Limited User Account

I'm trying it out now, and tried downloading and installing some software in the limited account, and it installed fine. What the heck? I thought it was supposed to pop-up saying I need admin access. Is that because I didn't log off the admin account or what, or will some software install in a limited account?

 

It might be due to the profile setting of the login user. You should be able to check that out.

 

Drew99GT,

A few questions first.

Do you have Vista or XP, what version?

Were you running as admin or as limited user account.

Now run REGEDIT and look what is in:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and look at

"ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin" User Account Control: Behavior of the Elevation Prompt For Administrators in Admin Approval Mode
"ConsentPromptBehaviorUser" User Account Control: Behavior of the Elevation Prompt For Standard Users
"EnableInstallerDetection" User Account Control: Detect Application Installations and Prompt For Elevation 1 = ON (default), 0 = OFF
"EnableLUA" User Account Control: Run All Administrators in Admin Approval Mode 1 = ON (default), 0 = OFF
"EnableSecureUIAPaths" User Account Control: Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations 1 = ON (defaut), 0 = OFF
"EnableVirtualization" User Account Control: Virtualizes file and registry write failures to per-user locations 1 = ON (default), 0 = OFF
"FilterAdministratorToken" User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator Account 1 = ON, 0 = OFF (default)
"PromptOnSecureDesktop" User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation 1 = ON (default) 0 = OFF
"ValidateAdminCodeSignatures" User Account Control: Only elevate executables that are signed and validated 1 = ON 0=OFF (default)


ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin
0 = run in quite mode (keep UAC on, but automaticallu elevate to Admin)
1 = run UAC, when an elevation request occurs, your are asked to enter the admin password
2 = run UAC, prompts for confirmation to continue a task which requires admin rights (default)

ConsentPromptBehaviorUser
0 = no pop-up, disallow/block when UAC is and running as limited user account
1 = allows you to take over the credentials of the admin by entering account and password


FilterAdministratorToken
See http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsvistasecurity/archive/2006/08/27/windowsvistasecurity_.aspx


Regards

 

There is software that can be installed with limited rights (as it doesn't want to write, e.g., in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) as long as you don't install it in the Program Files folder but in another folder where the user has full access. If you installed it in your Program Files folder (where a limited user has no write access) and you didn't get an error message/popup, something is misconfigured on your system.

EDIT: There is another possibility. If you had used suDown - as recommended in other threads here - before you installed your software it's possible that you were able to install in Program Files as suDown stores the password for some minutes and you are not forced to enter it again if admin rights are needed within that timeframe.