Comment 1 by jteh on 2012-06-03 23:14
Urg. I don't think there's anything we can do about this. We could fix it for the current user, but this wouldn't fix it for any other users on the system, which is counter-intuitive to me. If anyone has ideas on how to fix this for all users, please do suggest them.

Comment 2 by pvagner on 2012-06-04 11:03
I am not sure if this is a fix but perhaps we could check the key on startup and fix it if needed. This is the onlyoption which is close to what we need.

Comment 3 by Palacee_hun on 2012-06-06 13:12
A few remarks:
[personally dislike that Windows would like to see all installed software stuffed into that "Program Files" folder. I prefer keeping most software in separate folders just under the root directory. Most software allows installing to a custom path and NVDA used to be no exception. However I find the mandatory install to the "standard path" acceptable if there's a reason for that and the advantages of this surpass its disadvantages. I follow tickets and changelogs regularly, I nevertheless cannot really see why it was neccessary to enforce standard path. And now it's obvious that the mandatory moving of existing copies to the standard path has a big disadvantage in the form of the reported problem. This is not minor.
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Removing NVDA at a non-standard path (via start menu or add/remove programs) and then installing it again using the new install method would avoid the reported problem, wouldn't it? If yes I don't know what disadvantages this would bring (e.g. removal of former user settings).
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Would disabling and then reenabling the "Use NVDA on logon screens" option (in General Settings dialog) force NVDA to correct the registry key in question?

Comment 4 by jteh (in reply to comment 3) on 2012-06-06 22:38
Replying to Palacee_hun:

I personally dislike that Windows would like to see all installed software stuffed into that "Program Files" folder. I prefer keeping most software in separate folders just under the root directory. Most software allows installing to a custom path and NVDA used to be no exception. However I find the mandatory install to the "standard path" acceptable if there's a reason for that and the advantages of this surpass its disadvantages.

There are two main reasons:

1. In Windows Vista and later, you cannot get uiAccess permission (needed to access apps running as admin and some other functionality) unless you're installed to Program Files. With each new version of Windows, Microsoft seems to be restricting more functionality to uiAccess. Windows treats Program Files as a special, more secure location.
2. If we allow customisation, there is a risk of users installing to a location containing other files. This means we can't simply remove our install directory when we uninstall, which makes uninstallation much more difficult. This way, we don't have to worry about that possibility.

Removing NVDA at a non-standard path (via start menu or add/remove programs) and then installing it again using the new install method would avoid the reported problem, wouldn't it?

No. User specific settings are not removed when NVDA is uninstalled because there may be more than one user.

Would disabling and then reenabling the "Use NVDA on logon screens" option (in General Settings dialog) force NVDA to correct the registry key in question?

No. You just need to check the "Automatically start NVDA after I log on to Windows" option.

According to @jcsteh's #2408 (comment), there seems to be nothing that can be done to solve this issue, and according to his #2408 (comment), the relevant change in standardizing the installation path is very much justified. Thus, I suggest closing. @ehollig

Please reopen with further justifications as to why this problem must be fixed. Thanks.