SomeBloke wrote:How do I go about running the various components when the Windows user account is not an administrator?
A Windows User account has restrictions place on Windows System files and folder so the average user can't mess up the System and so in XAMPP you should not have to change anything with regard to permissions.
SomeBloke wrote:I know that Apache wants to be able to write to its "logs" directory so I need to allow user Write permissions for that directory.
No, Apache and MySQL will be able to write to any file or folder by default unless you accidentally change a file or folder to read only which is why you should not need to mess with Windows file and folder permissions unless you know exactly what you are doing.
SomeBloke wrote:I guess it might be useful to also be able to allow write access to the htdocs directory...
What other directories do the components need write access to, please?
Write permissions are enabled by default even though when you right click on a folder you see a box with a square read only attribute. Unless the box carries a specific tick then the folder and files under that folder are writable, even for a normal user.
As a Windows User certain Windows Service configurations will not be permitted and is why in XAMPP you should be logged in as an Administrator if you wish to configure XAMPP's various Windows Services via the Windows Service Control Manager.
To over come this restriction when logged in as a User you would have to right click on a specific Windows item and select to run as an Administrator.
All the above can be found in the Windows Help files on your PC or by visiting the Window's Forums.
In conclusion, as a general Rule you should not need to change any file or folder permissions when installing and running XAMPP - the defaults are just fine and should not be changed.