How to change Chief X17 so it opens without need to open as administrator?

[GeneDavis]

I installed it yesterday and I can only run it as an administrator.  Where do I go to change this?

[BenMerritt]

What happens when you try to run it as non-admin? My best guess is that some data file under your user directory has gotten marked as "owned by admin" by a previous run of Chief as administrator. If so, locating the file and changing its permissions/ownership should sort that out.

[GeneDavis]

@BenMerrittI cannot open the program at all unless I go the "open as administrator" route.  A double-click on the desktop icon results in a little spinning circle, but it goes away, and the program won't open.

 

Same behavior if I right-click and click "open."  No open.

 

I've no idea how I can find a data file tagged "owned by administrator." 
 

Been a user since 10.08 and never had this issue.

[JKEdmo]

It's a Windows thing:

 

Find your Chief program icon.  Right click it and got to "Properties."  Make sure the box below is unchecked.  Mine is from Windows 11.  Windows 10 should be very similar.

 

[BenMerritt]

18 hours ago, GeneDavis said:

I cannot open the program at all unless I go the "open as administrator" route.  A double-click on the desktop icon results in a little spinning circle, but it goes away, and the program won't open.

Beautiful. The good old "universal error message."

 

The fact that you've able to run it as an administrator does suggest that it's some kind of permissions issue with some file, whether that's one of the installed program files, one of the multi-user data files, or one of the per-user files. I'd probably do the following:
 

• Check the permissions on your "hidden user settings" folder. It's usually at "C:\Users\(your username)\AppData\Local\Chief Architect Premier X17". Right-click on that folder, go to Properties → Security → Advanced, and make sure that your account is listed as the owner near the top of that dialog.
• Check the "Message Log" file in that folder to see if there are any log messages from the last time you tried to launch the program as a non-admin. If there are, there may be some clues as to which file is causing the trouble. If not, I'd try a clean reinstall of the program to make sure that the issue isn't one of the installed program files (e.g. the ones under "C:\Program Files\Chief Architect").