[Guide] [Windows] Run any application as an admin by default

[WkdPaul]

This guide won't give you access to the admin account of your device.

 

 

This is a quick guide to show you multiple methods on how to run any software as admin every time it's opened (for occasional "run as admin" a "right click > run as admin" is good enough of course).

 

 

Method 1 ;

 

Compatibility tab

 

Spoiler

 

Go into the shortcut properties, then in the Compatibility tab, check the "Run as Admin" box ( thx @Murasaki for the screenshot) ;

 

 

 

 

 

Method 2 ;

Shortcut properties

Spoiler

 

 

Right click on the shortcut of the application you want to run as an admin, and go into the properties ;

 

 

Click on Advanced, and in the popup window, check the box "Run as Administrator", if this is greyed out, see method 2 ;

 

 

It's possible that you get an "access denied" popup, simply press Continue (you may have to provide the local admin credentials) ;

 

 

 

 

Method 2 ;

 

"Run AS" shortcut

 

Spoiler

 

For this method to work, you have to make sure the admin account you're using is active, often, the account Administrator will be deactivated ;

 

 

If that's the case, type the following command ;

net user administrator /active:yes

Then type the following command to set the password ;

net user administrator password

 

 

 

Right click on your desktop and select New > Shortcut ;

 

 

 

In the "Location of the item" box, type the "runas" command, followed by the software you want to run ;

 

runas /user:Administrator /savecred "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

the "/savecred" argument is going to save the password in Windows credential manager, so you will have to enter the admin password once for this to work ;

 

Change the name of the shortcut on the next screen ;

 

 

 

The icon can be changed in the shortcut properties.

 

 

 

Then when you run it for the first time, a CMD window will open and ask you the admin password (note that you won't see anything appear as you'll type the password) ;

 

 

 

 

Method 4 ;

 

1337 keyboard shortcut (that has to be done every time the application is open, so not technically what this guide advertises, but I thought it might interest people that prefer keyboard shortcuts)

 

Spoiler

 

Press the Windows key to open the start menu

 

type the name of the application you want to open as an admin

 

The do the following key presses ;

 

CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER

 

This will open the application in admin

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by wkdpaul

[SupaKomputa]

ok

[WkdPaul]

1 minute ago, SupaKomputa said:

ok

you're welcome. (⌐■_■)

[SupaKomputa]

(⌐■_■) nice glasses

[Kilrah]

Or... just right-click and Run As Admin when needed.

 

 

[WkdPaul]

1 minute ago, Kilrah said:

Or... just right-click and Run As Admin when needed.

 

 

Of course, but what if you want to run the software as an admin everytime? This is a question that comes back from time to time, so I thought a quick guide for people to link to would help

[Kilrah]

Then it might be worth adding that bit to the title/description

[WkdPaul]

2 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Then it might be worth adding that bit to the title/description

Good point, done

[Murasaki]

5 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

Of course, but what if you want to run the software as an admin everytime? This is a question that comes back from time to time, so I thought a quick guide for people to link to would help

well..

[WkdPaul]

3 minutes ago, Murasaki said:

well..

I don't mind adding this one too ... but then I might add all the other ways too while I'm there!

[Princess Luna]

6 minutes ago, Murasaki said:

well..

This is the method I have always used, it's good because it "remembers" it so even if you have the annoyance of having to tick that box once that's it.

[WkdPaul]

I added the compatibility tab one ( @Murasaki stole your screenshot! ) and the keyboard shortcut (though that last one isn't what the guide is about).

[Kilrah]

Ooh, didn't know about the shortcut. That's gonna be handy.

[WkdPaul]

Just now, Kilrah said:

Ooh, didn't know about the shortcut. That's gonna be handy.

it totally is, I always have to open a damn CMD window as an admin and this is so much quicker!

[Kilrah]

I have 2, one is cmd and the other is virtualbox which I need to run as admin when running a raw disk VM, but don't need/want to for others.

[WkdPaul]

@Kilrah I'm often on client's devices using different accounts, so my guide isn't really helpful for my day-to-day work, but that keyboard shortcut is really helpful!

[TVwazhere]

Now I can finally run Minesweeper as administrator by default!

 

Jokes asside this is great. Especially if I want to use Run commands.

[WkdPaul]

2 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Now I can finally run Minesweeper as administrator by default!

Why else would you use that!!

 

Minesweeper FTW !!!!!

[vanished]

I remember back in XP, Windows introduced separation of "admin" accounts and "limited" accounts, (or at least that's when I first saw it), and since then there's been one big question no one seems to have an answer to: if I, as the user of an admin account, choose to run something, how is that different than "run as admin", when I'm already an admin and I'm running it?

 

[WkdPaul]

11 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

*snip*

Yeah, that was never really explained, but basically when you run something "normally", you use it with your "user" privileges, when you go with "run as admin", then you run it with admin privileges, admin users have 2 (or more) access privileges. At first, this was really annoying because some things wouldn't work unless you were literally logged in with the account named administrator, but thankfully it's gotten much better since.

 

I personally have 2 accounts on all my devices, my day-to-day user account, and an admin account (this can be the default "administrator" account, but I prefer leaving that one disabled and using a different account for admin stuff).

[vanished]

36 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

Yeah, that was never really explained, but basically when you run something "normally", you use it with your "user" privileges, when you go with "run as admin", then you run it with admin privileges, admin users have 2 (or more) access privileges. At first, this was really annoying because some things wouldn't work unless you were literally logged in with the account named administrator, but thankfully it's gotten much better since.

 

I personally have 2 accounts on all my devices, my day-to-day user account, and an admin account (this can be the default "administrator" account, but I prefer leaving that one disabled and using a different account for admin stuff).

So basically having an admin account means you are allowed to run things as admin but it doesn't run everything this way by default?  Hm I suppose I really should have realized that on my own by now, given the UAC prompts, etc.

[Kilrah]

Exact.

In XP everything you ran with an admin account ran as admin, but that was recognised to be dangerous so an extra layer was added (UAC). An admin account basically simplifies you accessing what you need by just clicking ok on UAC prompts instead of an admin account's full user/pass for a simple user account.

 

Equivalent in linux / mac os to getting a password prompt or having to sudo things, just UAC is actually more convenient.