4 ms·

It'd be a lot less easy if the OS didn't seem to require full privilege escalation for a lot of tasks you don't need that for in linux. One of the major problem

by advael 2y ago

It'd be a lot less easy if the OS didn't seem to require full privilege escalation for a lot of tasks you don't need that for in linux. One of the major problems that leads to escalation is poor separation of concerns

tredre3 2y ago
What action requires admin escalation on Windows but not on Linux?
- advael 2y ago
  Just counting things I've personally seen, using "untrusted" userspace software and accessing a USB webcam. It's possible these particular examples are no longer true. I haven't been a windows user for about 15 years. But both surprised me quite a lot when I saw people I know do them and it seemed indicative of a systemic separation of concerns problem
  - joshuaissac 2y ago
    > using "untrusted" userspace software and accessing a USB webcam Windows only requires escalation for this if you want to install that userspace software to a non-user location,* or if you want to install a driver for the webcam. If you just want to run the program, this is not required. A long time ago, in the pre-Vista era, when running programs as administrator was the default, many programs would not work if they were not run as administrator. This is no longer case for programs written after Vista. From Vista onwards, older programs that assume admin rights and attempt to change admin-only files get their reads and writes redirected to a VirtualStore folder within the user's profile, so that the program still works without administrative permissions. * The exception is with some installers where the UAC installer detection kicks in and demands escalation straight away, even before you select an installation location (which could be a user-writable location). Turning this off requires using the Group Policy Editor or the Registry Editor to flip the EnableInstallerDetection registry key.

4 ms·

It'd be a lot less easy if the OS didn't seem to require full privilege escalation for a lot of tasks you don't need that for in linux. One of the major problem

by advael 2y ago

tredre3 2y ago
What action requires admin escalation on Windows but not on Linux?
- advael 2y ago
  Just counting things I've personally seen, using "untrusted" userspace software and accessing a USB webcam. It's possible these particular examples are no longer true. I haven't been a windows user for about 15 years. But both surprised me quite a lot when I saw people I know do them and it seemed indicative of a systemic separation of concerns problem
  - joshuaissac 2y ago
    > using "untrusted" userspace software and accessing a USB webcam Windows only requires escalation for this if you want to install that userspace software to a non-user location,* or if you want to install a driver for the webcam. If you just want to run the program, this is not required. A long time ago, in the pre-Vista era, when running programs as administrator was the default, many programs would not work if they were not run as administrator. This is no longer case for programs written after Vista. From Vista onwards, older programs that assume admin rights and attempt to change admin-only files get their reads and writes redirected to a VirtualStore folder within the user's profile, so that the program still works without administrative permissions. * The exception is with some installers where the UAC installer detection kicks in and demands escalation straight away, even before you select an installation location (which could be a user-writable location). Turning this off requires using the Group Policy Editor or the Registry Editor to flip the EnableInstallerDetection registry key.