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feature request for M$-Windows install (PR#11499)

5 messages · rpvoland at facstaff.wisc.edu, Duncan Murdoch, Rick Voland

Original
rpvoland at facstaff.wisc.edu
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R versions R-2.6.2 and R-2.7.0 for M$-Windows no longer allow me to 
install as administrator (on my account) so the users can run R on their 
own accounts which lack install privileges.

I would like to install directly on their computer logged in with 
administrator privileges.  Then, I would like the users to be able to 
run R under their own logons without having to give them install 
privileges.  It may be that they cannot now run R even with install 
privileges since my installing R sets up the default start locations.

This problem does not exist with R-2.6.1.  I see the problem with 
R-2.6.2 and R-2.7.0.

People who run computer labs may have the same problem because it is 
caused by installation under one login and use under a different login.

Options:

1) can you offer an install option "make available to all users of this 
computer" ?

2) can you specify in the M$-Windows FAQ specific instructions for how 
to alter the item in the start menu for each new user?  I see some hints 
already, but I would be grateful for more specific instructions.  Yet, 
an install option would make this a lot easier because it is only an 
issue to set it up once after installing R or updating R to a new version.



--please do not edit the information below--

Version:
  platform = i386-pc-mingw32
  arch = i386
  os = mingw32
  system = i386, mingw32
  status =
  major = 2
  minor = 7.0
  year = 2008
  month = 04
  day = 22
  svn rev = 45424
  language = R
  version.string = R version 2.7.0 (2008-04-22)

Windows XP (build 2600) Service Pack 2

Locale:
LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United 
States.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United 
States.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United States.1252

Search Path:
  .GlobalEnv, package:stats, package:graphics, package:grDevices, 
package:utils, package:datasets, package:methods, Autoloads, package:base
Duncan Murdoch
#
On 5/22/2008 11:55 AM, rpvoland at facstaff.wisc.edu wrote:
That's not an intentional change.  I'll take a look to see what happened.

Duncan Murdoch
Duncan Murdoch
#
On 5/22/2008 11:55 AM, rpvoland at facstaff.wisc.edu wrote:
Okay, I just tried this and had no problem installing it for all users. 
  You'll need to give more details about what you did and the evidence 
that it wasn't working for you:

Did it set entries in the registry in 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\R-core\R?  That's a sign that it was doing 
an administrator install.

Did you get the message

You should be logged in as an administrator when installing R

Note:  A full R installation requires administrative privileges, and it 
appears that those are not available.  If you continue with this 
installation, you will not be able to install DCOM support nor associate 
R with .RData files.  Installation must be made to a directory where you 
have write permission.

That's a sign that it didn't detect admin privileges when you ran the 
installer.

Duncan Murdoch
Duncan Murdoch
# 
After some offline followups, I'm pretty sure the issue here is with the 
"Start in" directory that the installer puts in the shortcut. 
Unfortunately, as far as I can determine, there is no way to tell 
Windows to set the working directory to the user's personal directory 
(My Documents, typically).  The closest we could get is %USERPROFILE%, 
which is the parent of My Documents.  (My Documents is not always named 
that, so %USERPROFILE%\My Documents is not safe.)

We currently set the shortcut to the My Documents directory of the 
person who performs the install, so the shortcut that gets created will 
only work for them.

I'd be interested in hearing suggestions for what to do here.  We could 
go back to setting it to RHOME/bin, and then have the startup code cd to 
My Documents, but that removes flexibility for people who were actually 
making use of that entry.

Duncan Murdoch
Rick Voland
#
Duncan Murdoch wrote:
I tried two options:  %USERPROFILE% and %USERNAME%

Just as reminder, here is where it currently points (identical for all 
users).

Start in:   "C:\Documents and Settings\voland.CAREDS\My Documents"




Start in:   "C:\Documents and Settings\%USERPROFILE%\My Documents"

on this system points to our H: network (home drive)

I still need to have the user try to start R with this configuration.



Start in:   "C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\My Documents"

on this system points to

"C:\Documents and Settings\voland\My Documents"
(logged in as me)

and the user still gets the error message when trying to start R (logged 
in as the user)




I would be content with some option in a custom install.  I do not need 
to allow different configurations for each user.  I prefer that the user 
be without install permissions most of the time.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Rick Voland
rpvoland at facstaff.wisc.edu