Using Mapped Network Drives in InstallAnywhere

[#1]

Summary

Out of the box, a Windows environment with UAC (Vista and later) will not allow for mapped drives to be used by all applications.

Synopsis

With the introduction of UAC, mapped drives and their availability may behave differently than expected. Specifically, although it may appear a drive is properly mapped within Windows Explorer, the drive may not appear within InstallAnywhere.

The reason for this odd behavior is the UAC and how it deals with user accounts. Now, with UAC active, when a user logs in with an Administrator account, they are still considered to be a ?standard user? until they perform an action that requires elevation of their permissions. As a result, drives that are mapped as the current user will not be available once control switches to Administrator.

InstallAnywhere runs as Administrator, meaning it will not be able to access the drives although they will appear mapped correctly.

Discussion

In order to get around this Windows-specific behavior, it is possible to configure the Windows environment to allow these mapped drives to be shared to the Administrator level. To do so, one must configure the EnableLinkedConnections registry value:

To configure the EnableLinkedConnections registry value

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start programs and files box, and then press ENTER.
2. Locate and then right-click the registry subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.
3. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type EnableLinkedConnections, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click EnableLinkedConnections, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer

After doing so, the mapped drives will be usable within InstallAnywhere and to any other programs that elevate their privileges.

Additional Information

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee844140(v=ws.10).aspx