I'm building an installer with WiX to install a program, per machine (not per user), and it gives them the option to register the program. Registration involves entering user name and organization (or accepting some defaults from Windows settings), and entering a valid registration key. When the registration key is validated, I write registry settings in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE area with this information. Under Windows, when one runs the MSI, it prompts automatically for an admin password to be able to set registry values in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. So far life is good...
I am including an option in the MSI to give the user the option to defer registration until a later point in time. However, if the user is a normal user and they are running the application, if I have a dialog in the app which prompts for name/org/product-key, Windows doesn't the app to write the information to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. So a user cannot use the application itself, running as a normal user, to perform a registration per-machine as the MSI does after prompting for admin credentials.
My thought then was, for post-installation registration, to either (a) find a way from within the application to elevate privileges, with a prompt for admin credentials, allowing it to write HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE (is this possible?), (b) include an option in the installer that, when run and the app is already installed and not registered, walks through the registration as it would during a normal install. It would then prompt for the admin credentials and life is good again. Alternatively, (c) create a separate MSI that just does registration, install this with the program, and call this MSI from the program when the user selects the "Register..." command in the program.
I've not seen either of these approaches done by any applications before, so I'm not sure either is a good approach. Other than that, however, I'm not sure how, post-installation, I can conveniently allow the user to do a per-machine app registration. Ideally, I'd like to be able to do it from a command within the app, but re-running the installation MSI would be minimally acceptable.
How is this normally done? Or are per-machine installations even normally accompanied by per-machine registrations?
Very good question - I have dealt with this issue many times myself. No ideal solutions, but several options (as you have already discovered).
Before answering, I want to point out that I have a strong aversion against doing too much registration and configuration in the setup itself. It is error prone, and much better done in the application itself for a plethora of reasons: Installer with Online Registration for Windows Application (recommended quick read - tidbits from real life experience).
Writing to HKCU
As you already know, one option is to keep the license key and registration in HKCU only. This is often acceptable unless you want to share a license key between many users on the box. The license key, if added to HKCU, will also generally roam with the user to other computers - which can be helpful or desirable.
Personally, this is the option I prefer: not registering anything in the setup, but writing to HKCU or the user-profile from the application (as explained in the link above as well). As stated, the only drawback is that you can't write a shared license key to HKLM so it applies to all users and not just a single user. This appears to be the core of the problem you are describing.
Writing to HKLM
Setup writes HKLM: Write the HKLM license key (and registration) during the setup to HKLM as Phil has described above using the default Windows Installer properties (just listing this as an option - which you already know about). This should work OK in my opinion - but your issue seemed to be to allow the "deferred registration".
Custom HKLM ACL permissioning: In order to write to HKLM from your non-elevated application, one way to do it is to use your setup to apply custom ACL permissions to the location in HKLM where you want to write the shared registry key from your application. Your application can then freely update this specific location in HKLM at any time without elevated rights. You simply add ACL write access for "Users".
WiX supports this, but I don't have a sample for you available, please check the WiX documentation for permissioning.
Using custom permissioning is generally frowned upon (and I agree it is not ideal design), but it allows any user to add a license key to HKLM without any elevation after the install (and also allows any users to delete it - which can be a problem).
See section 14 here for a quick description of why custom permissioning is not generally recommended: How do I avoid common design flaws in my WiX / MSI deployment solution?
In summary, I don't generally suggest setting custom permissions, but it will definitely work. I have done it myself when client requirements are such that this is the only thing they will accept. It will violate logo requirements for Windows applications, but it should be less serious than the security issues that result from option 3 below.
Run app as admin: If you don't want to apply ACL permissions, I believe you can prompt the user for admin rights for your application as described here (I believe this is what Phil referred to in his comment if I understand correctly):
How do I force my .NET application to run as administrator? (the legendary Hans Passant - one more answer).
This is most definitely not recommended (but we want to show people what is possible too). Your whole application will run with admin rights all the time, which is not a good idea at all.
Doing this will violate a key part of logo requirements for Windows applications and you will also open your application up to attack from malware.
