Are administrator rights required to install QAP? Can QAP be installed for multiple users?

If the Quick Access Popup setup program asks for an administrator password, you have two options: ask your system administrator to install it for you (using the setup program). Or, if you have some basic technical knowledge and prefer to get it done yourself, install Quick Access Popup in portable mode since this type of installation does not require administrative rights.

Now, for your sysadmin…

The QAP setup program requires elevated rights (via a User Account Control dialog) when the installation is started. If the setup program was started by an unprivileged user, Windows will ask for the password of an account that has administrative privileges, and the setup will then run under that account.

In order to allow installation by the admin and to set configuration files specific to end users, the setup program is executing the following steps.

1. It creates a group Quick Access Popup in the All Users Start Menu with the Start In parameter set to the common appdata folder (for example: C:\ProgramData\Quick Access Popup).
2. In the common appdata folder, the setup program creates file named quickaccesspopup-setup.ini where QAP stores the language selected by user during setup. This folder can also include customized templates of the files QuickAccessPopup.ini and QAPconnect.ini. This would allow the sysadmin to create a default menu and default configuration for the needs of his organization’s end users.
3. When Quick Access Popup is launched for the first time by an end user, it creates its Settings Folder.
   1. With QAP v10 or more recent: this folder is created in user’s My Document (for example: C:\Users\Username\Documents). User can change its Settings Folder in Options, General tab. The current value is saved in Registry key “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Jean Lalonde\Quick Access Popup\WorkingFolder”.
   2. With QAP v9 or earlier: this folder is created in user’s appdata folder (for example: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Quick Access Popup). With v9 or earlier, the Settings Folder cannot be changed.
4. In its Settings Folder, QAP creates the files QuickAccessPopup.ini and QAPconnect.ini from an internal template, unless templates of these files are found in the common appdata folder. In this case, these files are copied to user’s Settings Folder. Original files in the common appdata folder are never changed by end users.
5. If the end user selects the Run at Startup option:
   1. With QAP v10: the startup command is stored in the Run Registry key “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Quick Access Popup”.
   2. With QAP v9 or earlier: a Windows file shortcut is created in user’s personal Startup folder.

As seen at step #2 above, sysadmins could create or edit the quickaccesspopup.ini file in the common appdata folder to give their users a template with favorites of interest for all users: network folders, path to shared applications or documents, intranet URLs, etc. Administrator could also edit this file to enable the Shared Menus Catalogue to facilitate the addition of shared menus by end users (see Can I create a catalogue of shared menus for my team or workgroup?).

To facilitate the creation of a new quickaccesspopup.ini file, admin can run QAP in portable mode, configure options and favorites and copy to fresh ini file the common appdata folder.

About Explorer Context Menus

When installed with in setup mode, QAP always enable its Explorer Context Menus. There are two exceptions: context menus will *not* be enabled if “ExplorerContextMenus=0” under the “[Global]” section either of the quickaccesspopup.ini file in current user’s appdata folder or in common appdata folder. More about Explorer context menus: Explorer Context Menus Help.