MySQL Bugs: #68746: Excel-Add-In is only installed for user account that the installation runs under

Bug #68746	Excel-Add-In is only installed for user account that the installation runs under
Submitted:	22 Mar 2013 13:11	Modified:	25 Sep 2013 19:59
Reporter:	Frank Schwab	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL for Windows: MySQL for Excel	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	1.1	OS:	Windows
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
When the MySQL installer runs it installs the Excel Add-In only for the user that was used for the installation. It does not install it for all users.

The Add-in is present in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins" only for the account that was used to install th Add-In!

There are many, many people who do their work with a no-admin-rights account. Admin accounts are only used to install software. This is a safety measure in many companies and for many people also on their home computers.

How to repeat:
1. Install Add-In with an account that has admin rights

2. Start Excel: The Add-In is present

3. Log out

4. Log in again with another acoount

5. Start Excel: The Add-In is *not* present

Suggested fix:
Install the Add-in under the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins". This ensures that it is usable by all users of the computer.

Still another quirk: If one is running 64 bit Windows one has to make sure that the key is put under the 32 bit part of the registry. Otherwise it would still not work.

Finally I managed to make the add-in visible with this registry file:

---- begin ----
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins\MySQL.ForExcel]
"Description"="MySQL.ForExcel"
"FriendlyName"="MySQL.ForExcel"
"LoadBehavior"=dword:00000003
"Manifest"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\MySQL\\MySQL For Excel  1.1.0\\MySQL.ForExcel.vsto|vstolocal"
---- end ----

On 32 Bit Windows one has to omit the "Wow6432Node" part of the registry path.

Thank you for the bug report.

See http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vsto/archive/2010/03/08/deploying-your-vsto-add-ins-to-all-users-s... 

This article explains:
- How to deploy an Office Add-In for all users
- That Office 2007 needs a fix (KB976811 available through KB976477) to support Add-in for all users
- The difference between Windows 32 bits and 64 bits

Because the MySQL For Excel add-in always compiled in 32 bits (to be confirmed), the following registry settings may be used for v1.1.1 of the add-in:

*** 32 bits ***

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins\MySQL.ForExcel]
"Description"="MySQL.ForExcel"
"FriendlyName"="MySQL.ForExcel"
"LoadBehavior"=dword:00000003
"Manifest"="C:\\Program Files\\MySQL\\MySQL For Excel  1.1.1\\MySQL.ForExcel.vsto|vstolocal"

*** 64 bits ***

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins\MySQL.ForExcel]
"Description"="MySQL.ForExcel"
"FriendlyName"="MySQL.ForExcel"
"LoadBehavior"=dword:00000003
"Manifest"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\MySQL\\MySQL For Excel  1.1.1\\MySQL.ForExcel.vsto|vstolocal"

See also bug 69575 when installing MySQL For Excel with MySQL Installer: the installation directory contains a double space between "MySQL For Excel" and "1.1.1".

Be careful with this bug when modifying the registry : if you install MySQL for Excel without the MySQL Installer, the default path is not the same.

Fixed as of MySQL for Excel 1.1.2, and here's the changelog entry:

Changed the location of the registry where the MySQL for Excel plugin is
installed from "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" so that the
plugin is now accessible by all users of the system, and not only to the
user that installed it via MySQL Installer. For this to work with Excel
2007, a hotfix may be required ( see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976477 ).

Thank you for the bug report.

Tried the suggested solutions on Windows 7 Pro with Excel 2013, all updates installed. This is a new machine that is not part of a network and does not have dependencies that may affect its behavior.

Thanks for the suggestions, they did give me a good starting point. But unfortunately it does not solve the problem and starting Excel with Administrator rights works, and poses a serious security risk when there is VBA code present in the files. When you start it normally it does not work again. We don't want to elevate regular users to administrator. Nor do you want to have them enter the administrator password to start Excel.

Changing shortcuts to run as administrator does not work for us. Any help is appreciated how we can fix this. Is there a workaround other then those provided already?

Still something like this happening on current MySQL for Excel.

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
MySQL version 1.3.8 (installed using MySQL Community Installed but as admin as have other MySQL software installed)

Modifying the registry setting loadBehaviour to 0x000003 fixed the problem. But does then elevates the user to admin privileges which is a bit of problem?

Aside I also use Power BI in Excel and it too it use loadBehaviour 0x000003 (and this is a Microsoft product).