Windows Vista Guide

As a licensing and copy protection system hooks deeply into the Windows operating system, it often requires modifications.

Licence Protector is fully Windows Vista compatible:

•	Considers registry limitations

•	Runs with limited user rights

•	Offers a signed DLL

To use your application with Licence Protector and Windows Vista only a few modifications are necessary:

•	Install Licence Protector version 2.51 or higher

•	Use the signed EasyGo.DLL

•	Install the licence file to C:\ProgramData\yourcompany name\appname\app.lic - see details

How to retrieve the correct folder name

Considerations

The installation has to be done in administrator mode. A user with a standard account will automatically be prompted to provide administrator credentials.

If User Account Control is enabled (default) the following installation scenario is NOT working.

•	install the licence file to C:\Program Files\YourApp\app.lic

If the standard user starts your application, Licence Protector will write back information in the licence file (depending on the features your are using). The file would be virtualized to the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\YourApp\app.lic.

Although your application would open the licence file on C:\Program Files\YourApp\app.lic, the file would be opened in c:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\YourApp\app.lic. The result would be that each user has a different licence file.

Recommendation

Although we found no recommended procedure from Microsoft how to share a file on one PC for all users, the following installation process will work.

•	Install the licence file to C:\ProgramData\yourcompany name\appname\app.lic

By default, standard users have only Read access and the folder is not visible. See below how to set write access to this folder.

Retrieve folder names

You can retrieve the folder name via the registry.

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Folders
Common AppData	C:\ProgramData\
Common Programs	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Common Documents	C:\Users\Public\Documents
Common Desktop	C:\Users\Public\Desktop
Common Start Menu	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
CommonPictures	C:\Users\Public\Pictures
CommonMusic	C:\Users\Public\Music
CommonVideo	C:\Users\Public\Videos
Common Favorites	none
Common Startup	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Common Templates	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
Common Administrative Tools	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
Personal	none

•	Set write access for the group 'users' to this folder - see details

Some installers have built in options to change rights on folders. You can not use the standard Windows tool cacls.exe or icacls (Vista) because you have to address the user / group name you want to change in the language of the operation system - e.g. 'users' or 'Benutzer'.

There is a tool SetAcl.exe which allows using SID to change the permission. The tool can be downloaded here: http://setacl.sourceforge.net/html/examples.html . Documentation for the SID can be found here (only German): http://www.grurili.de/index.html?/Grundlagen/WellKnown_SIDs.htm

Your installer could use the following sequence

•	Copy setacl.exe to the installation directory

•	Execute Setacl.exe e.g. "maindir\SetAcl.exe" -on "maindir" -ot file -actn ace -ace "n:S-1-5-32-545;p:full;s:y" - This will set full rights to the group users. The SID S-1-5-32-545 is used instead of the name users (note: maindir is the folder name like c:\ProgramData\yourcompany name\appname)

•	Delete setacl.exe

•	Problems to register a DLL in Vista

Check comments how to register a DLL and which problems may occur

Installation of the DLL

The installation has to be done in administrator mode. A user with a standard account will automatically be prompted to provide administrator credentials.

You should copy the licprotectorxy.dll to the \windows\system32 folder although it could also be installed in your program directory. As each DLL version of Licence Protector has an own ProgID, multiple different versions can be installed on the same machine.

If an installation tool like Wise or Install Shield is used, the registration of the DLL is done automatically by these tools. If you copy the DLL manually with your program, you have to register the DLL manually - use c:\windows\system32\regsvr32.exe ....\pathname\LicprotectorEasyGo251.dll.

If you installer has problems registering a DLL, add a shell execute command in the installer which invokes the regsvr32.exe like Execute "c:\windows\system32\regsvr32.exe" " ....\pathname\LicprotectorEasyGo251.dll"

To register the DLL you need admin rights. If you would use regsvr32 in the DOS prompt or file explorer as a standard user, you get the error 0×80070005 meaning access “Access Denied. To manually register the DLL in Vista

•	right click on “Command Prompt” in Accessories and click “Run as Administrator”

•	run “regsvr32 ....\pathname\LicprotectorEasyGo251.dll” in the command window

Vista and MSI files

Some installers generate a message HRESULT -2147220472 or -2147023898. This is due to missing rights during installation. Use regsvr32.exe to register the DLL. For background information see Altiris Forum post for Vista Problem.

•	Sign your installer file to avoid error messages after download or after starting the installer see details How to sign installation file

Sign your Installer file

Although you could deliver an unsigned installer file, we recommend adding your digital signature. You can buy a code-signing certificate from one of the accredited providers like www.verisign.com, www.thawte or www.comodo.com.

With the digital signed installer file your users do not get warning messages when they download the file or start the file.

First check your installation tool if it supports to add a digital signature. As installers often add their own CRC checks a digital signature would destroy the installer file. Therefore the installer tool has to add the signature first before the CRC check is added.