Having trouble with Thunderbird update

stevep

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Mar 16, 2005
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65
I downloaded the Thunderbird in my user account when prompted,I don't use email in my administrator account for safety.Now TB starts to install and I get a message that says one or more files cannot be updated.Please make sure all other applications are closed and you have permission to modify software and then restart TB to try again.

I went to the TB knowledge base and found that spyware blaster can cause problems with TB updates.I went into the administrator account and disabled SB.I then went back to my user account but still get the same message when trying to update TB.I have also tries diabeling most process in the user account when updating without success.

Does anyone have a solution?Thanks.
 

soli

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Jun 4, 2009
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Upgrade as administrator. Normal user does not have the permissions to do the upgrade.
 

Alaric Darconville

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Upgrade as administrator. Normal user does not have the permissions to do the upgrade.

If the user installs Thunderbird to his \documents and settings\ directory tree, rather than using \program files\, updating should be fine.

If it is installed in \program files\, you can use an Administrator level account to grant Change access to the "Mozilla Thunderbird" directory to either user specific username, or just your user class. That will allow you to modify any files in that directory as your normal user.

First, use "runas" to run cmd.exe as the local administrator account.

Code:
runas /user:%computername%\Administrator cmd.exe
This assumes that the name of the Administrator account is "Administrator". (You can use either %computername%, in which case it will substitute the computer name in there, or, you can manually type it instead.)
Code:
C:\Program Files>cacls "Mozilla Firefox" /t /e /c /g Username:C

If the machine is part of a domain, it gets more complicated-- you might want to create a local group on the computer called "TBird" or something similar, and add your domain account to that local group (in lusrmgr.msc). Afterwards, grant the Change rights to that local group using the local Administrator account:
Code:
C:\Program Files>cacls "Mozilla Firefox" /t /e /c /g Tbird:C
 
Last edited:

mechBgon

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Nov 3, 2007
Messages
567
Does anyone have a solution?Thanks.

I'd simply download the latest Thunderbird installer in its entirety, save it, then run it as Administrator. How that's done varies depending on your version of Windows... what version are you using, by the way?
 

Alaric Darconville

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I'd simply download the latest Thunderbird installer in its entirety, save it, then run it as Administrator.

What I like about Firefox is that my wife has it installed fully within her profile in Windows XP Professional x64, and I don't have to be bothered with it in my own profile. She was able to install it without Administrator rights (neither of us have admin rights attached to our own user accounts) and can do updates to it it, as well.

Thunderbird *should* operate the same way as Firefox. I suppose one could install it as an Administrator so it's available to all users of the system, but that almost seems like 'overkill' if there's only one primary user (and checking email isn't exactly an "administration" task).
 

stevep

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Mar 16, 2005
Messages
65
Thanks for the help guys.

I gave my user account administrator rights when updating as I thought that had worked in the past. I ended up having to uninstall from the administrator account,then downloaded the new version and installed there.The profiles of all the users was left intact.

My memory seems to be fading,if I haven't performed a computer task for awhile I don't remember it.:scowl:
 

mechBgon

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Nov 3, 2007
Messages
567
What I like about Firefox is that my wife has it installed fully within her profile in Windows XP Professional x64, and I don't have to be bothered with it in my own profile. She was able to install it without Administrator rights (neither of us have admin rights attached to our own user accounts) and can do updates to it it, as well.

Thunderbird *should* operate the same way as Firefox. I suppose one could install it as an Administrator so it's available to all users of the system, but that almost seems like 'overkill' if there's only one primary user (and checking email isn't exactly an "administration" task).

The flip side is that an exploit of the non-Admin account would also be able to "update" programs that are installed in that fashion. I understand it's slightly more convenient, but from a security standpoint, that's a compromise. So is relaxing the security/permissions on folders in the Program Files directory. I might do that for something obscure like a favorite old game, but not for an Internet-facing program like a browser, email client, VOIP or IM client, etc.
 
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