Hi There, I'm running a server 2003 DC'd network, and I have an issue with Windows 7 pro machines being unable to install software with a general domain user account. The domain user is set up as a local admin account on the windows 7 machine in question. Each machine where I work is set up to redirect their My Docs folder to the server. When attempting to install software, the general user account throws up this message 'Error code 1324: There is an invalid character in the path My Pictures'. However when installing as a domain administrator they install no problem (Domain Admins do not share the logon script that redirects the folders).I've chekced google etc and all suggest changing the registry etc etc etc. However, these are domain machines, designed to work on the domain, with folder redirection the major reason for connecting them to a domain. I refuse to believe that the only way to get rid of this error message is to direct them to a local folder through the registry.Does somebody have a non-registry change answer to this?Mant thanks, Owain

OxxyJ, This is an interesting problem - I see there are lots of places on the net talking about the issue like you mentioned. They all mention that a registry edit should be made. While a registry edit is not desirable in this case - I can think of one thing that would help - if after folder redirection - you checked on the registry value of the: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Shell Folders and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\User Shell Folders registry keys. It may be the redirection process that messes up the value causing the failure. It may also be related to some validation mechanism that doesn't succeed when checking a network-based folder. If all else fails it may be worth it to try and (a) directly hard-code the network location of the "My Pictures" folder in the registry OR simply direct to a local location while installing and then restore the value after installation. I would be curious if yo are able find more details about this. I wish you luck, Kevin @calwell on twitter

Does the issue occur when you install all of the programs, or only occurs with certain programs? Such issue will occur with certain programs. The installations of these programs are not compatible with UAC. Therefore when installing it will not correctly obtain an administrative token in case that you are not a domain admin and try to launch the installation file from a network share. This issue will not occur if you install them with domain administrator, or copy the installation file to local drive and then install it. Another workaround is disabling UAC on client computer. However it is not recommended.Arthur Xie - MSFT