Setting Registry key write permissions using .NET

Question

I'm trying to grant Write access to my application's registry settings to everyone or all users of a machine during the install process.

My application does not have the appropriate permissions directly after install without requiring an administrator to grant them even though the keys and values exists, they cannot be updated? I've the snippet below, but the installer is failing due to Unauthorized access / access denied. I think I'm on the right track...

How can I resolve the permissions issue without requiring manual attention? Is there a better approach? I'm attempting to replace an additional installer with the Visual Studio setup by adding this functionality.

    protected void GrantAllAccessPermission(String key)
    {
        try
        {
            SecurityIdentifier sid = new SecurityIdentifier(WellKnownSidType.WorldSid, null);
            NTAccount account = sid.Translate(typeof(NTAccount)) as NTAccount;

            // Get ACL from Windows
            using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(key))
            {

                RegistrySecurity rs = new RegistrySecurity();

                // Creating registry access rule for 'Everyone' NT account
                RegistryAccessRule rar = new RegistryAccessRule(
                    account.ToString(),
                    RegistryRights.FullControl,
                    InheritanceFlags.ContainerInherit | InheritanceFlags.ObjectInherit,
                    PropagationFlags.None,
                    AccessControlType.Allow);

                rs.AddAccessRule(rar);
                rk.SetAccessControl(rs);
            }

        }
        catch (System.Security.SecurityException ex)
        {
            throw new InstallException(
                String.Format("An exception in GrantAllAccessPermission, security exception! {0}", key),  
                ex);
        }
        catch (UnauthorizedAccessException ex)
        {
            throw new InstallException(
                String.Format("An exception in GrantAllAccessPermission, access denied! {0}", key),  
                ex);
        }

    }

Answer 1

The better approach is to put your application settings somewhere that your users will have permission to update.

Answer 2

I ended up taking a different and better approach by switching to Wix 3.0. Using the Wix installer I'm able more easily customize and expand my install.

Add Wix Util Extension namespace:

<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi"
     xmlns:util='http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/UtilExtension'&gt;

Wix Sample for registry permissions:

<!-- Registry entries -->
<DirectoryRef Id="TARGETDIR">
  <Component Id="RegistryEntries" Guid="{YOUR-GUID}">

    <!-- Create registry keys and grant user rights -->
    <!-- Add Registry Keys and default values as necessary -->
    <RegistryKey Root="HKLM" Key="$(var.RegKey)" Action="create">
        <util:PermissionEx User="[WIX_ACCOUNT_USERS]"  GenericAll="yes"/>
    </RegistryKey> 
    ...