Install without administrator?

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Sam

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Message 74740 - Posted: 12 Dec 2016, 9:50:39 UTC

Hello.
I want to install BOINC on a Windows computer without use admin account, is it possible?
I do have the admin password, but I always use a limited account for security reason.
Thank you.
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Profile Jord
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Message 74741 - Posted: 12 Dec 2016, 10:41:49 UTC - in response to Message 74740.  
Last modified: 12 Dec 2016, 10:42:07 UTC

You can run (well, control) BOINC as any account, but require an administrator account for the installation.
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Sam

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Message 74743 - Posted: 12 Dec 2016, 11:54:11 UTC - in response to Message 74741.  
Last modified: 12 Dec 2016, 11:55:02 UTC

You can run (well, control) BOINC as any account, but require an administrator account for the installation.

Thanks but I already knew that, so what about the actual calculation programs, which account rights will they have? I'm a bit concerned because although I can trust BOINC, it's more difficult to trust every project, also (I remember) not all the calculation programs are downloaded securely or contains signature, so it's a risk of running tempered one.
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Profile Jord
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Message 74744 - Posted: 12 Dec 2016, 12:18:17 UTC - in response to Message 74743.  

also (I remember) not all the calculation programs are downloaded securely or contains signature

All project science programs contain a signature, else they aren't allowed to run under BOINC. BOINC checks for that. No signature, especially none signed against the key the project made with BOINC? Then no way it's going to run on a user's computer.

No, not all projects use TLS yet to upload their applications, but with all the changes in the area coming next year, it won't be long before they all will.
You can add a layer of security by installing BOINC as a service, then the BOINC Data directory and all projects and their applications within will be sandboxed, the applications therein are then doubly not allowed to go out of bounds, while anyone without permissible accounts is not allowed to write anything into the data directory. The disadvantage is that if you want to run any work on GPUs, that these do work under Windows when BOINC is installed as a service, due to Windows security measures that separate the drivers from the user account. BOINC will not be able to detect the GPU this way.

As for trusting projects, there's always the user who needs to determine if a project is safe or not. Rule of thumb on which projects are trusted? The ones in the BOINC Manager add project wizard.
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Sam

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Message 74745 - Posted: 12 Dec 2016, 12:54:42 UTC - in response to Message 74744.  

also (I remember) not all the calculation programs are downloaded securely or contains signature

All project science programs contain a signature, else they aren't allowed to run under BOINC. BOINC checks for that. No signature, especially none signed against the key the project made with BOINC? Then no way it's going to run on a user's computer.

No, not all projects use TLS yet to upload their applications, but with all the changes in the area coming next year, it won't be long before they all will.
You can add a layer of security by installing BOINC as a service, then the BOINC Data directory and all projects and their applications within will be sandboxed, the applications therein are then doubly not allowed to go out of bounds, while anyone without permissible accounts is not allowed to write anything into the data directory. The disadvantage is that if you want to run any work on GPUs, that these do work under Windows when BOINC is installed as a service, due to Windows security measures that separate the drivers from the user account. BOINC will not be able to detect the GPU this way.

As for trusting projects, there's always the user who needs to determine if a project is safe or not. Rule of thumb on which projects are trusted? The ones in the BOINC Manager add project wizard.

Thank you very much!
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Message boards : Questions and problems : Install without administrator?

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