Microsoft has obviously observed the request from users to bypass the User Account Control (UAC) prompts for specific applications. Just a few days ago they posted instructions on how to get around UAC prompts and a per application basis.
I decided to give this a whirl, and I can say first hand that it does work. There’s just one thing…it’s not quite as simple as a few clicks. The first time you go through the instructions it will probably take 3 or 4 minutes, but each program you setup after that will probably take just a minute since you’ll understand what needs to be done.
I’ve taken the liberty of modifying their directions ever so slightly to make them a bit easier, and I’ve also thrown in a few screenshots to guide you along the way:
- Download (10.9MB) and install the Application Compatibility Toolkit.
- In the Start menu find the shortcut Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0\Compatibility Administrator. Right click it and click Run as administrator.
- In the left hand pane, right-click on the database under Custom Databases and select Create New, and select Application Fix.
- Enter the name and other details of the application you want to alter behavior on and then browse to it to select it. Click Next.
- Click Next until you are in the Compatibility Fixes screen. On the Compatibility Fixes screen, find the item RunAsInvoker, and check it. Click Next and then Finish.
- Select File -> Save As. Save the file as a filename.SDB type file in a directory you will easily find it. Then copy the <filename>.sdb file to the Vista computer you want to alter the elevation prompt behavior on.
- Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories. Right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.
- Run the command below:
sdbinst <path>\<filename>.sdb
For example, if you saved the .SDB file as abc.sdb in the c:\Windows folder, the command should be like this:
sdbinst c:\windows\abc.sdb
It should prompt: Installation of <name> complete.
I’m *guessing* that, before saving the file in Step 6, you can go back to Step 3 and add more “Application Fixes” to the database. That way you can execute just one database in the remaining steps.
Instead of posting a neat way to do it they have to do it this way…
That’s why Vista is such a worthless piece of shit.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the tip Ryan, I’m sure it will be useful to lots of people.
No problem. I can’t say that I ever expected this trick to be even the slightest bit easy. If it was a simple one-step process then that could make me question the security of UAC all together.
10 megs of file and bunch of complicated steps?
Me, I just install TweakVista (free from Stardock), go to Security, and check “Medium-low securiy” – remove all prompts for elevation.
That’s it.. And I can kiss the UAC prompt goodbye.. for good.
That is one way of doing things, but personally I like seeing the elevation prompts because it assures me that viruses and such would not be able to do anything malicious without me first seeing a prompt.
That is until the virus coders figure out a way around it.
This method makes the process run without elevation, such that operations requiring elevation fail. For example, Visual Studio wants to be elevated and by default will complain if it is not. I turned on “Run this program as an administrator” in devenv.exe’s Compatibility tab and applied these steps. Result: spawned programs (like cmd.exe) fail to spawn. Process Monitor shows that the exit code indicates that they require elevation, meaning Visual Studio is running without elevated privileges.
I’m going to try the method at [winhelponline.com] instead.