windows 7 UAC notifications

[Sazdek]

every time i try to boot up ventrillo and world of warcraft it gives me the little prompt asking if i would like such and such to make changes on my computer. tried running them both as admin and not as admin. is there any way to remedy this sans turning my UAC setting all the way down?

[llDemonll]

start -> control panel -> user accounts -> change user account control settings -> drag to desired setting -> restart -> change again if needed

[Sazdek]

i actually found some file called uac trust shortcut which makes trusted shortcuts for you. ive done the whole turning user account control settings down but it resets all your addons....and that's a debacle i loathe doing 20 times.

[Deleted]

disabling the UAC resets all your addons?? why would it do that? (which addons are you referring to - certainly not WoW's?)

what disabling UAC does is just prevent you from being informed when something needs to use administrative permissions and wants you to know about it. (depending on what level you set UAC to).

Modifying the UAC shouldn't touch any settings at all...

[Tefty]

disabling the UAC resets all your addons?? why would it do that? (which addons are you referring to - certainly not WoW's?)

what disabling UAC does is just prevent you from being informed when something needs to use administrative permissions and wants you to know about it. (depending on what level you set UAC to).

Modifying the UAC shouldn't touch any settings at all...

^^^ This.

If your WoW addons are resetting it is not UAC, unless I completely missed something in my Windows 7 MCP which I doubt

[Deleted]

i also have been working with win 7 since the beta / CTP, and have not once seen ANYTHING get screwed by turning it off (with the exception of the possiblity that layer 8 installs stuff without thinking). i've also done my MCITP on W7 and have not once heard of breaking anything by doing it.

You can lose information if changing encryption keys or passwords depending on your setup - that has nothing to do with UAC tho.

edit: i just googled uac trust shortcut since ive never heard of it before.. it's a 3rd party tool designed to disable uac for individual programs. if you're going to do that, you might as well just disable it completely. malware can most certainly manipulate your settings there, or modify existing / trusted programs, etc. so what you end up getting there is a fake sense of security if anything. (like i said, ive never used it, i may be wrong).

if you use that tool, you're going to have to live with any side effects caused... while i doubt that the addon thing can happen that way (wow stores profiles in the WTF folder, not in some system place), i cant say it cant

[Deleted]

disabling the UAC resets all your addons?? why would it do that? (which addons are you referring to - certainly not WoW's?)

It doesn't. But what it can do is start using the WoW folder for addon storage, rather than the Virtualstorage tied to your Windows account. This was also the cause for the problematic patching on NT6 systems a few years ago because WoW wasn't programmed to properly realize it.

[Deleted]

It doesn't. But what it can do is start using the WoW folder for addon storage, rather than the Virtualstorage tied to your Windows account. This was also the cause for the problematic patching on NT6 systems a few years ago because WoW wasn't programmed to properly realize it.

with virtual storage, do you mean %userprofile%? if I'm not mistaken wow saves the account and profile settings per default in a subfolder of the wow folder (\wtf\account\.... or something).. you can run WoW from a USB stick with the exact same settings as before.. copy the files to another computer without the user's profile and it should work fine as well.

and even IF wow saved the settings to HKCU or somewhere else in the user's profile (maybe by installing it just for the current user - never tried it) the UAC shouldn't affect those settings at all..

And if all hell breaks lose and it DOES reset everything (for reasons unknown), you can still most likely export the settings from the original location...

[Deleted]

in a subfolder of the wow folder (\wtf\account\.... or something).

Yes, and its default Windows NT6 behaviour to move such files to a 'virtualstorage' if the program itself is located in a protected area (e.g. Program Files) and does not have admin privilages. The game -thinks- and -sees- it as it does normally, but the -real- file location actually isn't within the WoW folder.

Within the virtual storage, you'll find the entire HD link, from the Program Files folder, to the WoW folder, and then followed by the WTF.

If a program is run with admin privilages - it is permitted to write to the protected area - hence the virtual storage is not used.

For example, for me the WTF folder is located in:
C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\WTF

WoW itself is located in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft

As you can see, the files themselves are not at all stored where WoW is. However because of UAC virtualization - WoW believes and behaves perfectly as if they were. But with Administration privilages given, or UAC disabled - this system is knocked offline - which will cause the game to look for local files instead. It can't see the virtual ones, and as such - addons may 'reset'.

Naturally this also applies if you switch login on the machine in question. User A cannot access the files of user B, even though WoW isn't programmed to separate the two. A handy feature for older games such as Diablo, as you'll obtain 'private' files even for games that weren't programmed for it. You can also use this mechanic to enforce default settings in older programs like this. Files located at the real location will take precedence over files located in virtual storage. That too can cause problems if you run WoW once in Admin mode and end up with a new WTF folder in the true directory. The existance of those files will block the personal account ones.

[Deleted]

ok, i see the point in %programdata% being write protected, etc... the UAC warns when you want to write there (having the UAC activated does not mean that you cant access files under protected system folders). so basically wow isn't prevented (by default) by using those folders at all, you simply get a question whether or not you want to perform the requested action.

Even if it was, why should it "reset" addons by suddenly "forgetting" where the old ones where because it could now write to another location that it couldnt earlier... (simplified)

at least ive never seen anything like it in windows 7... can't recall in NT6 either... but yeah, we skipped rolling out vista, so i've only used that privately.

[Deleted]

at least ive never seen anything like it in windows 7...

Try playing around a little bit with it. There is a setting in the Task Manager where it can also be enabled and disabled. You may find that the UAC virtualization setting has a checkbox by it.

Even if it was, why should it "reset" addons by suddenly "forgetting" where the old ones where because it could now write to another location that it couldnt earlier... (simplified)

Because the operating system no longer provides the pointer to the old files it needs.

can't recall in NT6 either...

NT6 includes Windows 7, which is 6.1. When I say NT6, i mean both Vista and W7.

[Deleted]

ok, now i see what you mean ^^ (was a long birth :P )

but then you can restore the files from the user profile anyways...

still odd tho - i've never noticed that ever...

[Sazdek]

on my old laptop whenever i either set the program to run as admin OR turned my uac to the minimum i'de log back in and my addons were all reset to defaults =/