Rhino Plugin MSI Installation Issue for Local Users

Rhino Developer
,
1

I have developed a Rhino plugin and created an MSI installer for deployment.

Currently, the plugin is being installed under the following location:

%AppData%\McNeel\Rhinoceros\Plug-ins

I am facing an issue where the plugin loads correctly when the installer is executed by an Administrator user, but it is not visible or loadable when installed or accessed by a standard/local user account.

I would like to understand the recommended deployment guidelines for Rhino plugins to ensure the plugin is accessible and loadable for both Administrator and non-Administrator (local) users.

Specifically:

  • Is %AppData% the recommended installation location for Rhino plugins?

  • Should the plugin instead be installed under %ProgramData% or another shared location?

  • Are there any Rhino-specific best practices or registry requirements for making plugins available to all users on the machine?

  • Does Rhino require per-user plugin registration?

Any guidance or recommended approach for enterprise-style Rhino plugin deployment would be appreciated.

2

Before I started at McNeel, I was working in a similar situation. We configured the MSI in such a way that it could be installed by users without admin rights. Then, the installation went to %AppData% of the user, not of the Administrator. It may help you to make that change.

Rhino does not, of itself, require per-user plug-in registration. For us at that time it made it much easier to push updates, as users typically did not have admin rights on their workstations.