Definitely try to make your users understand the consequences of this "easy fix". I would make sure to put all responsibility on the client if they go for this option - they must understand what they are doing.
Note that you should be able to use this manifest approach to launch a separate EXE with elevated rights to do only the registration. See next bullet point.
Elevate app on demand: I am not familiar with the technical details of elevating your application on demand whilst it is running - as you invoke a dialog or feature that needs HKLM access. Perhaps Phil knows a way to achieve this? I found some links though:
Elevating during runtime (from Code Project)
How to elevate privileges only when required? (good read)
Skimming the linked content above, it seems like you can launch a separate EXE with elevated rights to do your registration - a known option for you I assume.
Would love to hear back if this is something you decide to try. Could be useful for all of us.
Internet validation: Just throwing an option out there: what I often want to do is to put the whole registration license key validation online from within the application (never, ever try this from the setup, just so that is mentioned - a setup that tries to access the Internet might be the biggest deployment anti-pattern of all - at least for now).
I write the license key from the setup, and the validation of it takes place on application launch against a server on the Internet. Then there is no validation code in your application or your setup to crack.
You need an Internet "handshake" and you can repeat this process per user - allowing you to tightly control who is using your license key.
Nothing is ever easy, and proxy server issues could cause problems. Corporate deployment would also mean that such "online activation" is frowned upon. They want applications fully installed after deployment.
Separate registration MSI: I would prefer not to create a separate MSI just for the registration process as you mention in your question. This just seems like unnecessary complexity that can break easily. For one thing you get a dual source problem that must be permanently maintained. I would guess that this could become a classic support issue.
Re-run original MSI: I am honestly not sure if re-running your original setup to do the registration will launch it elevated or not. I think it will be elevated (should be, can't see any reason why it shouldn't - the MSI database stores a flag to determine if elevation is required "Word Count"), and then you should be able to add your registration details provided you access the registration dialog from the setups "modify" or "repair" modes.
This kind of registration is usually done using the standard Windows Installer properties so it just works.
If you have a verification key then it's typically associated (in the dialog) with the standard PIDKEY property which then after validation becomes the ProductId property.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370826(v=vs.85).aspx
Similarly the user name and company name are associated in the dialog with the USERNAME and COMPANYNAME properties.
After this, they're available through (Win32) MsiGetProductInfo () by asking for RegOwner etc:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370130(v=vs.85).aspx
or similar APIs (WMI does some of this).
So generally speaking you just set the properties from the dialogs and it all just works with no need for you to write them to the registry.
Related
Many Windows programs are able to run an update when they start, without an admin prompt. Similarly, my program needs to update itself, without any user input. Any user who logs in needs to be able to use the program.
My program can already find new updates, download them, and run them, but the NSIS installer/updater requires admin rights.
What would I need to do to implement this using Free Pascal and NSIS, short of giving all users access to the installation directory?
Is your application that important that you need to do this? How often do you actually plan to push out updates?
Most applications can probably get away with just elevating with UAC each time it needs to install a update.
If you absolutely feel that you need to "bypass UAC" then you can do what Firefox does; install a NT Service. You don't start this service in the installer but you must call GetNamedSecurityInfo+SetNamedSecurityInfo so you can add SERVICE_START access for the Everyone group to the ACL. Your application running as a normal user can then start this service when there is an update and the service does the updating.
From a security standpoint there are some dangers here because the service runs with full access to the system so you must make sure that your updates are signed so it does not become an easy to use backdoor if someone is able to pull off a man in the middle attack.
I personally think that you should consider doing per-user installations if your program is not too big...
Looking for suggestions on how to go about the following, i.e what would be the best language to do it in etc, third party tools are a no :(
I've been tasked to create some sort of windows shell/command line interface that will allow a standard users to install a specific set of applications (configurable by administrators) (installation requires Admin/UAC elevation) due to security restrictions the user cannot have elevated privileges so they'll be able to run the shell as a standard user and it would have hidden/encrypted credentials built in to run the installs as.
Some of the requirements are as follows:
It would need to work on Server 2008 R2, 2012 r1 and 2012 r2
The credentials used to perform the install would have to be hidden (encrypted) from the end user.
