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I don't have much experience under Windows so I may be a bit off here, but this article mentioned the driver was installed by Windows Update from a non-administ

by II2II 5y ago

I don't have much experience under Windows so I may be a bit off here, but this article mentioned the driver was installed by Windows Update from a non-administrative account, made no mention of UAC popping up to get administrative credentials, and allowed the installer to present a user interface. The installation wizard allowed for interactions that are intended for people who manually download and execute the driver package, which is fine in that context since the end user has already provided or has to provide administrative credentials at a UAC prompt. It is not fine in this case since a standard Windows component with elevated privileges is allowing the end user to circumvent restrictions on their account. Clearly Razer played a role here since they were doing something that is (from my experience) unusual by presenting a wizard during a Windows Update installation. On the other hand, this is a fault that Microsoft has to fix.

chris37879 5y ago
It's a new 'feature' of Windows update. In the past, driver vendors that were supplying to the Windows Update driver DB only had the option of providing infs and firmware, basically. I think they could provide apps too, but they had to be 'move it into place and it works' sort of apps. The mistake is that now Microsoft allows installers to run, Logitech does the same thing, plug in any logitech device and Logitech Options pops up a custom notification prompting you to 'continue' installation.
- II2II 5y ago
  I can understand why the vendor would want this features, and perhaps even most users. On the other hand, the one thing I liked about the limited approach was the ease of installing basic drivers. (Linux is my primary OS, so I'm accustomed to basic drivers and find the additional software that accompanies many Windows drivers repulsive. Knowing that the installer for these enhanced drivers can also present a security risk simply makes it worse.)
  - chris37879 5y ago
    Completely agree, I've been an on-again-off-again linux user for the last 15-ish years... but these days it's more and more on, the only reason I haven't virtualized my gaming rig yet is the DRM some games I play use using those fucking kernel drivers. So that install hangs out and has steam, chrome, and other various games / game launchers and that's it. I disable as much of the OS as I can and only boot into it for games that don't work on linux (usually ones with the aforementioned DRM). Gaming on linux is getting better every day!
- fomine3 5y ago
  When this "feature" released? It should be reviewed not to this happen.

by II2II 5y ago

chris37879 5y ago

It's a new 'feature' of Windows update. In the past, driver vendors that were supplying to the Windows Update driver DB only had the option of providing infs and firmware, basically. I think they could provide apps too, but they had to be 'move it into place and it works' sort of apps. The mistake is that now Microsoft allows installers to run, Logitech does the same thing, plug in any logitech device and Logitech Options pops up a custom notification prompting you to 'continue' installation.

II2II 5y ago
I can understand why the vendor would want this features, and perhaps even most users. On the other hand, the one thing I liked about the limited approach was the ease of installing basic drivers. (Linux is my primary OS, so I'm accustomed to basic drivers and find the additional software that accompanies many Windows drivers repulsive. Knowing that the installer for these enhanced drivers can also present a security risk simply makes it worse.)
- chris37879 5y ago
  Completely agree, I've been an on-again-off-again linux user for the last 15-ish years... but these days it's more and more on, the only reason I haven't virtualized my gaming rig yet is the DRM some games I play use using those fucking kernel drivers. So that install hangs out and has steam, chrome, and other various games / game launchers and that's it. I disable as much of the OS as I can and only boot into it for games that don't work on linux (usually ones with the aforementioned DRM). Gaming on linux is getting better every day!
fomine3 5y ago
When this "feature" released? It should be reviewed not to this happen.