WIN 7 and running applications as administrator

[Worthington]

Just curious as to whether there is a way to elevate my user rights so that everything runs in administrator mode (Win 7 64bit prof). It's a gaming rig, and having to make sure that all the applications that I need to run during gaming (xfire, vent, Teamspeak, Setpoint, the game itself, etc) are run as admin is a pain in the ass.

So far I've I turned the UAC slider all the way down, and changed my local security policy to Run all Administrators in Admin Approval Mode. Sadly, neither of those have done what I need.

Anything out there I can do to take care of this, or am I just boned? Any help is appreciated.

*edit* not sure if it needs to be said by my account is of course a member of the admin group.

 

[MrChad]

Why do you need them to run in administrator mode? As long as the applications aren't trying to write data to protected directories (i.e. Program Files, Windows, etc.), which they shouldn't be anyway, there should be no need to run in administrator mode.

 

[Worthington]

well, none of the applications interact with the game that's in focus w/o being run as admin.

For example:
Push to talk in vent, or TS will not work when a game is running if not run as admin
Custom mouse settings in Setpoint will not work in game unless set point is run as admn
Xfire in game chat will not work if not run as admin.

Those are just a few.

 

[MrChad]

Best way is to set the shortcut to run as administrator.

http://www.instantteamspeak.com/support/teamspeak-server-vista-run-as-admin.php

 

[Worthington]

yeah, I've done that. But I'd like to elevate my privs so I don't have to that for every application. It's trial and error thing and I don't like finding out what does and doesn't work in the middle of a match or raid.

hence my question.

 

[thtadthtshldntbe]

Make your user account an administrator account.

Seriously, I don't know why people go nuts about home computers/personal computers running their main account as an admin, so long as you back up your system and data, the worst case scenario (short of something outragious) is reformating your hd and reinstalling stuff.

The only issue here is if you do anything personally or work related sensative like your personal financial stuff or you take some work home/work at home.

 

[yinan]

Start a command prompt and start your apps from there.

 

[Worthington]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My account is an admin account btw.

So, is there any way to do what I want? To force my user account (which is an admin) to run with all the privs of the build in user account? So that all applications that are started in my user space actually run with elevated rights? So I don't have to go to each and ever application and select run as administrator?

 

[yinan]

Disable UAC, or follow my suggestion.

 

[Worthington]

I did disable uac. And running apps from the command prompt is in essence the same as modifying the short cut, is it not? I'd still have to fire up every app seperately, right?

 

[yinan]

Just by turning down the slider does not turn off UAC. As far as running programs from the command line, yes you would still have to launch all your apps separately.

UAC is really nice and shouldnt be disabled.

 

[Nothinman]

Make your user account an administrator account.

Seriously, I don't know why people go nuts about home computers/personal computers running their main account as an admin, so long as you back up your system and data, the worst case scenario (short of something outragious) is reformating your hd and reinstalling stuff.

The only issue here is if you do anything personally or work related sensative like your personal financial stuff or you take some work home/work at home.

Which just about everyone does these days and for most people that should be a huge issue. Running everything as admin should be a dead last resort, not the first fix attempt.

 

[Worthington]

Just by turning down the slider does not turn off UAC.

Really? From the documentation I've found online, moving the slider all the to the bottom does disable UAC in Win 7. Like for example:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...r-of-User-Account-Control-by-using-the-slider

I've checked the EnableLUA registry key and it is in fact set to 0.

So, how would I go about completely disabling UAC? Thanks for everyone's help so far.

 

[Scotteq]

The reason we all highly discourage using the "Real" (root) administrator account is because any malware which may get into your system will be completely unimpeded by even the basic protections in Windows. This is the Internet equivalent to heading to the bus station near Christopher Street and sticking your d*ck into a hole between the bathroom stalls in the men's room... Maybe it's convenient, but sooner or later...


But if you *must* run the Root account:

Open an elevated command prompt and type: net user administrator /active:yes

When you start/restart the Admin account will be there in addition to your own.

 

[Worthington]

I understand the issues involved in running with elevated privs.

Your suggestion enables the embedded admin account, correct? As opposed to giving my current account all of the same rights.

Is what I'm asking just not possible to do? If so I can enable the admin account and change it's name to something else but I'd prefer to just modify my current one.

 

[Modelworks]

Turning off UAC stops the prompts that system files are going to be changed. It doesn't elevate the admin account. Make sure you check run as administrator in the compatibility tabs for the program too.

Another issue you sometimes will see is windows saying that even with admin rights you cannot change a folder. If you have a folder that contains what you want and you are sure you want to use the folder without windows getting involved then you can use the take ownership option. WARNING , you can seriously screw up an install with this so be sure you know what you are doing. It will let you delete, move, copy or execute almost anything, including system files.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\" /grant administrators:F /t"

Save it as a .reg file and run it.
It will add a take ownership option to the right click menu.
Select the folder then right click it and pick take ownership.
You can now access the folder without windows getting in the way.

If you want to suppress the UAC prompt after you have enabled something to run as administrator so it doesn't pop up for that program every time but still leave UAC enabled you can use tweakUAC to enable quiet mode. That will let you keep UAC on, enable run as administrator for programs you trust, and not be prompted by UAC every time run them.
http://www.tweak-uac.com/what-is-tweak-uac/

 

[JackMDS]

This page has a download zip for both putting on the Takeownership as describe above, and also removing it.

Needles to say that all of these type of things need to be used carefully since they can do well, and or, can cause a lot of Damage too.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/

.

 

[mechBgon]

Make your user account an administrator account.

Seriously, I don't know why people go nuts about home computers/personal computers running their main account as an admin, so long as you back up your system and data, the worst case scenario (short of something outragious) is reformating your hd and reinstalling stuff.

If your game installation keys, your Windows installation key, and your Steam / WoW account get stolen, explain how reformatting and reinstalling brings those back once the bad guys have gotten away with them.

Oh wait, it doesn't. And this is a real-world problem; gamers are a major target these days.

Given that one of UAC's functions is to virtualize the Registry and file system as necessary, to fool problematic software into thinking it has Admin rights when it doesn't, disabling UAC is MORE likely to cause a problem with software that thinks it needs to be Admin. What really needs to happen, of course, is for the software maker to fix their Admin-or-else software... did you check for patches or updates, OP?

 

[thtadthtshldntbe]

Which just about everyone does these days and for most people that should be a huge issue. Running everything as admin should be a dead last resort, not the first fix attempt.

Ah, so instead of doing something simple which a standard end user can understand (run as an admin account), its better to send them through system registry hacks and assorted tricks that they have no clue what they are doing when they follow the steps.

If your game installation keys, your Windows installation key, and your Steam / WoW account get stolen, explain how reformatting and reinstalling brings those back once the bad guys have gotten away with them.

Oh wait, it doesn't. And this is a real-world problem; gamers are a major target these days

In my experience WoW accounnts (and similar other online gaming accounts) are stolen because

1) the retard used something like the word "password" or his girlfriends pet name as his WoW password. I can and have actually guessed most of my friends passwords for anything.

2) The bad guys stealing your windows installation key has no effect on you so long as you register your copy of windows. Heck, a moderately experience user does even need to use an install key to install windows.
------------------------

Note, I made my suggestion, and I made 1 response to those who disagree with me. I am not going to derail this thread with a side debate over user running levels in windows.

 

[Nothinman]

Ah, so instead of doing something simple which a standard end user can understand (run as an admin account), its better to send them through system registry hacks and assorted tricks that they have no clue what they are doing when they follow the steps.

I never suggested any registry changes. Quite the opposite.