Ideally it could work by us providing some config to it prior to handing that server over to the customer and limit what it could be used to install to a particular .exe or .msi (so we know of a need to install an app, we are advised of the name of the install and can logon and can enter it into a form maybe so only that app can be installed, then hand the server over to the customer who runs the same utility or shell extension or whatever and can then install their app.
Even more ideally it was more intelligent than that and some means of ensuring any .msi was indeed installing the application that the msi name related to (seems unlikely but just in case a normal user created an .msi to grant himself further admin access as per http://blogs.technet.com/b/fdcc/archive/2011/01/25/alwaysinstallelevated-is-equivalent-to-granting-administrative-rights.aspx )
Ideally its lifespan would be limited in terms of time (unsure if this could be for example to x number of days).
Any pointers on how to go about this, seems like a good challenge :)
Thanks for reading all that!
Mike
Thanks for the responses,
I managed to do this in C#, with no prior experience in the language :)
The application has 2 parts to it, a GUI and a service. It works by having the application send an install command via IPC to it's counterpart elevated service. (Thanks Hans Passant for pointing me in the right direction there). The service initiates the installer under it's own elevated account but displays the installer GUI on the users session. Files are HMACSHA1 checksum validated prior to install, on both the app and the service.
Thanks,
Mike
If a user requires the ability to install application in the Program Files folder, then instruct the domain administrator to give Full Control of the Program Files folder to Everyone:
Just because the default setting forbids standard users from modifying programs, doesn't mean you have to keep it that way. Windows is a secure operating system that gives you the capability to keep it secure.
If your administrator only wants some users to be able to modify the contents of the Program Files folder, then only give that permission to certain users.
The better solution is to re-design the applications so that they do not install in a (by default) protected location. Have them instead install in:
%APPDATA_LOCAL%\Contoso\Frobber\Grob.exe
e.g.
D:\Users\Ian\AppData\Local\Contoso\Frobber\Grob.exe
A user is always allowed to write anything in their own profile folder.
My users typically work on locked-down workstations. They lack administrator privileges and cannot install software for themselves. In the past, I've designed my applications to be installed per-machine, not per-user. An administrator installs my application on a workstation, and everyone using that workstation can then use the application.
Now I'm considering switching to a per-user install, but I don't know how that would work in my user environment. Is there a way for an administrator to say "Use my privileges to install this application not for me, but for user X?" Does the administrator have to do one user install at a time, or is there a way to do a batch of installs all at once? In a nutshell, am I making things easier, harder, or impossible for the IT staff? Does any of this depend on my installer? (I'm using Windows Installer.)
There's no such thing as "install privileges". The only reason that a non-admin user cannot install a conventional application is that the installer typically (a) wants to put the application files in Program Files which requires admin privilege; and (b) wants to create a registry key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software and write to it. [Still older installers may also want to write files into system32, make other global registry changes, and so on, but this is discouraged nowadays.]
A per-user install happens without any administrator privilege. The application files are put in the user's own space, e.g., inside the application data folder, and the application's registry key is created in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software instead of HKLM. This means the user can install the application themselves without the admin's assistance or permission. [Actually an administrator can lock down the system in such a way that users can't install their own applications, but this isn't common outside of the stricter enterprise environments.]
If an application only supports per-user installation, there is no way for the administrator to install the application on the user's behalf. Each user has to run the installer themselves. [Of course a skilled administrator could automate this so that, for example, the installer runs automatically when the user logs in.]
Whether per-user installation makes things easier or harder on the IT staff depends entirely on the scenario. However, many enterprise sysadmins are unhappy about per-user applications. There are also scenarios (roaming profiles, for example) where per-user applications may either malfunction or cause other problems such as excessive network load or disk quota issues. [And in some enterprises they will be locked out altogether due to software restriction policy, AppLocker, and/or third-party equivalents.]
It is possible for an installer to support both per-machine and per-user installation, so this is usually the best option; alternatively, like Google Chrome, you could provide separate per-user and a per-machine installers for the same application.
