Admin creds ever required to set default browser in Windows 7?
I haven't seen it myself, but a coworker let me know that he had an issue setting the default browser for a client where he was prompted for administrative credentials. Testing myself with non-administrative users found no problem setting default browser from I.E. to Chrome and back.
I saw that when you run Chrome, and it's not the default browser, it will prompt via a status bar to set it to default or not. I noticed that the "yes" button had a small blue and yellow 'administrator' shield which normally indicates that you will be asked for admin creds. however, I clicked yes and wasn't prompted.
Does anybody know what is going on here? Is there some Windows 7 configuration that would prompt non-admins for admin creds when setting the default browser? Is this actually a system setting as opposed to per-user setting?
Answers (2)
Default browser is a per-user registry entry that should never ask for admin credentials under normal GUI circumstances.
Edit: It did occur to me that you can set and lock the default browser via group policy. This might have caused the system to ask for admin creds.
