User rights required to install WinZip

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The following information describes what occurs when WinZip is being installed and outlines the user rights that are necessary.

WinZip registration process

1. When you install WinZip, it registers its file associations and shell extensions at the system level for the machine on which you have run the installation. It is therefore necessary for whatever account running the initial installation process to have permissions for writing to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT section of the registry when installing WinZip.

2. In addition, WinZip attempts to register some of its configuration settings at the machine level (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Nico Mak Computing\WinZip) of the registry, so it is a good idea (though not necessary) for the installing account to have permissions here as well. These same configuration settings will be registered, as well, at the user level for the installing account (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Nico Mak Computing\WinZip) which is required for WinZip to run.

3. When a user who has either never run WinZip, or who has last run an earlier version of WinZip, runs the WinZip version you have just installed, the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE configuration settings (if they exist) will be silently propagated to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section for that user and WinZip will use those settings when it runs. This means that an initial installation configured to prevent Quick Pick from being installed and that prevents the desktop and start menu shortcuts from displaying should be preserved for all users.

The absence of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE settings cause WinZip to try to install itself for the current user and to invoke the WinZip Setup Wizard Panels. This will not work.

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