When a Local Admin manually executes an install for a standard user (Run As Administrator), the install is initiated by the admin but still runs as the standard user or writes to the standard users profile (HKCU). If an admin uses “Invoke-Command” to a PSSession, the install is run as the admin in the virtual PSSession. This causes problems when working with profile specific applications. Has anybody thought of a way to remotely install profile specific applications “AS” the current user?
I think it depends on the particular application. In most bigger environments software will be installed with software deployment solutions like Microsoft SCCM or Matrix42 Empirum or HP Openview rather than with remoting. Another option is to use GPOs to install applications.
The short answer is, not really. Even if the user executed the installation, they may\should not have permissions to install software. Most software is installed on the system and the msi placed firstrun items for the configuration of user profiles. As Olaf mentioned, enterprise software solutions like SCCM have the capability to execute as a user at next login, but this still means the user has to have the permissions to install the software. These solutions typically execute as SYSTEM to install software, but you’d need an administrator token to install software.