[sims] Windows 7 clients having problems updating to 7.140

[timbo343]

Ok, so we are just in the middle of rolling out windows 7 across the network and ive applied the summer release of SIMS onto the server, everything went fine... no problems.

 

Now the problem comes when we are trying to up date the client machines which are running windows 7. In XP, we managed to get round the problem of users needing admin access to update sims by addnig "Staff" to the local administrators group of the local machine. We have done in the same for windows 7 but this now doesnt work, i have even opened up C:\program files\SIMS so that users have full control here but to no avail.

 

Can someone help me out on this one please otherwise it could be a long day tomorrow.

 

Thanks

 

Tim

[Michael]

Is UAC disabled?

[timbo343]

Yep....

[neilenormal]

What about access to c:\windows\sims.ini?

 

Also look at short date formatting - change it and change it back to UK type?

 

Neilenormal

[timbo343]

The short date formatting is fine and i have given access for staff to c:\windows\sims.ini, still no joy.

 

If i was to hold shift, right click on the shortcut on the desktop and click run as, type in the network administrator details it runs fine, but why isnt it running with normal users?! Even if i try to run as administrator the installation doesnt take place.

[acsjnunn]

Have you checked the SIMSSetupsDirectory in sims.ini and do the users have access to this path? I had the same problem because it was looking to \\server\e$\... instead of \\server\share that the users had permissions to access.

[timbo343]

Yep, ive checked that and its pointing to the right area \\server\share\SIMS\setups and the SIMSDIRECTORY is s:\SIMS.

[josh119]

Are you sure the s:\ directory is the correct path?

[timbo343]

yep.. its works flawlessly with windows XP.

 

I have just tried something though... I have just made a bat file:

 

runas /user:{currentuser} \\servername\apps\sims\setups\simsapplicationsetup.exe and found that it says that the requested operation needs elevation.

 

So, i browsed to the setups folder... S:\ > SIMS > Setups and looked for SIMSApplicationsetup, Held Shift and right clicked on the file and typed in the current users details and got an error...

 

S:\Sims\Setups\SIMSApplicationsetup.exe

 

The system cannot find the drive specified.

 

Hmmmm interesting.. the fact of the matter is, that is is there. I have checked all the sharing permissions and NTFS permissions and "Staff" have full control on everything.

[neilenormal]

Yep, ive checked that and its pointing to the right area \\server\share\SIMS\setups and the SIMSDIRECTORY is s:\SIMS.

 

Have you tried substituting the \\server\share in setupsdirectory= to s:\

so replace \\yourservername\simsrootshare\sims\setups with s:\sims\setups

 

neilenormal

[Cache]

yep.. its works flawlessly with windows XP.

 

I have just tried something though... I have just made a bat file:

 

runas /user:{currentuser} \\servername\apps\sims\setups\simsapplicationsetup.exe and found that it says that the requested operation needs elevation.

 

So, i browsed to the setups folder... S:\ > SIMS > Setups and looked for SIMSApplicationsetup, Held Shift and right clicked on the file and typed in the current users details and got an error...

 

S:\Sims\Setups\SIMSApplicationsetup.exe

 

The system cannot find the drive specified.

 

Hmmmm interesting.. the fact of the matter is, that is is there. I have checked all the sharing permissions and NTFS permissions and "Staff" have full control on everything.

 

What I've noticed (and Windows XP did this too) is when you try to runas something from a network drive, the system loses the mapped drive, presumably because the secondary logon service doesn't have the mapped drive letter available to it.

 

Did a quick search and this site (Why are mapped drives lost when a Vista/Windows 7 administrator is elevated) suggests opening an administrative command prompt, mapping the network drive using it and then right clicking and running the setup as administrator.

 

Not sure of another solution for this other then getting a file together which will call the sims setup files from the network path instead of the mapped drive.

[timbo343]

I think ive just found the problem.

 

Just been looking through the event logs and found it was a software restriction policy i had set so that no one could run anything from c:\users\%username% and where does sims run its updates from .... thats right.. here C:\Users\TESTTE~1\AppData\Local\Temp\GLB2A79.tmp. Oops but cant wait for us to get solus3, it will make life so much easier.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions though.

 

[jjohnsoncantell]

Was there any way around this as i have exactly the same problem and the only way i could remedy was to add user to the local admin group which isnt a desirable option to me.. I dont have any software restriction policy that would stop that file running though.

 

James

[timbo343]

We tried all sorts... though have you tried giving access to staff via the local power users so see what that does? Can you not use.. "Run as administrator" option?

[jjohnsoncantell]

We always had the staff in the power users group specifically to solve this problem we had while running xp.. Looks like the power users group doesnt have the same level of access that it used to. Our chap from Qest popped over to have a look at it this morning and he seems to think that granting them local admin rights is the best way to go, either that or your suggestion of running as an admin. I cant find a way of doing that when using redirected start menus though.

[jjohnsoncantell]

any solutions on this as yet guys?

[vikpaw]

Try changing who maps the S drive. It makes a difference, on windows 7 to do with the elevation. So if you run update with 'runas admin' option, it might not be able to see the S drive if that was mapped as the user.

 

There was another thread a while back that mentioned it, similar to the linked thread above.

 

See if you can script it, by mapping the drive as admin, then running as admin.

[TJIT]

I am about to roll out Win7 and do not really want to give admin rights to staff. My plan is to install an RDP server and remote app out SIMS to the desktop, then I only ever need to update one client.

 

Fingers crossed