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Updating thunderbird without administrative privilleges

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  • Last reply by gacuxz

gacuxz
gacuxz
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Hello. Problem We can't update Thunderbird with user without administrative privileges: after downloading update through Thunderbird itself and restarting Thunderbird after, Update.exe is asking for administrative account password. If canceled, Thunderbird shows up "Thunderbird can't update to the latest version" and offers to download Thunderbird manually. Mozilla Maintenance Service is up and running. We're trying to update from 91.7.0 (64-bit) to 91.8.0 (64-bit). Thunderbird isn't installed in the default directory "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird" but in "C:\Soft\Mozilla Thunderbird" because of secure policy. What we've tried We compared the permissions including owner with Thunderbird installed in "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird" with installed in "C:\Soft\Mozilla Thunderbird" and made them consist, but with no success. Workaround We noticed, that if Thunderbird is installed in the default directory "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird", update completes successfully. So the non-default install directory may be the problem. Questions Is there anything we could do or try at this point? Could this be a bug? Is anyone experiencing the same behavior when installing Thunderbird to non-default directory.

Hello. '''Problem''' We can't update Thunderbird with user without administrative privileges: after downloading update through Thunderbird itself and restarting Thunderbird after, Update.exe is asking for administrative account password. If canceled, Thunderbird shows up "Thunderbird can't update to the latest version" and offers to download Thunderbird manually. Mozilla Maintenance Service is up and running. We're trying to update from 91.7.0 (64-bit) to 91.8.0 (64-bit). Thunderbird isn't installed in the default directory "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird" but in "C:\Soft\Mozilla Thunderbird" because of secure policy. '''What we've tried''' We compared the permissions including owner with Thunderbird installed in "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird" with installed in "C:\Soft\Mozilla Thunderbird" and made them consist, but with no success. '''Workaround''' We noticed, that if Thunderbird is installed in the default directory "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird", update completes successfully. So the non-default install directory may be the problem. '''Questions''' Is there anything we could do or try at this point? Could this be a bug? Is anyone experiencing the same behavior when installing Thunderbird to non-default directory.
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WIndows requires administrator to update all non standard root folders on the C: drive. If I recall correctly I think this was something that arrived with windows 2000 on the general desktop having come from Windows NT.

The internet has many many articles on modifying widows file and folder permissions for systems administrators. I would suggest you look again at why your are not using windows default file locations and security. You are making securing your systems significantly more difficult by trying to make your own storage locations, without any tangible saving in time or effort from doing so.

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Matt
Matt
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Chosen Solution

WIndows requires administrator to update all non standard root folders on the C: drive. If I recall correctly I think this was something that arrived with windows 2000 on the general desktop having come from Windows NT.

The internet has many many articles on modifying widows file and folder permissions for systems administrators. I would suggest you look again at why your are not using windows default file locations and security. You are making securing your systems significantly more difficult by trying to make your own storage locations, without any tangible saving in time or effort from doing so.

gacuxz
gacuxz Question owner
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Thank you, Matt! I didn't know about this Windows 2000/Windows NT behavior that lasts till these days. We noticed, though that if Thunderbird is installed in non-default directory like "C:\Soft\Mozilla Thunderbird" AND permissions for Everyone are Full control, the update completes successfully. Has anyone any idea which user/group could be added instead of Everyone so that update could be made successfully too? I've found "Interactive user" group which makes this work, but it seems like every Windows user is already automatically included in this group so it's like giving Full permissions to everyone altogether.