When will ST-Link be fixed to work for non-Administrator users ?

[mmarici9]

Posted on January 30, 2012 at 21:03

Hi,

    I use Windows and am logged in as a normal user (no Administrator privilege). I cannot program my STM32 Discovery board - I get the error ''No STLink detected''. (If I login as Adminstrator, everything works as expected.) Since it is Microsoft's official stand that proper security practice requires users should not have Administrative rights, I expect ST should update the STLinkUSBDriver.dll to work without requiring Admin privilege. Is this planned ? Is there somewhere I can raise a bug report with ST's development team about this issue ? #st-link-detected-administrator

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on January 31, 2012 at 00:38

Since it is Microsoft's official stand that proper security practice requires users should not have Administrative rights..

They also assume the normal user is an idiot and only runs word processors and spreadsheets, or clicks on every email attachment they are sent. If you're not in this group, admin rights might actually be a more appropriate choice. That ST talks to the ST-LINK like a mass-storage device probably precludes some easy solutions. You could bring this up with your ST FAE or sales rep, but I don't suspect it will have much priority unless you're buying a vast number of parts. In which case you could probably afford some more industrial JTAG tools.

[mmarici9]

Posted on January 31, 2012 at 06:14

That ST talks to the ST-LINK like a mass-storage device probably precludes some easy solutions.

One obvious solution would be to have a privileged service that does the low-level access. Several of ST's competitors in the microcontroller space have similar USB interfaces and do not require you to be Administrator to use their tools.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on January 31, 2012 at 19:37

I'm sure they do, but the ST-LINK is a very low rent solution. You trade some of the lower cost for some warts. ST does not make their money on development boards and debug tools, expect the response level to reflect that.

I'd wager none of these tools work well on systems where the USB ports are administratively disabled. One of a number of reasons to park development machines off the primary corporate network.