How to install and run Windows programs as administrator

In Microsoft Windows, when you try to run a program or perform an operation that requires Administrator privileges, a UAC prompt requires your permission to proceed.

Similarly, you may encounter a permissions error when trying to run commands in a Command Prompt window that require Administrator privileges. These errors happen because UAC blocks the Command Prompt from running Administrator commands unless you run the Command Prompt as Administrator.

UAC acts as a safeguard, requiring your explicit permission to run any software that can modify the Windows system.

Select a link below and follow the steps to run a program as administrator or disable UAC.

Running programs as Administrator

If a program requires Administrator privileges to perform certain functions, you need to run the program as Administrator.

To run a program as Administrator in Windows 10, right-click the icon in your Start menu and select Run as administrator.

For example, in the image below, we are running the Windows 10 command prompt as administrator. We’ll discuss this more in the next section.

If you right-click a shortcut in your Start menu and the Run as administrator option is not listed, that function is not available for the program.

When you receive the UAC prompt confirming that you want to grant privileges, click Yes.

Running commands as Administrator

In the example above, we ran the Windows 10 command prompt as Administrator. We did this by clicking Start menu > All apps > Windows System, then right-clicking Command Prompt > Run as administrator.

Running the command prompt as Administrator allows you to run commands that change or edit your system files. For example, in the Administrator command prompt, you can successfully run the sfc command (System File Checker).

You should now be able to execute the command you were trying to run previously when you received the error message. With administrative rights activated, the command should execute successfully.

Configuring a shortcut to always run a program as Administrator

To configure most program shortcuts to always run the program as Administrator, follow the steps below.

1. Locate the program shortcut, right-click the shortcut and select Properties.

If the program icon is in the Start menu, you need to right-click the icon and select Open file location. Then begin with the step above.

1. On the Properties window, click the Compatibility tab.
2. Check the box for Run this program as an administrator and click OK to save the shortcut settings change.

If you do not see a Compatibility tab in the Properties window, follow the steps below instead to always run the program as Administrator.

1. Repeat step 1 above to access the Properties window for the program shortcut.
2. On the Properties window, click the Shortcut tab.
3. Click the Advanced button.
4. On the Advanced Properties window, check the box for Run as administrator and click OK.
5. Click OK on the main Properties window to save the shortcut settings change.

Disabling UAC

To disable the User Account Control prompt in Windows, follow the steps below for your version of Windows.

Использование запуска приложения с учетной записи администратора в Windows Server 2003

В этой статье описывается использование команды для запуска Run as приложения в качестве администратора.

Исходная версия продукта: Windows Server 2003
Исходный номер КБ: 325362

Аннотация

Можно использовать для запуска приложения в качестве администратора, если вы хотите выполнять административные задачи при входе в систему в качестве члена другой группы, например «Пользователи» или Run as «Power Users».

Действия, необходимые для запуска приложения с учетной записи администратора

Чтобы запустить Run as приложение в качестве администратора, выполните следующие действия.

1. Найдите приложение, которое нужно запустить в проводнике Windows, консоли управления (MMC) или панели управления.
2. Нажимайте и удерживайте клавишу SHIFT, щелкнув правой кнопкой мыши исполняемый файл или значок приложения, а затем выберите «Запустить как».
3. Выберите следующего пользователя.
4. В полях «Имя пользователя»и «Пароль» введите учетную запись администратора и пароль, а затем выберите «ОК».

• Некоторые приложения могут не поддерживать использование Run as команды.
• Возможно, вы не сможете запустить приложение, консоль MMC или средство панели управления из сетевого расположения с помощью команды, если учетные данные, используемые для подключения к сетевой сети, отличаются от учетных данных, используемых для запуска Run as приложения. Учетные данные, используемые для запуска приложения, могут не разрешить доступ к одной сетевой сети.
• Вы также можете использовать Run as команду из командной строки. Для получения дополнительных сведений выберите «Начните» и выберите «Выполнить». В поле «Открыть» введите cmd и выберите «ОК». В командной подсказке введите runas /?, а затем нажмите ввод.

How to Always Run a Pro­gram as Admin­is­tra­tor in Win­dows 7

Yadon Chen

05 Aug 2010

Security experts often advice users to use the account with lower privilege in order to prevent system from malware attacks and other risks. The Administrator account with highest privileges, which can control over the entire system, should be used only when necessary.

In Windows, you’ll find that by default most of the programs run in the standard mode (even if you are using the admin user profile). But there are programs (like the Windows 7 DreamScene Activator we talked about) that need to be started in the administrator mode for them to function properly. Also, at times, even common applications like the Notepad need to be run as administrator, like you saw yesterday in our edit HOSTS file post.

So how do you run a program as an administrator? Well, just right click the program and choose “Run as administrator” in context menu. Better, you can use the keyboard shortcut trick to do it.

But it may be a little inconvenience to go through the same steps again and again, especially if the program is meant to be run in the admin mode all the time. Keeping that in mind, here are two solutions.

1. Enable the Administrator account

Yes, you can enable system built-in Administrator account, which was hidden by default (this is a risky method by the way..read on to know why).

Type “cmd” in the Windows search bar, and then right click on the “cmd” item, select “Run as administrator”.

Enter the following command into it:

net user administrator /active:yes

Command Prompt will return the execution result, which should be:

The command completed successfully.

Now you can migrate your personal data from current user profile to the new one, and launch any program as administrator.

Important: The above method is equivalent to turning off UAC as well as other system protection features. Hence, if you aren’t someone who’s been playing with computers since childhood and knows what he is doing, following the next method suggested.

2. Create Shortcut With Admin Privileges

A better solution is to create a shortcut that has administrator privileges. This could be done for specific applications which need to be run as administrator frequently.

Right click the program icon present on your desktop, taskbar, start menu or any other location.

Go to the properties, and then switch to “Shortcut” tab, and there you will find a button labeled “Advanced.” Click on it.

Check the “Run as administrator” box, and then press OK.

From now on, this shortcut icon will run the program with administrator’s privileges all the time.

Note: Again, before going ahead and enabling this for a program, make sure the it is safe enough.

Last updated on 8 Feb, 2018
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

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How to run a program automatically as admin on Windows 7 at startup?

I created my own parental control app to monitor my kids activity. The app’s only GUI is a task bar icon. The program is installed as admin. I’d like this program to be started up automatically as admin user on Windows startup, so that standard users cannot kill it from task manager.

I can create a registry key at:

to make it run automatically when Windows starts up. The problem is that the program is started as the logged in (standard) user.

How can I make it run in an elevated mode? Is this possible at all in Win7?

9 Answers 9

You need to plug it into the task scheduler, such that it is launched after login of a user, using a user account that has administrative access on the system, with the highest privileges that are afforded to processes launched by that account.

This is the implementation that is used to autostart processes with administrative privileges when logging in as an ordinary user.

I’ve used it to launch the ‘OpenVPN GUI’ helper process which needs elevated privileges to work correctly, and thus would not launch properly from the registry key.

From the command line, you can create the task from an XML description of what you want to accomplish; so for example we have this, exported from my system, which would start notepad with the highest privileges when i log in:

and it’s registered by an administrator command prompt using:

this answer should really be moved over to one of the other stackexchange sites, as it’s not actually a programming question per se.