Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

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ACalcutt
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by ACalcutt »

Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 is the first release where I am trying to remove the requirement for Vistumbler to be run as administrator.

The main reasons vistumbler needed admin access
- Vistumbler settings were stored inside Program Files, which is a protected location
- Manufacturer, Label, Filter, and Instrument MDB databases were also in program files and needed write access
- Updates. Vistumbler.exe keeps the updater.exe up to date.

To try and remove the admin requirements I am moving settings into the profile, where the user has write access.
- The settings will now be stored in "%appdata%\Vistumbler\", which is inside the user profile. The user has write access to this location.
- Manufacturer, Label, Filter, and Instrument MDB databases have also been moved into "%appdata%\Vistumbler\"
- The update function which updated update.exe inside vistumbler has been moved to its own file (vistumbler_updater.exe).

Because all the setting have been moved to a user writable location and the update features have been moved I do not to require admin rights to run the main Vistumbler.exe. The update processes do still require admin rights, but you will only be prompted for them if you choose to update.

One thing to note is you can force settings changes by changing the default settings files inside the vistumbler programs files settings directory. I made it so if the files in that directory are newer it will update the files inside the users profile on vistumbler load. This was so I could still update settings files if needed, but could also lead to settings getting overwritten at some point.

Please let me know if the removal of admin requirements causes and issues, or there are any issues caused by settings files being moved. If anyone finds admin access is still needed, you can right click vistumbler an "run as administrator"

This new version could use testing on older versions of windows (Vista, 7, 8, 8.1) with UAC enabled. I am interest if both netsh mode and native wifi mode are still working. Most of my testing has been in Windows 10 so far, so more testing needs to be done.
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by arizonajon »

Good morning Andrew -

Yesterday, I upgraded to the new version of Vistumbler on my work laptop. I also left it running here in my hotel room (one of those hotels where the rooms look into the lobby/atrium and see all the other rooms and the activities far below). I was collecting an incredible number of APs without having to move. However, I also got an error after a number of hours of letting it run. I suspect that I exceeded some index by letting it run too long.
Vistumber_V10.6.4_Beta1_Error.PNG
Vistumber_V10.6.4_Beta1_Error.PNG (205.05 KiB) Viewed 13685 times
Cheers - Jon N7UV
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by pferland »

I am not 100% positive on they why. But I do now that ut,is due to excessive amounts of signal history. Visrumbker does not like to run for extended periods of time. This is one of the reasons why Andrew and I want to get a C# version of Vistumbler going.
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by ACalcutt »

Ya, I think that error happens when vistumbler reaches the limits for its MDB database. It tries to write a row, fails, then crashes. I suppose I could make in end more gracefully...
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by arizonajon »

Hey Andrew -

Something happened on my mobile setup in the past few days. I'm now getting the following when I attempt to start up Vistumbler.
Vistumbler_StartUp_error.png
Vistumbler_StartUp_error.png (12.76 KiB) Viewed 13662 times
Vistumbler_Interface_Minimized.png
Vistumbler_Interface_Minimized.png (27.26 KiB) Viewed 13662 times
Vistumbler_AutoIt_Error.png
Vistumbler_AutoIt_Error.png (35.36 KiB) Viewed 13662 times
The last occurred when I clicked on the Use GPS or the Scan APs buttons.

I have not yet attempted to reinstall Vistumbler.

I have checked and all my other software is behaving well.

Also, one other weird thing - for some reason, Vistumbler created a directory "0" on the desktop and put 143 very small .vs1 files in there over a period of about 2 minutes before dying.

Let me know if I should just reinstall.

Cheers - Jon N7UV
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by pferland »

That happens when the settings.ini file gets corrupted. Andrew said that deleting it and re-running vistumbler should fix it. However you will need to re-enter all your custom info into the settings menus again.
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by arizonajon »

Good morning Phil- With the new organization of the file structure so that you don't need to run administrator, where is settings.ini?
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by pferland »

It should be in your user profile appdata folder in a folder called vistumbler.

%AppData%\Vistumbler\

-phil
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by arizonajon »

thanks, Phil. You know, I know that this happened to me before, some time ago, and I forgot the simple solution. I should label this the "black background crash" problem. Maybe next time i can search for that instead and find the solution!
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Vistumbler v10.6.4 Beta 1 - No More Admin Requirement for Vistumbler.exe

Post by pferland »

We really need to make a FAQ for things like this that happen often, or can happen.
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