F@H Client Won't Run Unless Admin Account

[Modular]

I installed FAH on my PC, chose "custom install" to put it on my data drive, and ran the program after following all the instructions on the FAH website. It was working really well until I restarted my PC to plug in my Kill-A-Watt. Now when I restart and log in to my non-admin account, the client will not run and I can't connect via the web client. It does run just fine if I log in to my admin account on the PC.

Pertinent details:
Windows 7 64-bit
When I installed it, I did so under my non-administrator account. It did prompt me for the admin password to install the client.
It runs fine the first time I install it, but after that it will only work on the admin account.
I have uninstalled/reinstalled using the "express settings" as well, but that doesn't help.
I've gone into the folder it's installed in and tried to run the client directly, but it just gives me a CMD screen, runs some commands and nothing else happens.

Any insight into this? I only use the Admin account on my PC for maintenance tasks. I'd prefer to not be logged in as admin each time I want to fold...

 

[Markfw]

I would try the Folding forums, they may have an answer, but I am pretty sure you need the admin account

 

[StefanR5R]

I have got Windows 7 too, but it is a while ago that I last installed F@H, and my users have administrative privileges due to unrelated applications.

This page says that admin rights are not required:
https://foldingathome.org/support/f...s/windows/custom-installation-advanced-users/
But maybe that's outdated?

Anyway, when you install,

• do not check the "start as a system service" option
  (I always chose the "start manually" option),
  
• maybe check the "install for anyone" option
  (I don't remember whether or not I used this).

I've gone into the folder it's installed in and tried to run the client directly,

There should be a menu called "FAHClient" in the Windows start menu. This meny should contain, among else, shortcuts to

• "Folding@home", which is the client which fetches science applications and work units and launches them,
• "Web Control", which launches the default web browser with a minimal control interface to the client (personally I never use it because it is does a lot less than I want),
• "FAHControl", which is the proper GUI program to control the client, locally as well as on more computers in the LAN if configured for this purpose.

When you start the client, i.e. "Folding@home", it should bring up an icon in the system tray. When right-clicked, this icon has a menu which lets you start the Web control or GUI control as well.

 

[TennesseeTony]

Thanks for stopping in, Modular! I hope 1.) we are able to help you, and 2.) that we hear more from you. Welcome to the TeAm!

 

[Modular]

There should be a menu called "FAHClient" in the Windows start menu. This meny should contain, among else, shortcuts to

• "Folding@home", which is the client which fetches science applications and work units and launches them,
• "Web Control", which launches the default web browser with a minimal control interface to the client (personally I never use it because it is does a lot less than I want),
• "FAHControl", which is the proper GUI program to control the client, locally as well as on more computers in the LAN if configured for this purpose.

When you start the client, i.e. "Folding@home", it should bring up an icon in the system tray. When right-clicked, this icon has a menu which lets you start the Web control or GUI control as well.

Thanks for the help. I think I've got it working (fingers crossed).

The weird thing is that I don't have the F@H client in the Windows start menu unless I'm logged in as the Admin account. This is the same whether I install it as the Admin account or as the limited user. Kinda strange, but what ended up working for me was to install it under my Admin account. It opened a Windows Firewall message saying that it was blocking F@H. I made the changes so that it wouldn't block anymore.

Then I copied the shortcut from the Admin Desktop over to the Limited Account's desktop. Now when I start the limited account, I can start the F@H interface from the Limited Accounts desktop and it seems to be working fine.

The other thing I did that you suggested was to tell it not to start automatically when I installed it. The new installer does not give the option to "Install for all users" anymore. I'm not sure that changing that setting to "Start Manually" helped or not, but it's up and running for now.

Thanks for stopping in, Modular! I hope 1.) we are able to help you, and 2.) that we hear more from you. Welcome to the TeAm!

Thanks! Looking forward to crunching some numbers with you all. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get going.

 

[StefanR5R]

The new installer does not give the option to "Install for all users" anymore.

Now that could explain it... But good that you found a workaround, and thanks for documenting it here.

Re manual vs. auto start: Some prefer the latter, for instance with the goal to resume folding automatically after a reboot or power loss, even when unattended. While I haven't verified the necessary steps myself, I think what's needed for this is (a) setting the BIOS to boot up after a power loss, if the BIOS has such a setting, (b) set Windows to auto-login the respective user, (c) have a copy of the Folding@home shortcut in the Autostart folder of the start menu.