Bug in Add/Remove Programs registry entry location
Hi,
I'm at IT admin at my university and have figured out how to silently deploy/install, configure, and uninstall RapidMiner Studio. However, I think I found a bug in its NSIS installer logic. We typically use a software's "Uninstall" (Add/Remove Programs) registry entry/key/value as the main identifier for inventory detection purposes. When I install RMS as Administrator and then logoff and login as a different user, I no longer see RMS listed in Add/Remove Programs. After further investigation, I discovered that the RMS installer is placing the "Uninstall" registry entry under the HKCU root key (installing user) instead of the usual machine-wide location in HKLM. Because of this we had to come up with a different way to detect if RM is installed and the version for use in our client management system. No biggie--we're used to coming up with clever solutions to things.
Just for kicks, I tried to install RMS as a regular non-admin user and found out that the installer doesn't fully support that kind of install--unlike a small number of apps such as Google Chrome. I also tried the /AllUsers NSIS switch (see docs) (along with the silent /S switch), but that didn't work either. Since the installer appears to only install for administrators, I assume this is just a bug. That's the main reason for this post. I just want to pass it along to the RapidMiner software engineers. Other than that, kudos on making the logic for customizing various preferences easy for enterprise-level deployment.
I do have a question though... about licensing. We're using the free edition of RMS in a handful of student computer labs for teaching purposes. The file is named rapidminer-studio 7.2+ [free] <date>-forever.lic. I'm trying to determine what that filename means. What future versions of RMS is this license good for... 7.2.x only, all of 7.x, or newer 8+ versions too?
thanks!
Macgyver
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Thanks Marcel.
Another small suggestion.... although there already exists a "DisplayVersion" registry value, please put RMS's version in the registry key too. That would help SCCM/software inventory admins out a little bit. Thanks!
HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\RapidMiner Studio 7.2.2\
Thanks for the suggestion. We'll keep that in mind ;-)
Same bug in ver 7.4.0. Best I have been able to come up with is export all the HKCU registry keys of the account that did the install then merge them into the account you want to do the uninstall. Problem though is 1st account will still think product is installed as its registry keys are still intact. Tried to fake the registry by converting the HKCU to HKLM but that was a bust. Actually opened the uninstall.exe in an editor and noted that it is hardwired to read certain registry keys in HKCU. One support person suggested just deleting C:\Program Files (x86)\RapidMiner folder. But that leaves all desktop shortcuts and registry keys intact. This bug might hold up our approval/procurment.
Hi Macgyver,
thanks for the report. I have created an internal report and we'll have a look at it.
> I'm trying to determine what that filename means. What future versions of RMS is this license good for... 7.2.x only, all of 7.x, or newer 8+ versions too?
In the past the license model and thus the licenses itself were changed during a minor update. Thus I cannot promise that the current licenses are valid for all 7.x versions. But at least they should work for every 7.2.x release ;-)
Cheers,
Marcel