To make this possible, we’ll be using the Software Catalog provided with SCCM 2012. You could go ahead and create a GPO that writes the required registry keys, but it’s a bit messy and again requires a fair bit of initial effort to configure.Īllowing users to launch applications with administrative rights This becomes an unnecessary interruption for both the end user and admin.

So, we may get a support call that requires us to remote in, fire up the “other” applications with admin credentials, and set it as the default reader. Of course, changing the default programs associated with PDFs requires administrative access. We run two flavours, and users are generally given the choice to which one they choose. It gets to the point where you’re essentially re-writing the entire update, and quite frankly it’s just a massive time drain… not only that but it becomes a much riskier process and requires more testing. I even brought out the big guns and watched the installation with Sysinternals Process monitor. I’ve spent a fair amount of time trying to dissect this installation, capturing the process with an MSI packager (2 actually) with no luck. exe, has no silent switches, requires administrative rights and prompts the user to confirm the path to update. We run Sage Accounts, and fairly often they’ll release a small update. Essentially, what I wanted to provide was the ability for an end user to run x app, as an administrator- be that a particular software update or simply a program that wants to set itself as the default PDF reader. This especially becomes a problem when applications are written badly, don’t provide any means to be packaged or simply touch the system in a way that needs administrative rights. I’ve been spending a bit of time recently, working around various constraints of working in an environment where UAC is enabled and end users have no local administrative rights over their machines.

Catalog update windows