Monday, August 8, 2016

Installing 7-Zip without Administrator access

I often need to install software on my work computer, where I do not have admin access. Most programs don't actually require admin access at all provided you install into your user profile directory (C:\Users\...) instead of Program Files. Unfortunately, many installers don't have support for per-user installations and request elevation anyway.

7-Zip is an example of one such program. But you can work around this issue if you download the MSI installer and use the following command line to open it. 

msiexec /i 7z1602-x64.msi INSTALLDIR=%USERPROFILE%\7-Zip\ MSIINSTALLPERUSER=1

As you might have guessed, the MSIINSTALLPERUSER=1 flag on the command line is doing the work here by requesting a per-user install. The installer will succeed without attempting elevation.

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18 comments:

  1. HarmanjitAugust 23, 2018 at 12:29 PM

    Thank you! It worked so well for me. Have a good one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 8, 2018 at 12:16 AM

    Worked for me too. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. John MorganOctober 12, 2018 at 5:37 AM

    Great tip, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownJune 19, 2019 at 3:00 PM

    It worked. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownAugust 21, 2019 at 7:41 AM

    This thing works even in 2019 August. Hats off to Tmdean.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ShucoAugust 29, 2019 at 1:46 PM

    You SAVED MY FUCKING LIFE!! THANK YOU!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownNovember 28, 2019 at 3:52 AM

    thx!

    ReplyDelete
  8. fieryproDecember 21, 2019 at 8:07 AM

    plz help with how to exactly do this, I really need this?

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2020 at 5:10 AM

    Literal GOD

    ReplyDelete
  10. QrisFebruary 19, 2020 at 10:36 AM

    Still works as of version 1900. Thanks for the great tip!

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownFebruary 27, 2020 at 2:12 PM

    Worked, thanks

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousMarch 18, 2020 at 4:59 AM

    Doesn´t work for me (1900 version) - I think I need a little more info on what needs to be customised in the above line of code - for instance I don´t see a file path to tell windows where the msi installer is, where does that go?

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownMarch 26, 2020 at 8:41 AM

    I need help even when downloading MSI installer still asks for elevation.

    ReplyDelete
  14. RickSeptember 14, 2020 at 1:21 PM

    First change the version name in the above command. Then in-order for this to work, the CMD should be opened from the folder in which you have the MSI file, but if you are not able to do so - then you can always move the file to the parent "**user_name**" folder inside c:\users\**Username** (your user name) and then run the CMD from your command prompt window

    ReplyDelete
  15. UnknownDecember 11, 2020 at 10:46 AM

    works!

    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownApril 28, 2021 at 8:55 AM

    help i dont know how to do it!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. ballsJune 11, 2021 at 5:52 PM

    i am a god like figure

    ReplyDelete
  18. ASXJanuary 26, 2022 at 8:27 AM

    i replaced %USERPROFILE% by a UNC link "C:/users/nameoftheuser/appdata/7-zip/" and it worked perfectly. Thanks !

    ReplyDelete

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