Loading of USB drivers after power on requires administrator rights

[Csaba]

Hi

Introduction
We have problems loading the USB drivers after a power down situation with seven GPIB-USB-B and two GPIB-SB-HS on Windows 2000SP4.

This question has been raised, directly and indirectly, several times before in www.ni.com and in this discussion forum without a satisfactory solution – and in some cases without really identifying the problem.

This is an issue also on Windows XPSP2 – the only difference is a clearer XP error messages compared with Windows 2000, explicitly stating that you must have administrator rights and also offers you to login as an administrator. There are screen dumps of these XP error messages somewhere in www.NI.com.  The drivers used are NI488.2 from version 2.0 to 2.4 without any difference.

This issue is a real pain for us. After a power cut, it sometimes takes a week before we are able to use the instruments again due to internal delays.

After going through the knowledgebase, this seems to be problem with every NI USB device but not other vendors USB instrument drivers. So it is an issue that can be solved, see below.

Problem description
When logging on after a power down situation – for instance after a power cut, the user gets this message: "You do not have sufficient security privileges to install devices on this computer. Please contact your administrator, or logout and login in as an administrator and try again."

Note, this is only after a cold start of the computer. A simple computer restart or logoff do not cause a problem, in those case the USB-GPIB driver is still loaded – this is not really clear from another threads in this discussion forum.

Details
I have nine LC instruments with NI GPIB-GPIB devices. On ONE instruments the user can load the USB-GPIB driver after a cold start but not on the other eight. (The computer to the instrument working was the first one that was set up with NI GPIB-USB but the IT technician who did that set up don't remember what he did differently on that computer - he was poking around a lot in the registry keys and file access rights.)

The point is: the issue can be solved since it works on one computer and instrument.

Approach to solve the problem
To solve this problem, we would like to have a list of the files and registry keys involved in the loading process, so we can check and change the access rights, so that the loading process works also when a user is logged in after a power off situation – not only when an administrator is logged in

With a list of .dll and .com files and a list of relevant registry keys, it should be easier to solve the issue.

Does anyone have this list of files and registry keys?

Or does anyone know of any program that can generate a difference of the registry and relevant files?

Or does anyone have a better suggestion?

Any helps is much appreciated. We have had this problem now for four years and would be very happy so solve it.

Best Regards

Csaba

Csaba.Urbaniczky@AstraZeneca.com

[Csaba]

Hi again,

I have set up a list of relevant links I have found about this issue:

"...access denied..." Message During GPIB-USB-A Installation
Link: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/1d52b53149dd637686256caa00565e47
Document ID: 2T98MMUV

Problems Detecting GPIB-USB-B and Loading its Driver
Link: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/353a43396c88799286256d88007c2ec0
Document ID: 30JGI6WH

Cannot Install USB Devices as User
Link http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/2E54DF542941A22C86256FB0007BFAF6
Document ID: 3ILDID00

I Can't Run the NI 488.2 Troubleshooting Wizard Without Failure Unless I am an Administrator
Link: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/265e740c9541ff6986256d890080446f
Document ID: 30KHBGW0

The Software You Are Installing Has Not Passed Windows Logo Testing
Link: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/DF4F534D1FF3085886256FB600593FEB
Document ID: 3IR97DW3

Windows XP Logo Testing and USB Serial Driver
Link: KB 2NMIPLYF: Windows XP Logo Testing and USB Serial Driver
Document ID: 2NMIPLYF

“GPIB-USB-B not working without admin login “   by  tberger
Link: http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=140&message.id=8071&query.id=44658#M8071

Regards
Csaba

[Jimmie_A.]

Hello Csaba (or Hej as we say in Sweden)!

It has all to do with signed drivers and how Windows 2000 and XP handles drivers.

Currently, Windows 2000/XP will not allow any driver to be installed without administrative access and that is nothing we at NI can change. Unfortunately, the driver used by the GPIB-USB-B is an "unsigned" driver. This means that there are a couple of popup windows that the user must accept when installing a GPIB-USB-B. We are currently looking at getting this driver signed, but that won't be for a while.

Workaround: This will only work if the device is initially installed as an administrator. Once the device is installed, the user can log in as a normal user and use the device as long as the device stays in the same port. That is, a normal user can unplug the device and plug it back in the same port, and it will function correctly. It is only when the device changes USB ports that it will try and reinstall the driver, and that is when you need administrative access. Customers has been using this solution for a while.

Another thing that might be helpful is that you give the normal users full access to the C:\Program Files\National Instruments\MAX folder as well as the C:\VXIPNP since some files are read and written when performing tasks within MAX.

Can you test the things above and see if it changes things?

Have a nice midsummer!

[Csaba]

Hi Jimmy,

The problem is when logging on after a power down situation – for instance after a power cut and there is a lot of power cuts here in the summer time, almost like Dehli. Otherwise, the standard procedure today is to do as you suggest.

I have got some  "administrator resources" and is working on a fix on the "unsigned USB driver" issue - and I think we be able to fix a work around. Summary of the suggestion we are working on is:

1: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ENUM\USB, from the menu bar, select Security » Permissions; from the popup window, choose to allow everyone to read the key (make sure the "Allow inheritable permissions from parent to propagate to this object" is selected). Afterwards, click Advanced and check the lower box, also "Allow inheritable permissions from parent to propagate to this object". This completes the fix, and the installation should run fine.

2: You must have write access to the GPIB.INI file located in C:\Windows\System32 directory. Most non-administrator accounts do not have write access to this file. You will have to log on as an administrator and give Everyone write access to this file if you want non-administrator users to be able to run the NI 488.2 Troubleshooting Wizard.

3: Check also C:\Windows\System32\DRIVERS\nipalusb.sys file since it is the file given as the used driver in the Driver Manager. 

4: Set file signature verification options:

1. Open System in Control Panel.

2. On the Hardware tab, click Driver Signing.

3. Under File Signature Verification:

·Click Warn to display a warning message whenever an installation program attempts to install a device driver without a digital signature.

4. If you are a logged on as an administrator or as a member of the administrator's group, select Make this setting the system default to apply the selected setting as the default for all users who log on to that computer.

Regards

Csaba

[Jimmie_A.]

Hello Csaba!

Excellent to hear that you are using the method I described as the standard procedure and it is great to hear that you might have found a solution to the problems you have experienced over the years.

This KB entry over at MSDN might be helpful.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298503/en-us

The drivers we provide must be signed soon as Vista will require signed drivers when it is released.