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While most applications run well under a limited user account, I had some trouble with Macromedia's HomeSite 5.5, a text editor for Web development. I originally purchased and upgraded HomeSite from Allaire, who later merged with Macromedia. The HomeSite application's last stand-alone version is still available at version 5.5 and I upgraded to that version with Macromedia. Further development of the application's capability will be in a component of Macromedia's Dreamweaver. When I was running with my previous full administrative privileges user account, I had no trouble running the application under Windows XP Pro/SP2. I realize there is a compatibility mode in Windows XP for running applications built for previous versions of the Windows operating system, but that isn't needed here. (If interested, right-click an application shortcut and select the "Compatibility" tab. You will see options for running as Windows 95, 98/ME, NT 4.0/SP 5, and Windows 2000.)
After converting to a limited user account, I found the other adult account on the computer did not show HomeSite in the "Start:All Programs" menu and navigating to its Program Files directory to launch the program proved unsuccessful. I found that my limited user account could not save preferences. I decided to uninstall and re-install to see if I could change that. I use both my Limited User account and have access to the Administrator account. Here are my notes.
Some programs will not install correctly if you do not have administrative
privileges on this computer.
If you know the password to an administrative account, you can use that
account to install the program.
( ) Run the program as 'MachineName\Username'
( ) Run the program as the following user:
Administrator [or] Admin
I assume this is for HomeSite, as no program is identified and the desktop hasn't loaded, so I select "install" as my limited user, checking that radio button. I did not check the box for "Always run install..."
Previously, I selected the Admin user at this "install" prompt, launched the program and entered the serial number. A later launch of HomeSite as my limited user displayed the initial configuration window again with full launch after that.
The software cannot launch. The serial number in the registry is incorrect
and cannot be changed because you do not have administrative rights.
Please contact your system administrator. [OK]
input.html: Doctype given is "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
input.html: Document content looks like HTML 4.01 Transitional
4 warnings/errors were found!
I saved the document and validated the document, unexpectedly seeing many HTML errors. I opened "Options:Settings:Validation" and checked the box for "XHTML 1.0 Strict" and clicked the "Apply" button, an alert appears:
Error:
Cannot create file "C:\Program Files\Macromedia\HomeSite 5\UserData\Taglist.dat" [OK]
To verify that the "Taglist.dat" file is unchanged, I quit HomeSite and navigated to the HomeSite program directory described in the error alert and viewed a detailed listing of files. I see "TagList.dat" has "11/20/2000 6:48 PM" as "Date Modified." Opening this file, I see it is just a list of HTML tags. Preferences must be elsewhere, possibly in the Registry. I validate the document again (as XHTML now) and it passes with no errors.
This is one of the problems with applications having trouble running as a limited user. The application wants to save a file located in a subdirectory of Program Files, a protected area. The recommended standard is for the developer to save preferences in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Access to system-level keys in the Registry can be set to KEY_READ rather than KEY_ALL_ACCESS, an administrative privilege. (See: "Cracking Software to Run as Non-Admin" for one example of a modification made to a program.)
I downloaded FileMon (File Activity Monitor) and RegMon (Registry Monitor) from SysInternals.Com. I run them from the command line of the MakeMeAdmin terminal window, setting filters for "HomeSite" from the "Options:Filter/Highlight" menu item. I launch the HomeSite application and change the Validation setting to include XHTML, as before and then quit the application. Browsing the utility log windows, I see lines that contain "ACCESS DENIED":
[FileMon]
11:08:09 PM Homesite5.exe:2088 CREATE I:\Program Files\Macromedia\HomeSite 5\Extensions\versions.vtv ACCESS DENIED PJCXP600\Paul Corr
[RegMon]
7.37166834 Homesite5.exe:1396 CreateKey HKCR\AllaireClientApp.TAllaireSourceControlManager ACCESS DENIED Access: 0x2001F PJCXP600\Paul Corr
7.37192678 Homesite5.exe:1396 CreateKey HKCR\AllaireClientApp.TAllaireSourceControlManager ACCESS DENIED Access: 0x2001F PJCXP600\Paul Corr
7.79823399 Homesite5.exe:1396 OpenKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\Macromedia\Dreamweaver\ ACCESS DENIED Access: 0xF003F PJCXP600\Paul Corr
11.64042664 Homesite5.exe:1396 SetValue HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Common Documents ACCESS DENIED PJCXP600\Paul Corr
"Program Files" is a protected file hierarchy, unavailable to limited users. Current practice is to save user-specific files under "Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Application Data\[Vendor]\[AppName]". I have a number of folders under Macromedia, but none for HomeSite.
For the Registry keys mentioned in the logs, HKCR is HKEY_CURRENT_ROOT, HKLM is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. CreateKey or other key editing registry calls should only target HKEY_CURRENT_USER hierarchy keys. Others should be read only. So, it appears HomeSite wasn't tested as a limited user. Any preference setting change will remain only for the current editing session. I will have to set my validation setting each time.
Macromedia HomeSite 5.5 as an application has partial success running under a Limited User account. I found I can't keep a validation preference setting as the settings is in a file located in the protected "Program Files" folder hierarchy or a global, rather than a current user registry key. Therefore, the setting will remain for the current session only. I found that a second user on the machine cannot use the application, only the installing user. It didn't matter if I did the required Administrator install and then selected "Administrator" or my user account in the "install" dialog box that appeared after the installation reboot. I saw the same behavior. I am the only user that needs access to this particular application, so it isn't really a problem but I did want to test restrictions of my limited user accounts. Other applications, including Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, are available to both users on the machine and all preference settings use registry keys.
