There have been several discussions in the Autodesk newsgroups regarding the requirement to install and/or run as an administrative user. Windows systems typically have three user groups: restricted, power, and admin. Some IT departments do not grant admin or power user rights to computer users who need to view CAD data. I decided to summarize the discussions, so you can see that Autodesk has lifted the admin user requirement with the most recent versions of its applications. Although the question of roaming profiles (also known as Microsoft Folder redirection) does not come up often, that too has been discussed in the newsgroups.
| Product | Installation | Use | Roaming Profiles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autodesk DWF Viewer 6.5 | Must install as admin user | Must execute as admin user | Unsupported |
| Autodesk DWF Viewer 7.0 | Can install as a restricted user | Can execute as a restricted user | Not supported [1] |
| Autodesk DWF Composer R2 Trial | Must install as admin user | Can execute as a restricted user | Not supported [1] |
| Autodesk DWF Composer R2 | Must install as admin user | Can execute as a restricted user | Unsupported |
| Autodesk Design Review 2007 | Must install as admin user | Can execute as a restricted user | Unsupported |
| Autodesk Design Review 2008 | Can install as a restricted user | Can execute as a restricted user | Supported |
| Autodesk DWG Viewer (packaged with Autodesk DWF Composer) |
Must install as admin user | Must execute as admin user | Unsupported |
| Autodesk DWG TrueView 2 | Must install as admin user | Must execute as admin user | Unsupported |
| Autodesk DWG TrueView 2007 | Must install as admin user | Can execute as a restricted user [2] | Not supported [1] |
[1] Although Autodesk does not officially support roaming user profiles via Microsoft Folder Redirection, some discussion group members have reported that the application does operate in this configuration.
[2] Autodesk DWG TrueView 2007 (build 3.0.0.136) had an issue where being an administrative user was required to execute the application. This was not as designed. An updated Autodesk DWG TrueView (build 3.0.0.139) has been released.
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