I had the same issue - other users can't run stardock programs

from Stardock Forums
As the title states, ALL Stardock programs that are installed via Stardock Central only work for the user (WinXP) that installs it.

For all other users (all admin privileges), nothing happens when 'run' is selected. Going to the Stardock folder and manually selecting a program, I get this error "Windows cannot access the specific device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permission to access the item".

This access problem seems to be specific to Stardock programs.

I uninstalled SD Central, cleaned the registry, downloaded the latest SDC software, turned off Anti Virus, loaded SDC. Results still the same.

Any good suggestions out there?

WinXP home, 5 users, all admin. McAfee Security suite.
5,662 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
there's a thread that kinda explains how, but you may want to check the permissions on the stardock folder and contents....looking

generally, these products work across users.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
McAfee Security suite.


McAfee is known to not deal properly with a lot of apps, some of Stardock's included (especially those that want internet access - eg DX objects & other docklets & widgets).

Re other users, I've read it's possible to make it work but you have to change the folder permissions so that all users have full read/write access to each others' 'Documents & Settings\[USER]\...' folders. It might be a bit of a turkey shoot to find all the folders that you need to, to get it to work.

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
wasn't there something about simple file sharing needing to be unchecked?
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm thinking of buying a whole suite of Stardock programs just now and I'd consider this to be a big drawback. It's a lot more common than it should be and it's usually down to the application storing its registry variables under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. In fact I'll own up and admit that some of my own apps used to suffer from this same problem (I'm a Visual C++ programmer). I used to get endless grief about it from my customers. It's a very simple thing to fix so I hope that someone from Stardock is reading this....
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The problem is not registry key entries, its on disk file permissions. (though HKEY_CURRENT_USER is the correct place to store settings, not HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)

Other users simply do not have permission to access the files on disk which is why Windows gives you that message.  I have been pushing for the installer to correctly set the attributes on the WB dir (for WB) so that all other users can use it without problems.  This is especially important on Vista where it has taken permissions to an extreme!

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have ODNT - 2 users (both admin) = no problems

prior to my system crash a while back I had 3 users - on limited for my kid with desktop set up via dtx to keep her from clicking stuff she didn't need to click = had no problems with access
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What really drives me nuts about this is that it used to work. I don't remember if the installation of McAfee was before or after this problem accurred.

So are we saying that Admin users on XP are different than the Administrator account and that is the problem?

Can someone post a basic on changing permissions in XP Home? Is it file or user permissions?

Thanks for all your replies. This is a real show stopper for my upcoming renewal of OD.