[Apcupsd-users] Program Files (x86) directory of for 64bit Windows?

[Bret A. Bennett]

Re: Program Files (x86) directory of for 64bit Windows?





Hi Apcupsd subscribers,



When possible on Windows PCs, I prefer to install 32bit programs to
"c:\Program Files (x86)" and 64bit programs to "c:\Program Files". These of
course are the standard 32bit and 64bit directories. I see that Apcupsd
likes to default to c:\apcupsd .



I just did an Apcupsd install on a standalone Win81 64bit OS to the
"c:\Program Files (x86)" folder and (although I don't have an APB UPS to
test with), the install seemed to go ok. I installed to that folder because
my experience is that many open source apps and utilities are in fact 32bit
and run just perfect on Win 64bit OS's.



I just checked Task Manager and I see "apcupsd.exe (32bit)" that confirms
I'm running it as a 32bit app. That would imply that my choice of the
"c:\Program Files (x86)" folder was correct. Btw, I did note in the manual
the "apcupsd Network Monitoring (CGI) Programs" have a reason for being
installed to c:\apcupsd .



This PC is standalone now, but will be joining a workgroup soon, and
eventually a domain. Does anyone know if installing Apcupsd to this
non-default folder is going to cause problems later?



Thanks you for your thoughts.



Regards . . .

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Post by Bret A. Bennett
Re: Program Files (x86) directory of for 64bit Windows?
Hi Apcupsd subscribers,
When possible on Windows PCs, I prefer to install 32bit programs to
“c:\Program Files (x86)” and 64bit programs to “c:\Program Files”. These
of course are the standard 32bit and 64bit directories. I see that
Apcupsd likes to default to c:\apcupsd .
I just did an Apcupsd install on a standalone Win81 64bit OS to the
“c:\Program Files (x86)” folder and (although I don’t have an APB UPS to
test with), the install seemed to go ok. I installed to that folder
because my experience is that many open source apps and utilities are in
fact 32bit and run just perfect on Win 64bit OS’s.
I just checked Task Manager and I see “apcupsd.exe (32bit)” that
confirms I’m running it as a 32bit app. That would imply that my choice
of the “c:\Program Files (x86)” folder was correct. Btw, I did note in
the manual the “apcupsd Network Monitoring (CGI) Programs” have a reason
for being installed to c:\apcupsd .

apcupsd for windows is normally cross-compiled on linux using the 32 bit
mingw compiler and 32 bit mingw toolchain.

Because the program is not computation intensive or disk intensive it
is going to run the same as 32 bit or 64 bit.

The apcupsd project distributes linux source which is 64 bit clean and
will compile on either 32bit or 64 bit linuxes.

Distributing the windows binary as 32 bit allows the project to not
have to distribute multiple windows binaries. It would probably be
pretty easy to compile apcupsd as a 64 bit windows binary.

Post by Bret A. Bennett
This PC is standalone now, but will be joining a workgroup soon, and
eventually a domain. Does anyone know if installing Apcupsd to this
non-default folder is going to cause problems later?

regular domain users are not permitted to install or uninstall software
on their PCs. the APIs for this require escalated privileges and GPOs
on the domain may disallow regular users to delete and add stuff in
those directories (and most other directories on the pc)

To get around this some admins configure PCs to permit domain users to
be local admins but if you do that it allows the viruses they download
to be local admins too and Pwn their machines, so more and more
companies are waking up to the idea that this Isn't a Good Thing.

Regular users also can't stop and start services. The admin can setup a
GPO to permit this.

Beyond that it shouldn't make a difference.

Ted

Post by Bret A. Bennett
Thanks you for your thoughts.
Regards . . .
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[Bret A. Bennett]

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the detailed reply and supporting comments :-)

I agree, Windows version of apcupsd being a 32bit app is perfectly fine.
With regard to 32bit Windows apps on 64bit OS's, Microsoft tech support
actually recommends installing Microsoft Office as 32bit (and not 64bit) on
64bit Windows OS's. This is to retain compatibility with the multitude of
32bit add-ons that users depend on. If interested in the 32 vs 64 bit choice
for Microsoft Office programs, see:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Choose-the-64-bit-or-32-bit-version
-of-Office-2dee7807-8f95-4d0c-b5fe-6c6f49b8d261

Now I feel comfortable on my choice of the "c:\Program Files (x86)\Apcupsd"
folder as my installation location for Apcupsd.

Regards . . .

P.S.
Off Topic, do not reply:
I agree 100% that regular Windows users on standalone PCs, peer-to-peer
LANs, or domain joined PCs should not be members of the Local Admins group
or DomainAdmins group for the reasons you mentioned. I don't even use the
PowerUsers group anymore for them.


-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Mittelstaedt [mailto:***@mittelstaedt.us]
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 6:30 AM
To: apcupsd-***@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Apcupsd-users] Program Files (x86) directory of for 64bit
Windows?

Post by Bret A. Bennett
Re: Program Files (x86) directory of for 64bit Windows?
Hi Apcupsd subscribers,
When possible on Windows PCs, I prefer to install 32bit programs to
"c:\Program Files (x86)" and 64bit programs to "c:\Program Files".
These of course are the standard 32bit and 64bit directories. I see
that Apcupsd likes to default to c:\apcupsd .
I just did an Apcupsd install on a standalone Win81 64bit OS to the
"c:\Program Files (x86)" folder and (although I don't have an APB UPS
to test with), the install seemed to go ok. I installed to that folder
because my experience is that many open source apps and utilities are
in fact 32bit and run just perfect on Win 64bit OS's.
I just checked Task Manager and I see "apcupsd.exe (32bit)" that
confirms I'm running it as a 32bit app. That would imply that my
choice of the "c:\Program Files (x86)" folder was correct. Btw, I did
note in the manual the "apcupsd Network Monitoring (CGI) Programs"
have a reason for being installed to c:\apcupsd .

apcupsd for windows is normally cross-compiled on linux using the 32 bit
mingw compiler and 32 bit mingw toolchain.

Because the program is not computation intensive or disk intensive it is
going to run the same as 32 bit or 64 bit.

The apcupsd project distributes linux source which is 64 bit clean and will
compile on either 32bit or 64 bit linuxes.

Distributing the windows binary as 32 bit allows the project to not have to
distribute multiple windows binaries. It would probably be pretty easy to
compile apcupsd as a 64 bit windows binary.

Post by Bret A. Bennett
This PC is standalone now, but will be joining a workgroup soon, and
eventually a domain. Does anyone know if installing Apcupsd to this
non-default folder is going to cause problems later?

regular domain users are not permitted to install or uninstall software on
their PCs. the APIs for this require escalated privileges and GPOs on the
domain may disallow regular users to delete and add stuff in those
directories (and most other directories on the pc)

To get around this some admins configure PCs to permit domain users to be
local admins but if you do that it allows the viruses they download to be
local admins too and Pwn their machines, so more and more companies are
waking up to the idea that this Isn't a Good Thing.

Regular users also can't stop and start services. The admin can setup a GPO
to permit this.

Beyond that it shouldn't make a difference.

Ted

Post by Bret A. Bennett
Thanks you for your thoughts.
Regards . . .
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's
most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
_______________________________________________
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https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/apcupsd-users

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tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
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