can't write to text file after installing app

Hello,

I am a XP user who is testing out Vista. I am trying to determine how
Vista limits user's rights/permissions to files and folders.

I develop apps with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. I created a
Setup.exe with Visual Studio 2005. It works well in XP although I am
an administrator.

I tested the same setup.exe on a Vista computer and everything seems
to work. The apps by default get written to a subdirectory underneath
C:\ not Program Files\ not that that it matters where the install
folder is. When I run my app, it starts up but one thing that the app
does is it writes data to an ini file. App appears to work but it
does not actually update the file. If I try to edit the ini file with
notepad I cannot save the file. Apparently the file's permission is
not writeable.

I tried this both as a standard user and as an administrator.

Being a new user to Vista I am not sure what Vista prohibits user's
from writing. If I open Windows Explorer I can create a subdirectory
and text files as a standard user. I am trying to understand where
Vista prohibits standard users from writing.

Someone mentioned to me that maybe my Visual Studio 2005 setup creator
may not be providing additional info for permissions for the files I
am installing.

On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 15:36:22 -0700 (PDT), vbDavidC wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am a XP user who is testing out Vista. I am trying to determine how
> Vista limits user's rights/permissions to files and folders.
>
> I develop apps with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. I created a
> Setup.exe with Visual Studio 2005. It works well in XP although I am
> an administrator.
>
> I tested the same setup.exe on a Vista computer and everything seems
> to work. The apps by default get written to a subdirectory underneath
> C:\ not Program Files\ not that that it matters where the install
> folder is. When I run my app, it starts up but one thing that the app
> does is it writes data to an ini file. App appears to work but it
> does not actually update the file. If I try to edit the ini file with
> notepad I cannot save the file. Apparently the file's permission is
> not writeable.
>
> I tried this both as a standard user and as an administrator.
>
> Being a new user to Vista I am not sure what Vista prohibits user's
> from writing. If I open Windows Explorer I can create a subdirectory
> and text files as a standard user. I am trying to understand where
> Vista prohibits standard users from writing.
>
> Someone mentioned to me that maybe my Visual Studio 2005 setup creator
> may not be providing additional info for permissions for the files I
> am installing.

You should probably go to a developers' forum on this question.

That said, I understand that Vista restricts programs from writing in the
two program file directory trees "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)".

Try putting .ini files in a place such as:
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\YourProgram

Replace UserName and YourProgram by appropriate values, natch.

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 18:32:20 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"
<not-me@other.invalid> wrote:

>That said, I understand that Vista restricts programs from writing in the
>two program file directory trees "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)".
>
>Try putting .ini files in a place such as:
> C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\YourProgram
>
>Replace UserName and YourProgram by appropriate values, natch.

My thoughts too. I'd actually look at Vista another way: assume you
can't write anywhere except in the current user's directory and you
will be mostly on target.

On Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:10:10 -0400, +Bob+ wrote:

> On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 18:32:20 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"
> <not-me@other.invalid> wrote:
>
>>That said, I understand that Vista restricts programs from writing in the
>>two program file directory trees "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)".
>>
>>Try putting .ini files in a place such as:
>> C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\YourProgram
>>
>>Replace UserName and YourProgram by appropriate values, natch.
>
> My thoughts too. I'd actually look at Vista another way: assume you
> can't write anywhere except in the current user's directory and you
> will be mostly on target.

That can't be true - it's too easy! Even I can remember that one...

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom