"This Operation Requires Elevation" issue

Question

We are a mid-sized retail and service organization. We are subscribed to Business 365 Standard.

Every time I try to install anything on any of the workstations, I am asked for admin credentials. (I am the GLOBAL ADMIN)

Without fail, I hit enter after entering my creds and a message pops up that says "This Operation Requires Elevation"

Microsoft has been completely unhelpful. They don't call when they are supposed to and when they do call, they blame it on something else. The last tech blamed it on Windows and said Microsoft can't help...because Microsoft doesn't own Windows...I'm dead serious, he said that.

Also, having gone through all of the instructions I can find to add a LOCAL ADMIN, nothing works. I can't add a local admin because where the instructions tell me to click inside of Settings are not there to click on.

Someone, for the love of all that is holy, help.

Answer 1

Hello,

How do you currently sign into these computers? Are you signing in using the business account credentials, a local user, or a personal Microsoft account?

If you used business credentials, do you have to sign in using your business account? This is typically only when your computer is managed by the company's IT team, then it has the benefit of using a business account to set up the computer because the centralized control/admin is by the Entra ID admin user/your IT team.

Otherwise, I strongly recommend that you set up the computer with a local user; that will give you local admin rights. You can still use Microsoft 365 apps on your business account without surrendering your computer to your company's IT control.

But if you must set it up with the business account and need admin access, you need to do the following—that's if you have admin access to your company's business portal:

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center https://entra.microsoft.com

In the left navigation pane, go to Devices > Device settings

Scroll down to the section titled "Additional local administrators on Azure AD-joined devices."

Click "Add assignments."

Choose the user(s) or group(s) you want to make local administrators.

You can add:

A single user (for example, yourself), or

An Azure AD security group (for example, IT Admins).

Click Select, then Save to confirm.

Restart or re-sign in on the target computer for the change to apply.

Once synced, those users/groups will appear in the local Administrators group on the joined device. The sync process sometimes can take up to 24 hours.

Answer 2

Windows 11 PRO is not giving me any options to add a local admin

Answer 3

"This operation requires elevation" means the action must be run with local Windows administrator rights via User Account Control (UAC). Being a Microsoft 365 global admin does not grant local admin rights on Windows devices.

To install software on the workstations, ensure the following on each device:

1. Use a local or domain account that is in the local Administrators group
   • Sign in with a user that is a local admin, or
   • Add the user account to the local Administrators group via your on‑prem AD or device management solution.
2. Accept the UAC elevation prompt
   • When the UAC dialog appears (“Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?”), select Yes.
   • If prompted for credentials, enter the credentials of a local administrator account.
3. Explicitly run installers as administrator
   • Download the installer (for example, Office setup .EXE) to the device.
   • Right‑click the installer and select Run as administrator.
   • Complete the installation wizard.
4. Verify UAC is enabled and functioning
   • Open Control Panel → Security and Maintenance → expand Security.
   • Confirm User Account Control is set to On.

If the issue is specifically with installing Microsoft 365/Office on Windows PCs, also try:

1. Use the Microsoft 365 setup troubleshooter
   • Run the Microsoft 365 setup troubleshooter on the affected Windows 10 or later PC.
   • Follow the prompts and restart the PC when requested.
2. Retry Office installation after elevation
   • After ensuring the account has local admin rights and UAC is working, download the Office installer, right‑click it, and choose Run as administrator.

If, after confirming local admin rights and UAC, elevation still fails on all machines, this indicates a Windows/device configuration problem (for example, corrupted OS or policies). In that case, follow your device management or Windows support path (including, if necessary, OS repair or reinstall) before attempting Office/Microsoft 365 app installation again.

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References:

• Administrative privileges required or error code 0-1005 or 0-2005 when installing Office
• Troubleshoot installing Office

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