BOINC permissions issue running as non-admin on Windows PC

Question

I installed BOINC (running World Community Grid) on a PC (running Vista) under an administrator's account. When logged in as a standard user, and BOINC is set to run as a screensaver, it fails to connect and run properly.

Only when the program is run as an administrator, does it actually run in the standard user's account.

What is the correct way to install and run BOINC for standard users (non-admin) on Windows?

• Not specific to Vista necessarily.
• Not looking to give all users full permission to C:\Program Files (x86)\BOINC\boincmgr.exe

Answer 1

Here is how I installed on a win32 system that's tied up with an active directory-based environment.

1. Install the application for all users
2. Install the application as a service

To ensure that the screen-saver is activated when the machine is idling, you will need the visible presence of the BOINC in your system tray. To do so, it will require you to perform ANY of the following:

1. Include that standard user account into the Local Administrator group via the Local Computer Management tool.
2. Manually execute the BOINC application (boincmgr.exe) every time that the standard user logs into the terminal.

Do take note that all of the above instructions will enable you to light up your screen with the screensaver provided by World Community Grid's BOINC client. You will not need to perform these instructions if you only need to tap on the idling computing power.

Hope this helps.

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EDIT 1

In a stand-alone environment, simply install the application for all users and install it as a service. During the installation process, there should also be an additional option (found in the Advanced section) that will allow you to select between allowing all users, or limited users, to control the BOINC application.

If you choose the more restrictive option, you will be able to find the following local groups on the terminal: "boinc_admin", "boinc_user"; (there's one more group but I can't remember).

Just assign the local user account to the respective "boinc_xxx" group on the terminal and you are done. You can do so by:

1. Goto Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management
2. Select "Local Users and Groups"
3. Select the relevant groups and add in the user accounts that you want to assign them to.