Can't install DVD Architect

shoult wrote on 10/28/2019, 11:43 AM

We're evaluating new DVD/BluRay authoring software since Adobe stopped supporting theirs. We're trying to install the trial of version 7.0.0 Build 100 to see if our editors like it but It refuses to install with a Invalid Drive: H:\ error.

Drive H:\ is a mapped drive on a network share in our Active Directory domain. Is this a problem? Is there a workaround (other than moving H: to a local drive which ISN'T EVER going to happen)?

Client machines are all running Windows 10 v1903. Network share is on a Windows Server 2016 box using SMB2/SMB3 only. Connection is over a 10GbE network.

Comments

shoult wrote on 10/28/2019, 1:22 PM

The answer to this question shows the poor programming practices of the maker. To install the software it was necessary to log out of the network, log in as a local user, install the buggy software, log out again, log in as a domain user and finally run the program.

I hope the editors DON'T choose this software although they probably will.

Steve Grisetti wrote on 10/29/2019, 6:53 AM

If you're going to install the program on something other than a standalone computer -- a network, for instance -- you should contact Magix rather than posting to a user to user forum. You may well need a different type of license, and installing to a shared network may not even be available.

In my experience (and I've used several disc authoring programs over the past couple of decades) DVD Architect is the easiest to learn and its results are excellent. I don't work for the company, but I'd urge you to give it a fair shot rather than dismissing it because it doesn't work on a system it's not designed to work on.

john-baker wrote on 10/30/2019, 5:07 AM

@shoult

. . . . The answer to this question shows the poor programming practices of the maker. To install the software it was necessary to log out of the network, log in as a local user, install the buggy software, log out again, log in as a domain user and finally run the program. . . . .

The 'issue' is actually not an issue at all - it is good domain practice to prevent standard network users installing software on to AD domain PC's, to do otherwise results in a very insecure network system.

I also second @Steve Grisetti comments about DVDA usability, and would add it also has very flexible functionality, enabling complex, customisable DVD and BD disc structures and menu systems.

I also do not work for Magix.

John EB

shoult wrote on 10/30/2019, 7:49 AM

Yes, it IS an issue. There was NO way to install as a domain user. By that I mean, standard domain user, standard user running the program with admin rights, domain user with admin rights, domain admin or enterprise admin. No combination of rights or privileges would give the user the ability to install the program AS LONG as they were logged into an Active Directory domain.

As soon as they logged out of the domain and logged into a local account the program installed. THIS IS POOR Programming. This is NOT following standard best programming practices. Simple.

Granted, it only affects people when they install the program, and once the work-around is learned it's not a big deal. But it's not good practice to disallow network users (with the proper rights) to install software.

You may believe otherwise and that's ok.

john-baker wrote on 11/8/2019, 3:49 PM

@shoult

. . . . No combination of rights or privileges would give the user the ability to install the program AS LONG as they were logged into an Active Directory domain. . . . . As soon as they logged out of the domain and logged into a local account the program installed. . . . .

Everything you are saying points to an AD security configuration issue - the most likely one being that the Domain Admin group(s) is/are not part of the Local Administrators group for the workstations.

Programs do not have any means of checking whether a user has sufficient rights to install it - it is controlled by the local and domain security policies.

John EB