Windows 8- Run everything as Administrator

[Thanal]

I have been reading this thread, and many of you make good points.  I have never disabled system restore myself, however I could see how you might want to reclaim disk space it takes up especially if you do regular backups.  Most people don't backup their PCs. At least that's been my experience.

 

As for UAC, yeah, it looks like launching things as Administrator by default can NOT be done without breaking lots of Metro apps. You can auto-allow processes to elevate when requested, but several of you want to force everything to be elevated by default.
 

Proceed with caution!  There are plenty of good reasons why UAC exists.  But here are a couple of things you can do.

 

First of all, it's not the shortcut that you'd modify for "run as administrator".  It's the 'properties' on the executable.  This is an important distinction because it means if you set the "Run this program as an administrator" attribute on an executable, it doesn't matter how you run it (from command line, from shortcut, etc.) that program will run as administrator.
 

Secondly, you do not have to modify every program.  A process will automatically be elevated if the parent process is elevated.  So if you always launch your processes from one parent, make that parent run 'as an administrator' and you're set.

 

I can think of three likely UI entry points for launching new processes:
- The Metro screen "search" feature
- The old-school Run box which is still accessible via the [start]-R key combination
- You might launch processes using a classic start menu such as 'Classic Start Menu'

 

In all three cases, the parent is c:\windows\explorer.exe.

 

Unfortunately, you cannot make explorer "run as administrator" because there are no "properties" exposed for explorer.exe in the UI. However, there are ways to run explorer.exe elevated.  For example:
1. Launch an elevated command prompt  (cmd or powershell)
2. taskkill /im:explorer.exe /f
3. run explorer by typing "start explorer" - or if you're in powershell, you'll type "iex explorer"

This kills the existing explorer process and replaces it with an elevated one.

 

I found a simple tool called "U Are in Control" which makes this a little easier. It will work in Windows 8 RT or full, as it is just scheduled tasks and CMD scripts.  It lets you shift into 'everything is admin' mode when you want to run normally, and switch back into 'everything is normal' mode when you need to launch Metro apps.  When in 'normal' mode, only new processes are run with normal privilege.  Existing processes would still run as admin.

 

 

U Are In Control.zip

[justmike]

On a domain PC, as an admin, but having many of the same problems. It looks like only the local admin / owner works for some installs. Once I took ownership of all the files and folders in the install, everything started working.

[Kranitz]

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "EnableLUA" -Value "0"

shutdown -r -t 0

 

This worked perfectly for me - I was struggling getting things like webex and gotomeeting to run, so I was always futzing around with my settings and having to "run as administrator" wherever possible... Thanks a lot!

[Reverand]

Actually, as it turns out, what I posted will also break the Microsoft Store. I practically never disable UAC and was unaware of this limitation.

If you entered my registry change to disable UAC, re-enable it with the following command:

PowerShell as Administrator (This requires a restart)

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "EnableLUA" -Value "1" #Default value is 1

shutdown -r -t 0

To enable automatic silent UAC elevation for administrators without breaking the Microsoft Store you should do the following instead.

PowerShell as Administrator (This takes effect immediately)

#The following is equal to the Security Policy "User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode" = "Elevate without prompting"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin" -Value "0" #Default value is 2

#The following is equal to the Security Policy "User Account Control: Allow UIAccess applications to prompt for elevation without using the secure dekstop" = "Enabled"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "EnableUIADesktopToggle" -Value "1" #Default value is 0

 

Sorry to necropost, but created an account just to say this helped resolve my irritation over UAC popups (by hiding, but leaving it enabled).

 

Thanks!

[6_6_6]

On ‎20‎/‎06‎/‎2013 at 9:59 AM, Thanal said:

I have been reading this thread, and many of you make good points.  I have never disabled system restore myself, however I could see how you might want to reclaim disk space it takes up especially if you do regular backups.  Most people don't backup their PCs. At least that's been my experience.

 

As for UAC, yeah, it looks like launching things as Administrator by default can NOT be done without breaking lots of Metro apps. You can auto-allow processes to elevate when requested, but several of you want to force everything to be elevated by default.
 

Proceed with caution!  There are plenty of good reasons why UAC exists.  But here are a couple of things you can do.

 

First of all, it's not the shortcut that you'd modify for "run as administrator".  It's the 'properties' on the executable.  This is an important distinction because it means if you set the "Run this program as an administrator" attribute on an executable, it doesn't matter how you run it (from command line, from shortcut, etc.) that program will run as administrator.
 