If I understand correctly, Windows Installer makes it particularly easy to provide an installer that can do both per-machine and per-user installations. Most .msi files that support per-user installations will also support per-machine installations via the ALLUSERS property. I'm not sure whether the developer needs to do anything in particular to make this work.
Per user installs was a mistake. It should be an option, not the default as we see more and more malicious apps and unwanted apps under user directories. This is not the way cybersecurity works by putting applications in the hands of untrained and cyber rejected users. Users want easy and cybersecurity is neither easy or agile. Simple put, DevSecOps is how security works and agile does not say anything about security. In fact, the IBM/Ponemon Cost of a Data Breach continue to state that DevSecOps is a breach mitigator and those practicing it have a much less chance of being breached.
Further, agile signatory and one of the original agile authors Robert C. Martin states in his new book
"Agile is a set of principles, practices, and disciplines that help small teams build small software projects.
Agile is a small idea about the small problem of small programming teams doing small things. Agile is not a big idea about the big problem of big programming teams doing big things."
I've been asked to sort out what the security requirements are for our MSI installers. Unfortunately, I'm a bit stuck on what is required of a Windows Installer Component ID Launch Condition. I can't seem to dig up where those component id's are even stored. Any insight would be greatly appriciated.
The short answer: there are no permissions required. Everyone can evaluate the launch condition.
Components are handled internally by Windows Installer, along with the cached MSI. It doesn't matter where their information is stored because Windows Installer is fully integrated with user accounts, permissions and the UAC.
Basically, Windows Installer can do whatever it wants. None of its built-in actions will fail because of permissions because they were designed this way.
Additonally, searches only read information. Since the component information is stored internally and it's not accessible to your users, there's no reason a permission problem would occur.
I have an application that is installed per-machine (since it uses a service). One part of the application is a system tray application that allows the logged-in user to monitor the service operations. I'm trying to figure out how to best install this monitor application.
Each individual user should be allowed to configure whether or not he/she wants to run the monitor application at login. This means that the HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Run key is out - this only allows configuration for all users.
There is of course the corresponding HKCU-key, however if one simply installs to this key, it will only be for the user that installs the application.
The SO question Launch app on startup for all users, but also allow per-user setting (Windows) refers to the technique of simply having a user-configurable regkey or similar that is checked by the startup-application on to determine whether or not to run. But this means that the application has to start in order to check the value and I would prefer not to bloat the user's startup if I can avoid it. The benefit of this approach is that it is possible to remove the regkey on uninstall.
Another way to accomplish the installation part may be to use Active Setup to create the HKCU regkey on login, this is however undocumented and it seems to me that there is no easy way to uninstall the regkey if the application is uninstalled? I would assume that leaving registry values under the Run key for HKCU might create problems for users after uninstallation.
Is there a standard way to handle per-user startup applications using Windows Installer? Especially with regard to how to uninstall these later on?
Looks to me like you're close to answering your own question. I think you may just need to divide up the responsibility of configures whether to auto-run for each user... er, let me explain:
You can use either a self-healing component of HKCU Registry keys or ActiveSetup to ensure that every user gets the configuration.
If you use an HKCU Registry key, your MSI installer needs to have a component with it's "key file" as an HKCU entry--so thus the first time a new user launches the program, Windows Installer will do a self-heal to write those entries. One of those entries would be your HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Run value, but not the key value, because you want the users to be able to remove it and not have it come back every time they run the program! You would then want your program to have an option to remove the auto-run value.
If you use ActiveSetup (which I would recommend because it's simple and it "just works"), then you might find it easiest to make a simple app (or VBScript or such) which prompts the user if they want to have the monitor program auto-run. So your ActiveSetup would launch the prompt program/script, and the prompt program would create the HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Run value or, better yet, just a shortcut in the user's Start Menu\Programs\Startup directory.
A bit lowtech possibly, but can't you just add a shortcut to the user's startup folder (Start menu/Programs/Startup)?
I guess you would use the HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Run in this case. The feature to run the monitor application at startup or not really belongs to the monitor application and not the installer. At log-on the monitor application can detect if this is the first time that the monitor application has been run and present the user with an option to always run the monitor application on start up or not.