Can I give certain applications administrator permissions automatically without it asking me?

Question

Can I give certain applications administrator permissions automatically without it asking me?

Ixonblitz 41

I have a few game startup apps that require admin and I want to make it stop prompting me but still run

MotoX80 36,401 Reputation points

2022-02-25T15:54:25.247+00:00

A game should not require administrative access. If you can find a support forum for these games, I would suggest that you post a question asking why this is needed.
Ixonblitz 41 Reputation points

2022-03-04T22:21:06.577+00:00

It's not the game, it's the game installer that needs it to download and update game files

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MotoX80 36,401 Reputation points

2022-02-25T15:54:25.247+00:00

A game should not require administrative access. If you can find a support forum for these games, I would suggest that you post a question asking why this is needed.
Ixonblitz 41 Reputation points

2022-03-04T22:21:06.577+00:00

It's not the game, it's the game installer that needs it to download and update game files

Answer 1

MotoX80 36,401

This is what I was referring to in a prior post. I ran through the install and launched the game. I get the expected UAC prompt when I installed the game, but not when I launched it.

Did you run the installer or are you trying to just copy the files from another computer and run it?

It's not the game, it's the game installer that needs it to download and update game files

Update: I just now saw the above comment in the thread. If it's the installer, then yes you will get a UAC prompt.

Do you get the prompt every time you run the game? It should not be difficult to just click Yes and let it do the update.

Ixonblitz 41 Reputation points

2022-03-05T16:52:22.777+00:00

I'm running the app itself because I turned on the startup feature and it asks for UAC I'm assuming for updates
MotoX80 36,401 Reputation points

2022-03-05T17:14:49.507+00:00

I turned on the startup feature and

I can't see your screen and I have no experience with the app other than running the initial install.

What startup feature did you turn on? Why did you turn it on? What happens if it is turned off?

If you configured it to "check for updates every time" then yes, I would expect that you might get a prompt every time you run the program. A number of applications that I use have a setting to "check for updates automatically". But I only get a prompt when an update is available. It depends on the program.

Configure the program to NOT do automatic updates. Do a manual update at your convenience.

Maybe you should be posting this question in a Battle.Net forum.

Answer 2

Michael Taylor 60,331

No. That would be a security hole. Imagine if this were possible. Malware could drop itself onto your machine and set this magic flag. Then it could run as an admin without your knowledge.

The only supported ways of running software as admin without a prompt would be via a service (which an admin has to install) or setting up a scheduled task that runs with highest privileges (which an admin would have to set up). Neither of those help your case.

Honestly the UAC prompt shouldn't be a big deal if you already have admin privileges. You just click Yes and move on. However if you're trying to set this up for, say a child account, then the workaround would be to create a script file that runs the aforementioned process using an elevated prompt. But for that to work you'd need to store the UN/PWD of the admin to run at. This is a security issue onto itself of course but you could encrypt it.

Ixonblitz 41 Reputation points

2022-03-04T12:03:09.747+00:00

Well when I say that gives this application has automatic uac elevation I have to originally approve of it first. And how do I make it store and read the UN/PWD to run it? I assume you mean that it's language dependent
Michael Taylor 60,331 Reputation points

2022-03-04T15:10:02.843+00:00

If you need to run an "admin" app as a normal user and a service or scheduled task doesn't work then you have no choice but to put the UN/PWD into something that can be retrieved. This is of course its own security hole as already mentioned. Where you store it is up to you. Some options include directly in the script you'll need to write to run the process elevated, in the registry or even in a file. It doesn't really matter where you store it as all are insecure and anyone with basic computer knowledge can see it.

To avoid flat out just putting in a plain text UN/PWD you could encrypt it as well. This gives you slightly more security but every little bit helps. Encryption has no impact on where you put the UN/PWD though.

So, if you intend to write a script (batch, Powershell, etc) to runas the process then you might as well put the UN/PWD in the script directly, probably encrypted. For encryption you can do something simple like Base64 encode the strings or perhaps consider using the Crypto API which is more secure but requires more code to interact with. The settings of the UN/PWD would be independent of the script that just uses the encrypted data to run a program.
MotoX80 36,401 Reputation points

2022-03-04T16:28:42.687+00:00

Sorry to repeat myself, but I can't think of any good reason why a game needs to run with administrator rights. If it needs a specific video/sound driver, or to define a Windows service, that should have been done one time when the program was installed.

Do you know why these programs need admin access?

It seems to me that it would be preferable to fix whatever the root issue is, than to find a way to hack around and bypass a Windows security feature.
Ixonblitz 41 Reputation points

2022-03-05T01:23:24.257+00:00

Specifically I'm talking about battle.net it asks for admin before it asks for login and starts the app, I don't exactly know why but the only reason is that all the games are inside the admin protected folder so I think they might have done that for preparation so users don't have to do it while running the app because it's already done.
Michael Taylor 60,331 Reputation points

2022-03-05T03:57:36.917+00:00

In some cases an application explicitly looks for admin privileges. In that case there is no workaround other than running as an admin.

But in some cases it is just trying to access the file system and doesn't have permissions. Therefore go to where Battle.net is installed in the file system and give Users full control to that folder and subfolders. You might not need admin privileges then. Of course it might still fail, no way of knowing without trying.
Ixonblitz 41 Reputation points

2022-03-05T13:42:48.627+00:00

Alright so basically I change the permissions so that any folder associated needs no admin in the beginning just by changing folder perms... That seems like it would work I don't see why it wouldn't

Answer 3

Hi @Ixonblitz

This is due to User Account Control (UAC) security feature. Even though it is a security recommendation to keep it enabled to ensure the control of anytime a Adminstrator permission is being used, you can as well disabled if required or understanding the risks.

The next article explains in detail the functionality and how to disable it:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/windows-security/disable-user-account-control

Hope this helps with your query,

--
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Answer 4

Darrell Gorter 2,731

Hello,
You may be able to try this.
right-click on the desktop and choose New, then choose shortcut.
Browse to the location of the executable of the program.
click Next and name the shortcut.
Now locate the Shortcut on the desktop
right Click and Choose Properties.
Chose the Shortcut Tab, then select the Advanced Button
There should be a button there that States Run as Administrator.
try running the application via the shortcut to see if still prompts for Elevation.

Ixonblitz 41 Reputation points

2022-03-04T22:20:12.977+00:00

I will indeed try that

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Can I give certain applications administrator permissions automatically without it asking me?

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