Which permissions does Eclipse need to run?

Question

I installed Eclipse and am having some trouble relating to denied user permissions.

I am working on Vista inside a Windows domain. My user account is very restricted. My boss needs to grant administrator permission any time I install any application or establish a new network connection through the firewall.

Here are some of the problems that have occurred:

• At Eclipse startup, Vista asks every time if I really want to run it. It doesn't remember my decision.
• Eclipse doesn't remember my default workspace.
• I installed the BIRT plugin. After a second restart it doesn't work anymore. The BIRT perspective does not run fine.

What permissions do I need to run Eclipse on Windows?

Answer 1

This problem occurs when you host the Eclipse application within a directory that is protected by the Vista or Windows 7 operating system. For example, %ProgramFiles%, %ProgramFiles(x86)%, or %ProgramW6432%. Unfortunately, for all of Eclipse's maturity, it still doesn't entirely restrict its per-user activities to the Windows operating system's user space.

If you don't care where your Eclipse application resides, or you don't have admin rights on your system, try moving the Eclipse application to a directory that is not protected by the Windows operating system.

If you have admin rights on your system, and want your Eclipse application to be hosted in one of Window's protected directories, you must make the directory writable to users. This will allow the proper operation of the Eclipse application, but be warned that it will also allow users to directly modify files within the Eclipse application directory. You can reduce this risk by making the directory writable to only the specific accounts that you choose.

Note that by performing either of the above solutions, it will not be necessary to run the Eclipse application with the "Run as Administrator" option.

To make the Eclipse application directory writable by users:

1. Right click on the Eclipse application directory within Windows Explorer.
2. Select "Properties".
3. Click the "Security" tab.
4. Click the "Edit..." button to change security permissions for the Eclipse folder.
5. If you want only specific user accounts to be able to write to the Eclipse application directory, click the "Add..." button to allow those accounts to appear within the "Group or user names" list.
6. One at a time, select each account to be granted write access to the Eclipse application directory, and then click the checkbox for "Modify / Allow" such that the checkbox is checked.
7. Conversely, if you want to allow all system users to be able to use Eclipse properly, select the "Users (YourComputerName\Users)" group from the "Group or user names" list, and then click the checkbox for "Modify / Allow" such that the checkbox is checked.
8. After all appropriate users have been given write access to the Eclipse application directory, click "OK". You should now be able to run Eclipse without issue.