Problems with Run As

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 18, 21:57

I searched through the forum and didn't see any reports of this. If it's a duplicate, I apologize.

Anyway, we have some files on a network share that, for security reasons, require an admin account to change. So, I did a search on Download.com and found Xplorer2, figuring I could just use Run As and run it as an admin to make the changes without having to log out and log in as an admin.

It works great for that, but I found two little problems. To reproduce these, you have to be running XP. Right-click on xplorer2.exe and choose Run As. Then, choose a user name other than the name you're currently logged in as. It doesn't matter if the user you choose is limited or an administrator.

Once xplorer2 starts, navigate to a folder, local or network, and try the following:

1) Drag a folder from the left tree view pane into the current folder to copy or move it. The copy/move operation works, but the folder contents do not refresh.

2) Rename a folder. You'll get a Debug Assertion Failed message. Hit Ignore, and another will come up. There will be a total of 4 of them. If you ignore all of them, the folder is properly renamed.

Neither of these happens if you start the app normally.

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Troy

vserghi · Post by **vserghi** » 2004 May 18, 22:15

Nikos will need at least what the debug message said. Please read the "readme.txt" file to find out how to produce the output that can help him.

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 18, 22:35

vserghi wrote:Nikos will need at least what the debug message said. Please read the "readme.txt" file to find out how to produce the output that can help him.

"Readme"? Who reads that?

Sorry. I really should've read that first. I fired off an email to Nikos.

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Troy

Post by **nikos** » 2004 May 19, 04:56

does autorefresh work at all when you run x2 as the "normal" user?
(when you copy/delete files etc)

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 19, 05:05

nikos wrote:does autorefresh work at all when you run x2 as the "normal" user?
(when you copy/delete files etc)

Yes. Everything seems fine if I just run the application normally. It's only when I right-click and choose Run As..., then choose another user (such as Administrator) that I see the problem with autorefresh not refreshing and the debug messages when I rename a file. If it makes a difference, the account I'm logged in as has local administrator rights (just not network admin rights). I haven't tried this as a restricted user.

I'm guessing that this will probably happen in 2000 as well (though you have to hold shift down when right-clicking to see Run As). I haven't tried it, though. If you want, I'll give it a shot tomorrow morning when I get in to the office (about 11 hours from now). I have a Windows 2000 test system I can try it on. I'll restore the Ghost image first to make sure it's completely clean.

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Troy

Post by **nikos** » 2004 May 19, 05:07

does explorer (the windows thingy) autorefresh when you run it as another user?

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 19, 17:57

nikos wrote:does explorer (the windows thingy) autorefresh when you run it as another user?

In XP and 2K, Windows Explorer won't even launch when you use Run As. It lets you choose the option, the Start menu closes, but nothing ever opens. Of course, that's probably a good thing because if it did, I'd never have went looking for an alternative and wouldn't have found Xplorer2.

I also just discovered that CTRL + R does a manual refresh (I was trying F5). Toggling Hold Auto Refresh (CTRL + ALT + R) doesn't help, but it does cause a Debug Assertation Failed message. I'll email you the debug output.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 May 19, 18:56

i saw the emails you sent me and both assertion errors seem related
more when i look into it with more detail!

btw i don't think we'll fix the autorefresh problem, especially since explorer kaks up. I'll look into the other one

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 19, 19:18

nikos wrote:i saw the emails you sent me and both assertion errors seem related
more when i look into it with more detail!

btw i don't think we'll fix the autorefresh problem, especially since explorer kaks up. I'll look into the other one

The autorefresh isn't as important now that I realized you can just hit CTRL + R to refresh, unless of course, you see how to fix it as you look at the assertion errors.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 May 20, 06:36

there's also the registry bit GIOPT_ALTAREFRESH (see alpha.txt) that offers a backup autorefresh system (doesn't always work either)

you can try it but i wouldn't recommend it for regular users unless their x2 is completely "deaf"!

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 20, 18:05

nikos wrote:there's also the registry bit GIOPT_ALTAREFRESH (see alpha.txt) that offers a backup autorefresh system (doesn't always work either)

you can try it but i wouldn't recommend it for regular users unless their x2 is completely "deaf"!

I tried that, but it didn't work. It did get me thinking that it may be a registry/file rights issue, but regmon and filemon didn't really show anything. Oh well.

I am learning more about the features of this program, though, and it's much more powerful than I originally thought. It looks like a keeper.

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Troy

Post by **nikos** » 2004 May 20, 18:53

this flag won't work (by limitation)

* for the tree
* for any network drives, mapped or otherwise

but it should work for local drives... but then again you have a strange situation!

have you tried to "runAs" the old 2xExplorer? it works with this flag at all times

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 20, 21:41

nikos wrote:this flag won't work (by limitation)

* for the tree
* for any network drives, mapped or otherwise

but it should work for local drives... but then again you have a strange situation!

It's not horribly strange. In most corporate environments, there are often files that only administrators can access. In today's world of Internet-connected systems, worms, and virii, it is generally considered good security to only login as administrator when absolutely necessary. So, many people login as a restricted user, then use Run As when they have to run something as an administrator.

have you tried to "runAs" the old 2xExplorer? it works with this flag at all times

I just tried 2xExplorer. It works great right out of the box. So, I can use Xplorer2 for normal file management and 2xExplorer when I need to do changes with admin rights (which normally is something basic like renaming a file on the network).

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Troy

Post by **nikos** » 2004 May 21, 09:01

strange, if 2x does it, x2 should too!
can you please send me the binMiscOptions value you are using?
(did you quit x2 before changing it?)

Troy · Post by **Troy** » 2004 May 21, 17:50

nikos wrote:strange, if 2x does it, x2 should too!
can you please send me the binMiscOptions value you are using?
(did you quit x2 before changing it?)

It originally was 0 so, so I set it to 4. It didn't make a visible difference.

That was in HKCU\Software\ZabaraKatranemia Plc\xplorer2. As a sanity check, I changed sxExternalEditor. Initially, that also wasn't having any effect, then I remembered that it was using HKCU, so when I was using Run As, X2 was reading the HKCU branch for the user I was choosing for Run As, not for the logged in user. So, I ran Regedit as the same user and made the changes. This time, the editor changed, but I still got the assertions when Auto Refresh was toggled, and it wasn't auto-refreshing.

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Troy