How can I create a windows installer MSI that does not require admin access

Question

I\'ve created an MSI windows installer that installs a plug-in which I wrote for a piece of software used at my office. However, a number of users here don\'t have admin rig

Answer 1

There's two approaches here:

1) Create an installer that doesn't require Admin privs because it doesn't install anything that needs it. If you can really do this, you might want to consider a ClickOnce installation and see if it meets your needs.

2) Educate your IT department on how to drop your MSI onto a network share and publish it through Group Policy. This way the users can go to Add/Remove programs and initial the installation but have it run elevated without a SysAdmin having to walk from desk to desk doing it by hand. ( I'm kind of suprised they don't already know how to do that. )

Answer 2

I don't have a setup to test this on at the moment, but assuming Wix, in the Package element, try setting InstallPrivileges='limited' and InstallScope='perUser'.

That said, if all you really need to do is copy some files, considered using a simple batch script instead.