Secondly, you do not have to modify every program.  A process will automatically be elevated if the parent process is elevated.  So if you always launch your processes from one parent, make that parent run 'as an administrator' and you're set.

 

I can think of three likely UI entry points for launching new processes:
- The Metro screen "search" feature
- The old-school Run box which is still accessible via the [start]-R key combination
- You might launch processes using a classic start menu such as 'Classic Start Menu'

 

In all three cases, the parent is c:\windows\explorer.exe.

 

Unfortunately, you cannot make explorer "run as administrator" because there are no "properties" exposed for explorer.exe in the UI. However, there are ways to run explorer.exe elevated.  For example:
1. Launch an elevated command prompt  (cmd or powershell)
2. taskkill /im:explorer.exe /f
3. run explorer by typing "start explorer" - or if you're in powershell, you'll type "iex explorer"

This kills the existing explorer process and replaces it with an elevated one.

 

I found a simple tool called "U Are in Control" which makes this a little easier. It will work in Windows 8 RT or full, as it is just scheduled tasks and CMD scripts.  It lets you shift into 'everything is admin' mode when you want to run normally, and switch back into 'everything is normal' mode when you need to launch Metro apps.  When in 'normal' mode, only new processes are run with normal privilege.  Existing processes would still run as admin.

 

 

U Are In Control.zip

 

Sorry for necroposting.

 

Thanal, thank you for this information. That is what I am looking for.  Can you upload the file?

 

With a single post, I am not assuming you will see it. But perhaps you will get an email!

[Arachno 1D]

As the user settings indicate he last visited in 2014 its unlikely

[6_6_6]

2 minutes ago, Arachno 1D said:

As the user settings indicate he last visited in 2014 its unlikely

Read my post again.

[6_6_6]

Wow. The amount of condescending posts from half-witted experts who run "real-time antivirus, system-restore and UAC" on their computers, probably decreasing response time 3-fold, is amazing. Poor OP got quite a beating for asking help on an enthusiast forum. I will tell you why:

 

 

5 monkeys were locked in a cage, and a banana was hung from the ceiling with a ladder placed right underneath it.

　

Immediately, one of the monkeys raced towards the ladder, intending to climb it and grab the banana. However, as soon as he started to climb, the researcher sprayed the climbing monkey with ice-cold water. In addition, he also sprayed other four monkeys.

　

When a second monkey tried to climb the ladder, the researcher again sprayed the monkey with ice-cold water, and applied the same treatment to its four fellow inmates; likewise for the third climber and the fourth one. They all learned their lesson about how things work: they were not going to climb the ladder again – banana or no banana.

　

Then the researcher replaced one of the old monkeys with a new one. As expected, the new monkey spotted the banana, thinking "Why don’t these idiots go get it?!" and started climbing the ladder. Then, however, it got interesting: the other four monkeys, familiar with the cold-water treatment, ran towards the new guy – and beat him up. The new guy, blissfully unaware of the cold-water history, got the message: no climbing up the ladder in this cage – banana or no banana.

　

When the researcher replaced a second old monkey with a new one, the events repeated themselves – new monkey ran towards the ladder; other monkeys beat him up; new monkey does not attempt to climb again – with one notable detail: the first new monkey, who had never received the cold-water treatment himself (and didn’t even know anything about it), with equal vigor and enthusiasm, joined in the beating of the new guy on the block.

　

When the researcher replaced a third monkey, the same thing happened; likewise for the fourth until, eventually, all the monkeys had been replaced and none of the ones in the cage had any experience or knowledge of the cold-water treatment.

　

Fianlly, a 5th new monkey was introduced into the cage. It ran toward the ladder only to get beaten up by the others.

　

Why would these all new monkeys beat each other up over the banana, when none of them ever experienced the cold water treatment?

　

Probably because like humans, they learned: "That’s the way we do things around here"

 

 

Yes, I run my system without an antivirus, without system-restore, and without UNC. I like it lean and mean, unlike the monkeys. I make my money from this, and I do not like to be hampered on my on system over unnecessary restrictions so that I might avoid a malware some day.

 

As if malware is not able to bypass your UAC, is not able to infect your system restore or disable your antivirus. If 99 can't, one will. I have seen people infected despite all these. And yet I have never been.

 

Put a good firewall and use common sense. Do an offline ghost image once a month.  Then you will see you don't need babysitting.

 

But if you still do, leave those of us who do not want to be tormented, alone and keep your prejudices to yourself.

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by 6_6_6
a

[Mando]

meh

Edited December 4, 2016 by Mando