Disabling User Access Control (UAC) in Windows 8.X

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I've recently come across several customers who were having issues with accessing a secured Windows Object as an Administrator.  They mention that this worked fine on Windows 7. 

Before I continue, I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you do NOT disable User Access Control for several reasons including:

  • Windows Store Applications will NOT run.
  • UAC forces your Administrators to run as Standard Users until it is necessary to be elevated.

In Windows 8.X, you can disable UAC via the User Account Control Settings Dialog Box with the following setting:

You'll notice that all this is really doing is configuring Windows to NOT notify you of the UAC Prompt.  In order to disable UAC on Windows 8.X, you must go through the registry or via a policy>

See the following link on the registry:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc232765.aspx

The registry key is:

Key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Value: "EnableLUA"

Type: REG_DWORD

Data: This MUST be a value in the following table.

Value

Meaning

0x00000000

Disabling this policy disables the "administrator in Admin Approval Mode" user type.

0x00000001

This policy enables the "administrator in Admin Approval Mode" user type while also enabling all other User Account Control (UAC) policies.

For the policy, take a look at the following:

"How User Account Control Works"

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj574202.aspx

As I mentioned above, you shouldn't disable UAC.  Microsft offers developers and system admins various ways of working with UAC so you do NOT have to do this.  Please see the following white paper:

"The Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Developer Story: Windows Vista Application Development Requirements for User Account Control (UAC)"

 https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa905330.aspx

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