Windows .exe needs to run in “XP Compatibility Mode” on some PCs

Question

I have an application which is built using Qt framework, compiled using qmake in mingw environment, and then packaged for Windows using Inno Installer.

We have a number of reports of the installed .exe requiring "XP Compatibility Mode" or "Administrator privileges" to run on newer versions of Windows.

Unfortunately we can't recreate this, despite testing on a number of 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, but the number of reports we have suggest the problem is valid.

What could be causing this? The app is quite simple and should not require any administrator privileges to run.

How can I debug the issue, and build a fully distributable .exe?

Answer 1

"What could be causing this?"

With no further clues, the answer is equally unhelful: Trying to access resources that require administrator privs.

How can I debug the issue

You need to be able to reproduce it to debug it.

Try to get more information from your clients, but you can also check out the application verifier for the brute-force approach.