Installer doesn't recognize program files folder

bovirus · Post by *bovirus » 2006-02-17, 10:20 UTC

Hi.

I checked that the installer program don't set in the right way the default folder for installation.

I tested it into Windows Xop Pro 32bit and Xp pro 64bit.

When you run trhe installer, the default folder for installation is c:\totalcmd. It's not the best set.

The installer should be read the win variable that point to "Program files" folder (ex. "Program Files" in x32bit english, "Program Files (x86)" in x64 english, "Programmi" in x32 italian), add the folder with a long name "ex. Total Commander" (we are working on Windows with long file names/folders). In this way the default folder for the installation should be

C:\Program Files\Total Commander (Xp pro 32bit english)
C:\Program Files (x86)\Total Commander (Xp pro 64bit english)
C:\Programmi\Total Commander (Xp pro 32bit italian)

and so on for other language.

Bye.

Sheepdog · Post by *Sheepdog » 2006-02-17, 12:34 UTC

You can do that by yourself by editing the install.inf in the installer:

Code: Select all

DIR=%ProgramFiles%\Total Commander

But before TC uses this dir it checks the registry if ther has been already a TC Version installed. So if you want to make it work you'll have first to make sure there is no registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ghisler\Total Commander\InstallDir
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Ghisler\Total Commander\InstallDir

And it's intentionally that it's not like this in the official version. If your not a Administrator on your system you have probably no write access to the %programfiel% folder.

sheepdog

bovirus · Post by *bovirus » 2006-02-17, 12:47 UTC

Thank you for the info.

I will unpack the single -exe file of the installer and I will modify the .inf file.

Thanks again.

Sheepdog · Post by *Sheepdog » 2006-02-17, 12:58 UTC

Maybe This thread is of interest for you.

sheepdog

karlchen · Post by *karlchen » 2006-02-17, 14:55 UTC

Sheepdog wrote:And it's intentionally that it's not like this in the official version. If your not a Administrator on your system you have probably no write access to the %programfiles% folder.

I know this argument.

Yet it is not very convincing, because on NT-based systems only Admins have the right to create folders in the root folder. - WRONG, NONSENSE, just my wishful thinking, any user can create a folder in the root-folder of a local drive. - Had to learn this from some posts below.
However, Admins and power users will have the right to create folders inside %programfiles%.

From my perspective the default installation folder "\totalcmd", if no existing installation can be found, is one of the strange things which are maintained for no good reason at all. (But I will live with it.)

[Added 19.02.2006]
Actually, as my main assumption - only admins creating folders on the root - was proven wrong, my whole point of arguing in favour of %programfiles%\totalcmd is not too convincing.

(see below)
[/Added]

Karl

Sheepdog · Post by *Sheepdog » 2006-02-17, 15:12 UTC

karlchen wrote:Yet it is not very convincing, because on NT-based systems only Admins have the right to create folders in the root folder.
However, Admins and power users will have the right to create folders inside %programfiles%.

From my perspective the default installation folder "\totalcmd", if no existing installation can be found, is one of the strange things which are maintained for no good reason at all. (But I will live with it.)

Karl

sheepdog wrote:And it's intentionally that it's not like this in the official version. If your not a Administrator on your system you have probably no write access to the %programfiel% folder.

karlchen · Post by *karlchen » 2006-02-17, 15:38 UTC

Hey, Sheepdog.

Do I have to understand this?

Your only answer is simply repeating (Christian's) incorrect argument to keep up "C:\totalcmd" as the default destination folder for fresh installations?

Ok, I'll explain again:

On WinMe/Win9x it does not matter, because as a rule everbody has full access to the complete disk.
On NT-based systems no-one except the Admins will be able to create "C:\totalcmd", because it is located in the root folder. - WRONG, NONSENSE, just my wishful thinking, any user can create a folder in the root-folder of a local drive. - Had to learn this from some posts below.
On NT-based systems Admins and Powerusers will be able to create "%programfiles%\Totalcmd.
On NT-based sytems normal users will not be able to create anything either on the root or inside %programfiles%, because they are not meant to install software.
Of course you may find NT-based systems where the default access rights for the root folder and %programfiles% have been modified.
If %programfiles% were not a suitable default location for programme installation, why then do so many installers default to suggesting to create the programme folder inside %programfiles%?
Therefore I support Bovirus's suggestion to make "%programfiles%\Totalcmd" the default location for a fresh installation of TC.
I know how to overwrite default values, so I can live with the situation as it is. But nonetheless I would not mind the suggested change. And Bovirus was not the first one to suggest it.

Karl

Sheepdog · Post by *Sheepdog » 2006-02-17, 16:04 UTC

I apologize for my last post. Anyhow I read something complete different and jsut wondered a moment if you edited your post (and my quote, too

).

Seems that it has been a long day for me today.

Yes I only repeated @ghislers argument and only for bovirus information. It does indeed not mean that I think c:\totalcmd is aproproate.

sheepdog

karlchen · Post by *karlchen » 2006-02-17, 16:13 UTC

Hello, Sheepdog.

Thanks for clarifying. I was just a bit confused, because I did not understand what it might mean.

Karl

Elendacil · Post by *Elendacil » 2006-02-18, 16:04 UTC

I think it's only a good idea to change Total Commander so it defaults to installing into the Program Files folder like pretty much all other software does. However...

karlchen wrote: [*]On NT-based systems no-one except the Admins will be able to create "C:\totalcmd", because it is located in the root folder.

This is incorrect information. I do not remember how it was with NT systems prior to Windows XP, but it's an absolute fact that in Windows XP, even limited (non-admin) users can create folders in the root of the system drive, assuming the default NTFS ACLs. A reference straight from the horse's mouth, in other words Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/winlogo/software/windowsxp-sw.mspx

Said by Microsoft:

A secure Windows environment is defined as the environment exposed to a Limited (non-Administrator) user by default on a clean-installed NTFS system. In this environment, users can only write to these specific locations on a local machine:
Their own portions of the registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
Their own user profile directories (CSIDL_PROFILE)
A Shared Documents location (CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS)
A folder that the user creates from the system drive root

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2006-02-19, 09:42 UTC

This is incorrect information. I do not remember how it was with NT systems prior to Windows XP, but it's an absolute fact that in Windows XP, even limited (non-admin) users can create folders in the root of the system drive, assuming the default NTFS ACLs.

This is also true for Windows 2000.

karlchen · Post by *karlchen » 2006-02-19, 17:06 UTC

I'm sooo sorry, because you are right and because Windows actually does allow non-admins to create folders in the root-folder.

It is a shame, there should be a federal law against it

Now I understand why I have to move away all the junk non-admins put into root-folders to their home folders so often.

OK, so my main argument in favour of %programfiles%\totalcmd as the default installation folder has been proven wrong. All right, so just forget about it.
I'm free to set it for any fresh installation manually once and all subsequent updates will then default to it anyway.

Karl