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Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 7:04 pm
by Ross MacGregor
I just bought track IR and I am very disappointed with the software. I doesn't work with any of my games because I don't run my computer as the administrator (as Microsoft recommends). I have many games, and there is only one that I need to run as administrator.

Is there anyway to use TrackIR with games that are running without admin rights? I am trying to setup iRacing right now which needs to be launched from a Web browser.

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:39 pm
by MikeWitham
Hello Ross,

I apologize for the delay in responding to you, but I wanted to make sure I had the right answer. When editing and creating profiles the TrackIR needs to be able to read and write a specific file. That is the only reason it asks for administrative privileges. If you choose to not allow the TrackIR to make changes to your computer, it should still work but not allow you to edit and save profiles.

Please let me know if the software runs correctly for you in game when you deny it admin rights.

Best regards,

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:58 pm
by Ross MacGregor
Thanks for looking into this. When UAC prompts to allow TrackIR to make changes to my computer and I click "No", TrackIR is shut down.

I can change the permissions on the profile folder, that is not a problem. It looks like TrackIR requires admin rights to start up at all.

If it really is just the profile folder that requires admin right then this should be escalated to a bug. Software profiles need to be saved to the "My Documents" or the "AppData" folder. The Windows security model has been in place for over 10 years now, to see that your product is not even compatible with Windows XP standards indicates some quality control problems. This is probably creating bad experiences to some percentage of your users and unnecessary support calls.

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 2:22 am
by escaner
I got my TrackIR 5 yesterday and having the same issue, on Win7: TrackIR soft wants to run as administrator and cannot communicate with games running on an unprivileged user.

Wasted all the evening trying to make it work and fortunately, (still not sure why) I did it. My steps:

1. Give full control on the TrackIR installation folder tree to the unprivileged user which will be playing the games.
2. Fully deactivate User Account Control (UAC) in Windows
3. Reboot for UAC changes to take effect. At this point, the UAC small shield icon has disappeared from the TrackIR software icon.
4. Login as the unprivileged user and run TrackIR software. Now it should be perfectly running as the unprivileged user and UAC won't ask to run it as admin.
5. Start a game and check that TrackIR is working with it (right light in the camera lights up).
6. Stop game and TrackIR
7. Activate UAC protection back (you can set the same level as you previously had).
8. Reboot so UAC changes take effect.
9. Remove the full control access on the TrackIR folder tree to the unprivileged user.
10. Log in as the unprivileged user.
10. Start TrackIR. UAC will ask you for admin credentials. Go ahead and run it as admin.
11. Start the game, which will run as the unprivileged user.

At this point, mysteriously, TrackIR was working for me.

Still there is the security breach of having to run TrackIR as admin when UAC is activated, but at least do not need to run everything as admin.

Anyway, it would be nice if NaturalPoint could fix this problem and let us run the soft as an unprivileged user. As Ross said, it should not store configuration (or modify any file whatsoever) in the Program files folders. There are other places to store those files and the soft can work OK as an unprivileged user when UAC is disabled!

Óscar

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 4:26 pm
by MikeWitham
Óscar,

Thank you for your feedback. I have noted your concerns and have forwarded them to our development team.

Best regards,

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 12:24 pm
by nilsca
10. Start TrackIR. UAC will ask you for admin credentials. Go ahead and run it as admin.
This is what I do everytime, annoying but what can you do - since the last software update is going on 2 years I'm not holding my breath for this one or any other minor gripe to get fixed.

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:42 pm
by Seth Steiling
nilsca wrote:
10. Start TrackIR. UAC will ask you for admin credentials. Go ahead and run it as admin.
This is what I do everytime, annoying but what can you do - since the last software update is going on 2 years I'm not holding my breath for this one or any other minor gripe to get fixed.
Hi Nilsca,

The short story is that the developer that built out the installer behavior that required admin credentials is no longer with our team, so we're trying to unpack his implementation to fully understand why he built it the way he did. That puzzle is compounded by the fact that our dev team is wrapping up some major development work on a sibling technology (our OptiTrack motion capture line). However, I'm hopeful that some TrackIR dev cycles are on the horizon, and when we're able to put our full attention to it, we'll investigate this issue and try to work out a more usable solution. I agree that the current functionality is an annoyance. :-)

- Seth

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 6:53 am
by Athanasius
I just got my TrackIR 5 w/ Pro Clip bundle today and am running into this same issue.

I normally use Windows as a Limited user, but Elite: Dangerous will only pick up the TrackIR (or the other way around) if I run the game as Administrator. I guess I'll just have to do this now until you guys get a fix in place to run the TrackIR software without UAC (assuming file access, and I did give my Limited user Full Control over the installation folder).

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 2:01 pm
by Athanasius
Ahahahahaha. I've cracked it.

See Prevent elevation (UAC) for an application that doesn't need it.

Basically TrackIR5.exe has a manifest item saying "always run as Administrator". You can use Microsoft's Application Compatibility Toolkit to change this.

So, I ran it as outlined on this blog post, just adding the "RunAsInvoker" flag, no need to even set it to run in a different OS compatibility mode. Save the file to C:\Windows\System32, and then File > Install. Run TrackIR5.exe, no UAC prompt. Process Explorer seemed to confirm it was running as my Limited user, and indeed once running ED as my Limited user TrackIR simply works!

Re: Really? Run everything as administrator?

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:06 am
by MikeWitham
Athanasius,

Thank you for the links. I am going to take note of this for future reference. I really appreciate the time you put into this.

Regards,