New Plugins Home (where Notepad++ will load from)

[Meta Chuh]

@V-S-Rawat

i use the portable version for that reason, maybe it is something you are willing to try.
if you do so, everything will be eg. within e:\MyData\npp and not divided to 3 places.

an alternative to the portable version is to install the full notepad++ package to C:\Applications\Notepad++ and select “Do not use %APPDATA%” as installer option.
(important, it must not be installed inside %PROGRAMFILES% or %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% due to restricted permissions to these folders)

best thing about both these variants are that, in addidion of making your backups easier, you can copy this notepad++ folder to any other machine with any other windows version and it will run straight away.

[guy038]

Hi, @meta-chuh, @v-s-rawat, and All,

Allow me, @meta-chuh, to add, to your explanation, that, since the 7.6 version of N++, for a manual installation of a plugin, let’s say MyAwesomePlugin.dll, we must :

• First, create a MyAwesomePlugin sub-folder, inside the $InstallDir\plugins directory

• Place the MyAwesomePlugin.dll library, as well as all the plugin structure, in the sub-folder $InstallDir\plugins\MyAwesomePlugin

However, as I said, in the post, below, new plugins’s organization, in the plugins folder, may prevent some plugins for being totally functional :-((

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/16823/open-file-from-file-explorer-plugin-within-notepad/7

Best regards

guy038

[Artem Sh.]

Hello everyone!
I’m really don’t understand why do not let non-admin users install plugins that they want.
Per-machine location for pre-deployed plugins it is great, but we deploy NP++ to thousands of users (large businesses) and no one of our customers is requested specific set of plugins. Users select that they want and install by themselves.
With the current setup actually we don’t simplify the deployment, but receive a huge number of incidents related to missing plugins/unable to install plugins.

[Meta Chuh]

welcome to the notepad++ community @Artem-Shaturskyi

you could take it with a bit of humour and tell the customers:

it is called “plugins admin” sir, and not “plugins user”, so please don’t press it unless you are an admin.
we hope you enjoyed our help and wish you a nice and pleasant day.

😉

now seriously:
sorry for the inconvenience.
as far as i can tell, most of the companies wanted this security restriction and more.
while a tighter security makes sense to me, i can also understand that people at help desks or i.t. support will have more work to do, if notepad++ is deployed to default users.

[Artem Sh.]

Thank you for the answer @Meta-Chuh

So, is it correct that the current configuration is final (in general), and possibility to install plugins for non-admin users will not comeback (in nearest versions)?

And, even if we grant full access for users on “c:\ProgramData\Notepad++\plugins” UAC message will arise anyway?

[Meta Chuh]

@Artem-Shaturskyi

So, is it correct that the current configuration is final (in general), and possibility to install plugins for non-admin users will not comeback (in nearest versions)?

i don’t know for sure, as i’m only a regular user, but at the moment this seems to stay for the near future.

And, even if we grant full access for users on “c:\ProgramData\Notepad++\plugins” UAC message will arise anyway?

yes, uac would still be triggered if you try to install/uninstall any plugins with plugins manager.

there is however a workaround, where instead of using plugins admin, the user can put the desired plugins to %ProgramData%\Notepad++\plugins manually, if you allow this.

you could also create a set of self extracting zips, one for each plugin, that extracts them automatically and directly to the plugins folder of a user for an easier deployment, and if you want you could distribute the sfx’s to your users for self installation.

[Artem Sh.]

@Meta-Chuh thank you very much for info!

[Paulo J. F. Martins]

The new plugin location is simple to obfuscated to even try to understand it.
Terrible piece of work.

Just one consideration:
In managed environments, where what is installed or not is determined by company policies and by the administrator, users should in no circumstance be allowed to be able to install whatever piece of software, and that includes plugins.
So, the new install MUST provide a way for the system administrator to install everything as in version 7.5.9 and previous, with the plugins located at %ProgramFiles\Notepad++\plugins, so that no user can install plugins - they should be limited to what the administrator gives them.
If you want to provide support for multi-user - and that’s ok - then you should give the administrator the possibility to decide if users are allowed or not to install plugins.

[V S Rawat]

@Paulo-J.-F.-Martins
maybe npp developers want that admins install all npp plugins so that a user can use any.

[donho]

@dinkumoil

BUT Microsoft has also issued the policy that files with executable code have to be stored under %ProgramFiles% because this location offers some sort of protection against malware attacks. Thus neither %LocalAppData% nor %ProgramData% is the right place for storing plugin DLL files.
…
How about declining the requests for a Notepad++ UWP app variant because of security concerns and because the whole concept of UWP apps is crap?

Let’s discuss this issue here:
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/16982/need-suggestions-for-plugins-plugin-list-home

[donho]

@Paulo-J-F-Martins @Artem-Sh @Meta-Chuh @guy038

Let’s discuss this issue here:
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/16982/need-suggestions-for-plugins-plugin-list-home

[donho]

This thread is locked. Please check here for the renewed information:
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/16996/new-plugins-home-round-2