Can't paste *.exe file inside Program Files folder

Hi guys.
One of my clients needs to do an update on one of his softwares.
The thing is: it is an *.exe file that can't be pasted into the software folder, inside Program Files, because it says it lacks permissions.
The user is computer admin already.
Tried with new account, cmd, nothing worked.
Any ideas?

I don't know how updating software includes an executable file to paste into software folder, you will do update from software help menu or install the latest version of the software.

FreeBooter said:

I don't know how updating software includes an executable file to paste into software folder, you will do update from software help menu or install the latest version of the software.

Click to expand...

Normally software is updated via an update procedure.. and yes.. you're right.. it's seldom if ever updated this way

This sounds more like a way to copy a hacked .exe so you can pirate software.

Savonarola said:

Hi guys.
One of my clients needs to do an update on one of his softwares.
The thing is: it is an *.exe file that can't be pasted into the software folder, inside Program Files, because it says it lacks permissions.
The user is computer admin already.
Tried with new account, cmd, nothing worked.
Any ideas?

Click to expand...

Could you tell us what software he's trying to update?

FreeBooter said:

I don't know how updating software includes an executable file to paste into software folder,

Click to expand...

On this I have to agree. Normally you'd just download the exe file and click it. It will automatically find the software it's for and update.

@Savonarola, mind telling us what the software is?

BunnyJ said:

This sounds more like a way to copy a hacked .exe so you can pirate software.

Click to expand...

That actually crossed my mind, as I've seen that trick before, but we'll see

Dru2 said:

That actually crossed my mind, as I've seen that trick before, but we'll see

Click to expand...

I agree.. cracked key in the .exe. I suspect that 'member' is gone and likely will never come back. I wonder if it's in one of our sister sites?

BunnyJ said:

I agree.. cracked key in the .exe. I suspect that 'member' is gone and likely will never come back. I wonder if it's in one of our sister sites?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I used that trick back in the days before I went total anti-piracy. Now you can't get me to put anything on my PC not legit.

@Porthos LOL

I mean who knows if its legit question or not and i doubt the OP will ever return to read any of this but if it is legit and above board then of course il let ya know, But until im convinced i wouldn't be able to.
If it isn't above board, If you don't know how to, No one here is gonna show you, If you know you know.

In fairness to the OP, I'll say we're all doing a lot of assuming. The problem though is that's a known hack trick

FreeBooter said:

I don't know how updating software includes an executable file to paste into software folder, you will do update from software help menu or install the latest version of the software.

Click to expand...

Self developed that uses Access as a db creator, saved as .accde file. Never had the problem before, either with W7, 8 or 10.

The client upgraded the computer to W11 and we're not able to smash the older .accde or .exe files inside the folders. They need to be there in order to read some dlls and because the add-in it loads in Word to generate documents with those db info, needs to be targeted there.

If we run the said files outside system disk or in the Desktop (e.g.), it will run but won't load specific data and functionalities.

Clean OS install and needed apps won't solve the issue.

Atleast theres a valid reason, Take Ownership Do this and once done right click on the folder/directory you want and in the context menu it will say take ownership, Click there and you're good/

BunnyJ said:

I agree.. cracked key in the .exe. I suspect that 'member' is gone and likely will never come back. I wonder if it's in one of our sister sites?

Click to expand...

Nope. Still here.

It's a location issue, since if the software is installed from scratch on data disk, no upgrade problem is returned, since no lack of permission is indicated.

But it won't work as it should, since the add-in works with that address. Dunno why.

Devlin1888 said:

Atleast theres a valid reason, Take Ownership Do this and once done right click on the folder/directory you want and in the context menu it will say take ownership, Click there and you're good/

Click to expand...

Did that and still having the same issue.
Maybe upgrade gone wrong? W11 shouldn't be doing this.
UAC was disabled, removed Bitdefender, disabled GPOs.

Dru2 said:

In fairness to the OP, I'll say we're all doing a lot of assuming. The problem though is that's a known hack trick

Click to expand...

Well, in all true, it is a known method to workaround and enable piracy. But there are still legit usage that face problems

One of my previous users managed to edit the hosts file to install a non-legit version of Acrobat Reader. But editing hosts is a legit way of creating a DNS override in a domain. I did it to support UX/UI staff and for security reasons (in schools to block contents on non domain machines).

Savonarola said:

Did that and still having the same issue.
Maybe upgrade gone wrong? W11 shouldn't be doing this.
UAC was disabled, removed Bitdefender, disabled GPOs.

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Hmm thats weird, Taking owndership has always sorted anything like that, I have UAC disabled too(On purpose)
So do you have no AV running atm? What about windows defender?

Devlin1888 said:

Hmm thats weird, Taking owndership has always sorted anything like that, I have UAC disabled too(On purpose)
So do you have no AV running atm? What about windows defender?

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Windows Defender is up. But never had issues with it before. It's the first time I face this.

The machine was migrated because it showed some erratic behaviour on W10. But neither SFC or DISM returned errors.

Think I'm gonna try and create a local admin account, instead of using the client @outlook account to login.

Or even try with the admin account

Savonarola said:

Windows Defender is up. But never had issues with it before. It's the first time I face this.

The machine was migrated because it showed some erratic behaviour on W10. But neither SFC or DISM returned errors.

Think I'm gonna try and create a local admin account, instead of using the client @outlook account to login.

Or even try with the admin account

Click to expand...

Maybe worth having a go at turning off automatic sample and creating an exception, Just temp of course in case that doesn't sort it
Hmm that is weird, Gonna take someone with more brains than me im afraid