Chocolatey needs permissions for 'Windows Security Client'

Question

I'm trying to software using Chocolatey onto a Windows 7 Enterprise machine, but it requires permissions for "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Microsoft Security Client". Since this computer is supposed to be pretty secure, then I guess it's a good thing I don't have any access to any Microsoft Security Essentials stuff.

Why does Chocolatey even need access to this stuff and can I skip it? There's no guarantee I'll get the permissions. This happens with our own custom packages AND, for example, the public Git package.

The full error:

Requested registry access is not allowed. Failed to open subkey named 'Microsoft Security Client' for 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall', likely due to permissions: Requested registry access is not allowed.

Thank you for your time

Answer 1

This registry key is used to define how an application should be uninstalled. A non-administrator account does not have the permissions to modify this key.

As a workaround, you could install Chocolatey in a non-administrative mode. In this mode it will install applications in a specified folder without requiring administrator permissions.

For details see:

• Chocolatey : Non-Administrative install
• Chocolatey as non-admin user