Blue Onion Software

I’m new to Wix and to Windows Installers in general so some of this is likely wrong or obvious. Still, I couldn’t find much information on how to do set file permissions for a particular user account so I thought I’d share.

I needed my installer to set the folder permissions for the App_Data folder in an ASP.NET site. Typically, you need to give the “Network Services” account write permissions to this folder. I scoured the Internet for a solution and posted a question on Stack Overflow before coming up with my own solution.

<CustomAction Id="PermissionAppData" Directory="TARGETDIR" 
  ExeCommand="&quot;[SystemFolder]cacls.exe&quot; 
  &quot;[INSTALLDIR]\App_Data&quot;
  /T /E /G &quot;NT AUTHORITY\Network Service:C&quot;" Return="check" />

Add this custom action to the install sequence table and you’re golden.

There’s a util:PermissionEx custom action in Wix 3 but it seems to only work for “well known” accounts (like Administrators). Maybe there’s a better way but darn if I could come up with it. Feedback appreciated.

It seems like using the util:PermissionEx element should have worked. It has a well known account for NetworkService. Isn't that what you want?

Rob has answered this question on Stack Overflow. Here's his response.

You want User="NetworkService". There is a list of well known users in the SecureObj.cpp code that backs PermissionEx.

`// figure out the right user to put into the access block
if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"Everyone"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinWorldSid, &psid);
}
else if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"Administrators"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinBuiltinAdministratorsSid, &psid);
}
else if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"LocalSystem"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinLocalSystemSid, &psid);
}
else if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"LocalService"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinLocalServiceSid, &psid);
}
else if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"NetworkService"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinNetworkServiceSid, &psid);
}
else if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"AuthenticatedUser"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinAuthenticatedUserSid, &psid);
}
else if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"Guests"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinBuiltinGuestsSid, &psid);
}
else if(!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"CREATOR OWNER"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinCreatorOwnerSid, &psid);
}
else if (!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"INTERACTIVE"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinInteractiveSid, &psid);
}
else if(!*pwzDomain && 0 == lstrcmpW(pwzUser, L"Users"))
{
hr = AclGetWellKnownSid(WinBuiltinUsersSid, &psid);
}
else`

The Windows Installer LockPermission table (the Permission element in WiX) also support most well known names but they are localized which is a really poor design, IMHO. That's why WiX has this known list.