UAC - why is it there, what does it do and why has it broken my installation?
With the introduction of (the much maligned) Windows Vista in 2007, Microsofttm introduced a new security feature - UAC. UAC (or User Account Control) was an attempt to limit application software to standard user privileges until an administrator authorised an elevation. The intention of this was to stop the likes of Malware from compromising the operating system as - in theory - you would be warned of any changes trying to be made and given the option of blocking them.
One undesired knock on effect of this method is if you are installing software that uses a slightly older installation method. Older installer programs are not aware of UAC and so when they reach the end of the installation process and are attempting to register any runtime components into the system registry, UAC would attempt to ask for confirmation. The installer program has no idea how to deal with this interuption and will usually generate an error at that point, cancelling the installation.This is particularly annoying as at this point? The installation is pretty much complete bar the registering of run time components. The best way of resolving this would be to consider the following:
Once the installation is complete, UAC can be turned back up again if required, and the user can log back in using their normal account. This should have allowed all components to have registered correctly, and the software should now be ready to run.
But what if I can't turn down my UAC setting?
If - for some reason - you are unable to change your UAC settings for the installation process then all is not lost. At the end of the installation process - if you are having UAC issues - you will likely be confronted with the following message:
Unexpected Error; Quitting
This message is entirely due to the scenario described above - UAC is set too high, and the installer cannot register components correctly. If you go on to click on the icon to run the software, you will also be presented with this message. This, however, is where we get a little bit of a break.When the software is launched it examines the system for the components that it needs - if it cannot locate these in the registry then it will attempt to register the components. UAC is still thwarting these attempts but we do have a work around at this stage.First of all you will need to open My Computer or Windows Explorer and go into the installation folder.
Once in the Heva25 folder, you should then navigate into the Programs folder. While in here you need to locate 4 programs.
For each of these programs; right click on them and select the RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR option from the context menu - you may need you IT people to provide you with an admin log in and password - when you do this you may still be presented with a message on screen but it should be something like "Must be run from MENU program", rather than "Unexpected Error; Quitting". Once all four programs have been run in this manner (HEVBANNER will likely start up correctly - exit the program and ensure you run all four programs before starting a project!) all the components needed to run the software correctly should be registered into your system and you will be 'good to go'In summary... As always, I would recommend ensuring you are logged onto your computer as an administrator with UAC turned down/off for the installation or update process, but if this is not possible then the information above should help a great deal.Final noteTo change UAC settings, you need to use the Control Panel and go into the Users section. You should be able to see the UAC options from there. Note that changing the settings requires a reboot - this is one of the few things that does need a reboot in Windows Vista or Windows 7 (and 8) but you must reboot your computer otherwise the changes to UAC will not take place.Once installation is complete, you can turn your UAC back up and log back in using your normal user account.