's profile with no rights at all but thats silly IMO. No other users could use them then. Or do I misunderstand this?

 

Right, so it does require admin rights to install. That's not a problem.

 

Now let's break down the rest of the questions here!

 

Question: What bad thing could happen from this program that we know isn't malicious running at admin level? If it doesn't do anything bad, what is the fear here?

From my point of view, I have no way of verifying that the launcher is not malicious, since I have no way of auditing the source code(I don't believe that danpaul has written any malicious code). While this launcher does not do anything bad, here's a hypothetical situation for you. If I was able to hack into the webserver and upload a malicious version of the launcher, everybody would go and update it. They start the new launcher, click 'yes' to allow it to run with admin privileges, and then it could potentially have full control over the computer.

 

Here's an analogy for you: if you're running a hotel, do you give everybody who checks in a master key? No, you give them just the key to their room.

 

I really do feel like I'm missing something. Or do all installers just not need to run as admin anymore for writing their needed reg edits and copying their needed files?

It's more a question of one program that is doing several things. If it is only starting up games, great! it doesn't need admin privliges. It's only when it's installing that it needs privileges.