Comment by schmuckonwheels
4 days ago
By default, Program Files is not writable by non-Administrators. This is likely done by some background service. Or they loosened the default file permissions (which would be dumb).
No reason this can't be done on Linux but since NT's security model is more flexible it's a lot easier to do so on Windows. You'd need to add dedicated users. (Running a Steam daemon as root would probably cause an uproar.)
They loosen the permissions on the steam folder on windows. I would have expected just the library folder but apparently it's the whole thing.
Oof. The correct location for this is C:\ProgramData
Developers who knowingly reduce or disable default Windows security settings should be censured. Because in 99% of cases it is due to ignorance or plain laziness.
Well ProgramData didn't exist when they designed it, and the crime of putting their folder in the wrong place is a pretty minor one. They don't change the permissions of anything outside Steam.
It doesn't "reduce or disable default Windows security settings" in a meaningful way if you say to yourself "that folder effectively is in ProgramData, but spelled wrong".
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Really? Programs installed by non-administrators should go in ProgramData?
The actual solution, which remains both compatible and consistent with the security model, is that you should have to be administrator and pass UAC to install a game, just like you do to install anything else.