Administrator installations

To start the install process, the WebClient installer first checks if the user can perform an Administrator install.

The installer checks if either of the following conditions is true:

  • The user is a member of a group that has Administrator rights.
  • The user has write-access to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE registry key, the C:\Program Files directory, and the C:\Windows\system32 directory.

Granting write privileges

For security reasons, many companies do not want to grant everyone Administrator privileges. To use an Administrator instance, an Administrator should grant all users of your WebClient application write access to certain registry keys and directories. Granting these privileges might be a problem in some deployment environments. The following table lists the necessary write privileges for installing and using an Administrator installation.

Table 1. Administrator installation required permissions
Task Requires write access to ...
Install an application HKLM\SOFTWARE to create a <vendor>\<app> subkey

C:\Program Files\Progress Software\WebClient

Write access is only needed when installing both WebClient and a WebClient application.C:\Program Files\WebClientApps
Run the application HKLM\SOFTWARE\ <vendor> \ <app> and its subkeys

C:\Program Files\WebClientApps\<vendor>\<app>

Unless temp files have been redirected to a writeable directory.
Download an "As needed" component HKLM\SOFTWARE\ <vendor> \ <app>

C:\Program Files\WebClientApps\ <vendor> \ <app> and its subdirectories
Update to a new version HKLM\SOFTWARE\ <vendor> \ <app>

C:\Program Files\Progress Software\WebClient

Write access is only needed if the update includes both WebClient and a WebClient application.

C:\Program Files\WebClientApps\ <vendor> \ <app> and its subdirectories

Uninstall the application HKLM\SOFTWARE\ <vendor> \ <app> and its subkeys

C:\Program Files\Progress Software\WebClient

Write access is only needed if the uninstall includes both WebClient and a WebClient application.

C:\Program Files\WebClientApps\<vendor>\<app> and its subdirectories

An Administrator might avoid granting some of these privileges by setting up batch jobs to handle updates for the users. The Administrator must also arrange the download of all "As needed" components before the end users try to access them.

Multiple installations on one machine

Progress recommends that you do not use both installation types of the same WebClient application on a single machine. If several users on the same machine use a WebClient application, a single Administrator installation uses less resources. You should uninstall any personal installations of an application if an Administrator installation exists.

However, circumstances might cause a machine to host a mix of Administrator and personal instances of WebClient applications. As a result, a user might attempt to use a personal instance of a particular application that they installed before the Administrator instance was installed. You might also have several different WebClient applications installed on the same machine. When there are multiple WebClient installations on a single machine, an Administrator installation has precedence over a personal installation.

For more information about multiple installation types on one machine, see WebClient installation types