Permission elevation from VBScript

6
votes

We run Dynamics GP. Because of the way it stores forms/reports, I need to have some install scripts that copy a .SET file into the program directory. This can be done manually, but it's much quicker to just have a user run an installer script which installs the proper files for them.

I've been building a VBScript installer that copies the necessary files around. The tricky part is that some clients are running Windows XP, and some are running Windows 7 (or even 8). UAC is enabled, so permissions come into play.

The way I've tried to do it is by blindly attempting to copy the files, and if a permission error is detected, it relaunches the script with administrator permissions. Where we've run into problems is some (all?) Windows 7 machines have virtualized file/registry writes enabled, so when the script tries to copy files into C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2010, it silently fails and copies them to the user's AppData\Local\VirtualStore directory. This doesn't work properly with GP.

So what I need to do is have the script copy the files to C:\Program Files (not the VirtualStore directory), and elevate permissions only if necessary. If I have it elevate across the board, this causes the Windows XP machines to simply pop up a cryptic "Run As" dialog box when launching the script.

Here's what I have so far:

Dim WSHShell, FSO, Desktop, DesktopPath
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Desktop = WSHShell.SpecialFolders("Desktop")
DesktopPath = FSO.GetAbsolutePathName(Desktop)

'Set working directory to directory the script is in.
'This ends up being C:\Windows\System32 if the script is
'started from ShellExecute, or a link in an email, thus breaking
'relative paths.
WSHShell.CurrentDirectory = FSO.GetFile(WScript.ScriptFullName).ParentFolder

On Error Resume Next

If FSO.FolderExists("C:\Program Files (x86)") Then
    WScript.Echo "Installing 64-bit."
    FSO.CopyFile "64-bit\*.set", "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2010\", True
    FSO.CopyFile "64-bit\*.lnk", DesktopPath, True
ElseIf FSO.FolderExists("C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2010\Mekorma MICR") Then
    WScript.Echo "Installing 32-bit (with MICR)."
    FSO.CopyFile "32-bit MICR\*.set", "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2010\", True
    FSO.CopyFile "32-bit MICR\*.lnk", DesktopPath, True 
Else
    WScript.Echo "Installing 32-bit."
    FSO.CopyFile "32-bit\*.SET", "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2010\", True
    FSO.CopyFile "32-bit\*.lnk", DesktopPath, True
End If

If Err.Number = 70 Then
    CreateObject("Shell.Application").ShellExecute "wscript.exe", """" & WScript.ScriptFullName & """" , "", "runas", 1
    WScript.Quit
ElseIf Err.Number <> 0 Then
    MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & vbCrLf & Err.Source & vbCrLf & Err.Description
Else
    MsgBox "Installed successfully."
End If

In summary: How do I have a VBScript elevate permissions without causing XP to stall at a "Run As" dialog box, and without causing Windows 7 to copy the files to AppData\Local\VirtualStore instead?

2
windows-7vbscript

2 Answers

5
votes

Improved on @db2 answer:

  • real elevation testing, without depending on passed arguments
  • passes all original arguments to the elevated script
  • uses the same host of the initial script: wscript.exe, cscript.exe, whatever

Code:

Set OSList = GetObject("winmgmts:").InstancesOf("Win32_OperatingSystem")
For Each OS In OSList
    If InStr(1, OS.Caption, "XP") = 0 And InStr(1, OS.Caption, "Server 2003") = 0 Then
        With CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
            IsElevated = .Run("cmd.exe /c ""whoami /groups|findstr S-1-16-12288""", 0, true) = 0
            If Not IsElevated Then
                Dim AllArgs
                For Each Arg In WScript.Arguments
                    If InStr( Arg, " " ) Then Arg = """" & Arg & """"
                    AllArgs = AllArgs & " " & Arg
                Next
                Command = """" & WScript.ScriptFullName & """" & AllArgs
                With CreateObject("Shell.Application")
                    .ShellExecute WScript.FullName, " //nologo " & Command, "", "runas", 1
                    WScript.Echo WScript.FullName & " //nologo " & Command
                End With
                WScript.Quit
            End If
        End With
    End If
Next

' Place code to run elevated here
4
votes

Seems like this is the simplest way to do it.

  1. Check OS version.
  2. If it's not XP or 2003 (I don't anticipate this running on anything older), re-execute with elevation.

Here's the code block I added to the beginning of the script:

Dim OSList, OS, UAC
UAC = False
If WScript.Arguments.Count >= 1 Then
    If WScript.Arguments.Item(0) = "elevated" Then UAC = True
End If

If Not(UAC) Then
    Set OSList = GetObject("winmgmts:").InstancesOf("Win32_OperatingSystem")
    For Each OS In OSList
        If InStr(1, OS.Caption, "XP") = 0 And InStr(1, OS.Caption, "Server 2003") = 0 Then
            CreateObject("Shell.Application").ShellExecute "wscript.exe", """" & WScript.ScriptFullName & """ elevated" , "", "runas", 1
            WScript.Quit
        End If
    Next
End If