My PC is set up with 3 users, all with Admin rights. I have today installed Avast in my own login, and successfully licensed it, but the licence key is being requested and is shown as invalid in the other logins.
I’ve seen similar questions being asked in the forum, but none of the suggested solutions seem to work. I found instructions to edit the “permissions” in the registry - but I can’t find a “permissions” key in the stated location (HKEY LOCAL MACHINES\SOFTWARE\Alwil). I have also tried to install as Administrator using “Run As” but I’m told I don’t have enough rights! Finally, I can’t see any way to install into “All Users”.
avast (and other applications) does not work good in multi-admin systems. In fact, Windows allow but it’s not the suggested configuration, instead, it’s better an admin-only account.
Back to the problem, well, try to solve this issue, turning off Simple File Sharing, and then take ownership of the folder:
Turn off Simple File Sharing:
a. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
b. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
c. Under Advanced Settings, click to clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box, and then click OK.
Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message, if one appears.
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group.
If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, click to select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Click OK.
You may receive the following error message, where Folder is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory Folder. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control? All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
Click Yes.
Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and the folder contents.
Oh, maybe you could temporarily disable the avast self defense module:
Thanks. I’m not clear about one thing - which folder do I need to take ownership of please? Avast has been installed into C:\Program Files, which I assume is available to all users.
Could you please clarify your comments above? Which folder do I need to change the permissions in?
I tried disabling the self-defense module - it didn’t help.
I hope there’s a solution to this - I don’t want to have to go back to AVG 8.0! I may upgrade to the full version of Avast if I can get it to work properly.
But I hope the programmers say something… I think this is more registry related than file system. Can you check the permissions to the Windows Registry Key HKEY LOCAL MACHINES\SOFTWARE\Alwil ?
Maybe you can use http://www.resplendence.com/registrar
Registrar Lite version is free and allow to see the Properties > Security of the key.
Thanks. I worked out how to get into the “Permissions” screen in Regedit, changed the permissions in that key for Everyone and also the two other users, then rebooted. It hasn’t made any difference! I also tried adding permissions for the two other users in the folder C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4 and rebooting - still no effect.
Before that, I tried a suggestion from DavidR - I tried to reinstall from the Administrator account, which I wasn’t allowed to do, then changed the other two users to “limited” before reinstalling from my own login. That didn’t help either.
This seems to be a common problem and I’m surprised that it hasn’t been fixed - I found comments on this forum going back to 2004.
What will happen when the 60 day trial period expires? Will the two other users be unprotected?