Copy Locked Files should be grayed out when not running as Admin

[therube]

Copy Locked Files should be grayed out when not running as Admin.

Copy Locked Files
Copy DACL, SACL, Owner, Group

should (always) allow setting changes
(regardless of how you're running the program, admin or not)

but should gray-out
both the tic-mark & the setting name, when enabled, AND when not running as Admin

so as to emphasize that admin rights (elevation) is required
& that while even though the settings /are/ enabled (tic'd), that they will not effect any change if not running elevated
(& even though it does /say/ that in the dialog
- because, IMO, that is not really apparent)

likewise, if running elevated, they should not be grayed out
(iow, just display as they currently are)

my thought is that if a user enables the setting, & then see that he did enable it, yet the description then turned gray, he says - "why did that happen ?", which then clues him in to the fact that, "oh, I need to run as admin".

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Similarly, maybe add a "[Administrator]" moniker to the program title to emphasis that you are running as Admin.

[Zenju]

I don't think this is a common GUI convention. Instead I believe the best solution would be to improve the error message for ERROR_ELEVATION_REQUIRED, because this is where the user is confronted with the problem. There's no reason for him to go and look into global settings without prior knowledge.
This error is so common (e.g. viewtopic.php?t=7682) perhaps it should explicitly mention the global setting.
I've added an FAQ item once, but I don't think it's an effective solution: https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#permissions-error

The only thing that bothers me is the layering violation: The software level that detects and generates the error message is low level and far detached from the high-level GUI. Mentioning the GUI in the error message is therefore conceptually wrong. In fact the low-level component could be used without any kind of GUI. I'm not sure how to mitigate this.

[therube]

Example grayed-out, that makes me pause & say, "why? just what does that mean?".

[Zenju]

The screenshot contradicts your requirement:

should (always) allow setting changes
(regardless of how you're running the program, admin or not)

[Zenju]

Similarly, maybe add a "[Administrator]" moniker to the program title to emphasis that you are running as Admin.

Hm, sure why not.

[therube]

Oh, & I'll also note, that while thinking about this, before being able to come here (forums) & read through any number of posts, I had many (babbling) thoughts, like:

If
Tools | Options -> Copy locked files
is enabled,
just what does it do & when?

Does it just enable VCSS from the onset?
But if it needs Admin... ?
Or does it require a FFS restart, at which point you're prompted for Admin?
& from then it's enabled?
Or would it only come into effect /if/ there were a "locked" file that it needed to interact with?
Or ?

in the old days, a program like JKDefrag (which uses VCSS)
would prompt for Admin priviliges on program startup
- actually, that's a UAC prompt...
- is that different?
in either case, UAC prompt or Run As Admin
still running as User: therube, Owner: Administrators, with high Integrity & full Elevation, same SID
(i've never been good at this stuff)

FFS doesn't ask at startup
but it wouldn't make sense to have any kind of interactive prompt
cause that would negate unattended or realtime

even though i am, my user account, therube, is "admin"
I should still get an elevation

[therube]

While it is grayed out, I can still change & Apply the setting.

With FFS, you'd want to be able to do that, regardless of running Admin or not.
(Otherwise, if you enabled that setting, as Admin, but were running as a regular user, you would not be able to uncheck it, without first restarting as Admin.)

[Zenju]

While it is grayed out, I can still change & Apply the setting.

Donald Norman would hate that idea (and I agree.)