Installing powerful molecular modeling software can be a challenge, especially when you’re working on a shared machine or don’t have administrator privileges. For many students, academic researchers, and professionals working on university-managed systems, obtaining admin rights is time-consuming or even impossible. If that sounds familiar, you’ll be pleased to know that SAMSON, the integrative molecular design platform, installs without needing admin privileges — and it’s designed that way on purpose.
Let’s break down how SAMSON manages to make this process smooth and why this matters for users in regulated environments.
Why Admin-Free Installation Matters
Lab PCs, classroom computers, and institutional laptops often lock down installation privileges. This roadblock can delay research or force users to look for alternatives.
SAMSON gets around this by installing entirely in the user’s home directory. No system folders, no elevation dialogs, and no need to contact your IT department. You just run the installer and you’re ready to build, simulate, and analyze molecular systems.
Security by Design
Interestingly, SAMSON doesn’t just allow admin-free installation — it recommends it. At startup, SAMSON checks to ensure it’s not running in admin mode, promoting a safer practice for operating software without elevated rights. That’s a thoughtful design choice, especially in environments where multiple users share the same system.
Additional Benefits
- Multi-version compatibility: SAMSON supports side-by-side installation of different versions. You can explore different builds without disrupting your environment.
- Easy updates: The platform detects updates and lets you decide when to apply them without requiring elevated permissions.
- Portability: Because SAMSON lives in the user space, it can sometimes be run in virtualized or containerized environments more easily than software requiring system-level installation.
Installing SAMSON on a Virtual Machine?
If you’re using a virtual machine (VM), SAMSON can still be installed and used effectively — but there’s one thing to watch out for: hardware GPU acceleration.
SAMSON relies on visual rendering powered by OpenGL. On a VM, display drivers may not support the required functionality unless you explicitly enable hardware GPU passthrough. Be sure to check the documentation of your virtual machine software (like VirtualBox, VMware, or Parallels) on how to do this. Without it, SAMSON might not start or may run poorly.
Wrapping Up
Whether you’re a student working on a university-managed workstation or a researcher accessing a cloud-based desktop, being able to install SAMSON without admin access means you can dedicate more time to science and less to IT paperwork.
To explore more about installation options or common questions, check the full documentation here: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/faq/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.