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Access denied error when using --scope machine on standard user #4410
Description
Brief description of your issue
machine is the only scope available for HWINFO:
https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/blob/master/manifests/r/REALiX/HWiNFO/8.00/REALiX.HWiNFO.installer.yaml
That means using --scope machine should make no difference, as the machine scope will be used no matter what.
However, explicitly using --scope machine in the install command causes an Access denied error.
PS > winget install --id REALiX.HWiNFO --scope machine
Failed to open the predefined source; please report to winget maintainers.
An unexpected error occurred while executing the command:
0x80070005 : Access is denied.
Omitting --scope machine leads to a successful install:
PS > winget install --id REALiX.HWiNFO
Found HWiNFO [REALiX.HWiNFO] Version 8.00
This application is licensed to you by its owner.
Microsoft is not responsible for, nor does it grant any licenses to, third-party packages.
Downloading https://sourceforge.net/projects/hwinfo/files/Windows_Installer/hwi64_800.exe/download
██████████████████████████████ 12.6 MB / 12.6 MB
Successfully verified installer hash
Starting package install...
The installer will request to run as administrator, expect a prompt.
Successfully installed
Steps to reproduce
- Use a standard user account
winget install --id <package-name>where<package_name>is a package that only has themachinescope in its manifest
Expected behavior
Failed to open the predefined source; please report to winget maintainers.
An unexpected error occurred while executing the command:
0x80070005 : Access is denied.
Actual behavior
Successfully installed
Environment
Windows Package Manager v1.7.10861
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Windows: Windows.Desktop v10.0.22631.3447
System Architecture: X64
Package: Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller v1.22.10861.0
Activity
github-actions commentedon Apr 25, 2024
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Open similar issues:
winget list --scope machinefails with an error (#3898), similarity score: 0.82winget list --scope=machinethrows0x80070005 : unknown errorwhen non-admin (#3052), similarity score: 0.80Closed similar issues:
denelon commentedon Apr 25, 2024
Can you share verbose logs when the error occurs?
bejbybox commentedon Apr 25, 2024
github-account1111 commentedon Apr 25, 2024
Stuntman58 commentedon Apr 25, 2024
denelon commentedon Apr 26, 2024
Allan R. Pearson (@Stuntman58), I suspect you might be "subscribed" to winget-cli at GitHub. You can probably check your notification settings. Generally, notifications are sent only when you interact with an issue, unless a repository level notification is set.
github-account1111 commentedon May 1, 2024
Demitrius Nelon (@denelon) following up in case you missed the log right above the guy you replied to.
microsoft/winget-pkgs#136036 seems related.
jantari commentedon Jul 2, 2025
This is still an issue in the latest version of Winget.
Verbose logs
This is very annoying because I want to always install everything as machine-scope, so I always use the explicit parameter. As noted in the issue, the installs succeed when
--scope machineis omitted but that also risks getting a user-scope install so it's not an option.jantari commentedon Jul 17, 2025
Tested again on Windows 10 22H2 10.0.19045.6093 and Windows 11 24H2 10.0.26100.4652. Issue reproduces on both with latest winget 1.11.400. Same error in the verbose logs, just different offsets and the Windows 10 log has 2 consecutive blank lines:
Windows 10:
Windows 11:
It would seem that the cause is once again the same exact method call that already caused #5318:
winget-cli/src/AppInstallerRepositoryCore/Microsoft/PredefinedInstalledSourceFactory.cpp
Line 78 in c61fde9
as calling this method in an unelevated PowerShell session causes the same "Access is denied" exception:
So it looks like this method can only be used when running with elevated privileges, but instead of self-elevating or presenting a user-friendly error winget just crashes.
Btw, I don't understand how this is not a higher priority. The number one feature of winget, installing packages, has been crashing for over 1 year and all it takes to reproduce is
winget install --id SlackTechnologies.Slack --scope machine. I've been considering just perma-looping this command across dozens of Cores & VMs just to spam telemetry and get eyes on it, but at the same time I don't want to be nuisance.JohnMcPMS since you worked on this code path, maybe you can sneak in another
if elevatedor just try-catch it and return a better error to the user if non-elevated/access denied? Thanks in advance