Limited (Restricted Permission) User Errors

[brainier]

In v2.5.05 when you run the software as a permission restricted user errors occur. The idea in my church is that I do not want people to change the configuration of the computer used for projection, so the Sunday to Sunday projection user logs in as a profile that is restricted using Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP (at at http://www.microsoft.com/sharedaccess). This allows me to stop profile changes being made etc. I also use permissions in XP to stop users making changes to the .ini files in ZionWorxs.

But this is where the errors occur, so a wish for the next release is for the following not to occur:

1. When editing the database and clicking OK to save a change to a song the settings.ini file is accessed and this generates an error (which I can click OK to clear), but why is the settings file being accessed for write (I assume) at this point?

2. The settings file is saved when Zionworxs is closed, even if nothing is changed. For my limited user I do not want the settings changed, so if the file cannot be saved then no error please. The problem here is that if I cannot save the settings file then I cannot exit Zionworxs and the only way out of the program is to Log Off directly without closing the program.

[webmaster]

You need to allow *.ini changes in zionworxs as it is a fundamental settings file which holds all the information.

I allow permissions to Zionworx directorys and thats it and never had an issue ....We should trust our users.

All my users have had training how to configure songs but most just put the song into the list and then process the list during a service.

****************************************************
You need to specify permissions on your directorys. This is not a Zionworx issue but a XP Security issue.

1. go to explorer
2. select "Tools" Menu
3. select "folder options"
4. select "View" tab
5. deselect "Use simple file sharing (recommended)" this is the bottom most option.

Then this will give the security tabs when doing a view properties of a file or folder.

I would think this would be a better method as you will only give users rights to the zionworx directory making it safer.

Regards
Edd Stonham
Zionworx Webmaster

[brainier]

The issue is not lack of trust for users but avoidance of configuration changes by people who do not know how to use a computer, but know how to display songs during a church service.

I beg to differ with you on the permissions issue being an XP security issue - I have purposely set the permissions so that settings are restricted. This is a wish list, not a bug report. The software should work for restricted users as well as administrators. The default permissions on software installed into Program Files does not allow users to write to files unless they are Power User or above. A piece of software designed for Windows XP should work regardless of admin/non-admin rights. But a non-admin should not be able to change settings.

A good configuration for the software would be to have user specific and machine specific settings stored in the recommended location for XP - the registry - then users could change their own specific settings without system wide changes being potentially wide open. And on this subject, the database should therefore not be stored in program files either.

[webmaster]

Posting to the registery will not fix as it's the access of the database thats the main problem.

The problem is you need to allow Zionworx write to it's *.ini files and database files.

Under all NT/XP rules standard users are not allowed to change these files and is a security issue in XP.

To fix this you need to give users full access only to these files as I have mentioned above.

No matter what you do with Zionworx will not stop this issues it is a security issue with XP/NT.

It happens with at least 20 computer programs I have running on my network and on a network I used to administer at my last employment.

It is all to do with security rights with database and system files.

If you do use the work around above users will not be able to mess up the settings of the Pc or install any new programs.

They will be able to use Zionworx however error free as intended.

This is basically a XP/NT bug

Regards
Edd Stonham
Zionworx Webmaster

[brainier]

We could continue this forever, but this post is originally a wish for the next version and not a support issue.

So I will state the wish again: It would be good if the ini files were not written to when they have not changed. Currently they are written to when a song is editted (the F6 key) and when the program exits regardless of the fact that they have not changed.

This has an impact in that you cannot restrict permissions within ZionWorxs (I am not discussing other programs here so it is not an XP bug - XP is doing what it is designed to do). If I allow my users write permissions to the settings file then they can change settings, but if they are users they should not be changing any settings files.

END

[webmaster]

The problem is the database files as well.

Why don't you try it give ini files to have full permission for all users and then try and deal with the database files it won't work as acces is prohibited from writing or reading from these folders..

XP/NT will not allow edits or access to these unless you specify correct users restictions to those files.

*.ini files are also used for default an custom stypes. So you would need to deal with them too.

Here endith the post as I close'eth the topic.

Regards
Edd