RE: [jamboost] Re: Customer Friendlier Boost Installation

From: Brian Braatz (brianb_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-06-01 11:18:13

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jamboost_at_[hidden] [mailto:jamboost_at_[hidden]] On
Behalf
> Of Eric Niebler
> Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 9:06 PM
> To: jamboost_at_[hidden]; boost_at_[hidden]
> Subject: [jamboost] Re: Customer Friendlier Boost Installation
> 
> David Abrahams wrote:
> >
> >>Just out of curiosity: why weren't HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH set in
your
> >>environment? Aren't they set up for you by Windows?
> >
> >
> > Still curious, though.
> >
> 
> 
> Not all the time, and Windows never ceases to amaze and frustrate me.
It
> turns out that if you lauch a cmd.exe shell as another user, then you
> don't get these environment variables defined for some reason. Try it
> and see:
> 
> Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
> 
> Now, hold down Shift while right-clicking on "Command Prompt" and
select
> "Run As...". Give the credentials of a different user to have the
> cmd.exe process lauch as that user. Now observe that the shell has no
> HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment variables!!!
> 
> Sigh.
> 
> 
> --
> Eric Niebler
> Boost Consulting
> www.boost-consulting.com
[Brian Braatz Writes:] 
Side Note:

Eric, I ran into this while writing security code for Win32. Basically,
you may have a "user which has rights to do something" on a given box,
but if the user does NOT have a profile then you see the behavior you
mention.

In my case, the problem was solved by manually logging into the machine
with the other user (to make windows create a profile for you), and then
doing the "runas". There is also an API for this (sorry not at the tip
of my fingers).

Basically, the profile is what engages all those files in your
"\Documents and Settings\" dir