As a .NET developer I frequently find myself having to install or upgrade applications on my work computer. This presents a problem for me at work because my normal Windows account does not have administrative rights on my computer. I have a second account that I have to use for things that require me to have administrative rights. But then my administrative account does not have Internet access. Needless to say, I work in a very secure Windows environment...

Therefore I have to download new applications and updates with one account and install them with another account. Logging in and out of Windows to run installation programs gets old fast. Luckily, for .EXE files anyway, there is the runas command to run executables as another user.

But, for me anyway, there is not a way to readily run .MSI installation files as another user. Apparently a group policy keeps me from running .MSI files as another user - or does it? I have found that it is possible to hack the registry to do this... Read on.