Bypassing UAC prompt?

Help & Support
1

Hi, how can I bypass the UAC prompt when I start a program which normally requires it, for example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Everything\Everything.exe"

2

You can set up a Task Scheduler task in Windows which runs on-demand and with admin rights, and then use a command which starts that task (which won't require admin rights to run).

I don't know the exact details off the top of my head but it's a fairly common question and none of it is Opus-specific so I expect there are some good guides and how to set it up on the web, and maybe on the Everything site (it's not specific to Everything either but I seem to remember they have a guide of some kind; I might be wrong).

3

Hi Leo,

I have Task Scheduler task set up to run on Windows start:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Everything\Everything.exe" -startup
which runs Everything in the system tray area.

And then I open Everything with the built-in global shortcut (Win-S) WITHOUT the UAC prompt.
So, generally showing up Everything without UAC is not the problem.

However, I need to run Everything with the current Opus directory as a parameter:

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Everything" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Everything\Everything.exe" -path {sourcepath}

4

Hi Leo, I can add a task to Task Scheduler (or use that alerady set up), but I don't know how to run this task on-demand. Any idea?

5

Now that I'm at a computer, not a phone, this was easy to find by typing "task scheduler on demand uac" into Google:

techrepublic.com/blog/window ... prompt/730

6

Hi Leo,

the following command-line starts Everything bypassing the UAC prompt:

schtasks /run /TN "EverythingOnDemand"

However in this way I cannot pass an argument to Everything:

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Everything" schtasks /run /TN "EverythingOnDemand" -path {sourcepath}

Because the path parameter is passed to schtasks and not to Everything!
So the Task Scheduler trick unfortunately cannot work here.

7

I'm not sure if there is a way to pass arguments to scheduled tasks.

It's weird that Everything doesn't have a proper elevated service which non-elevated clients can talk to for this. I'm not sure if there is a good way to solve it. You may have to live with the UAC prompt.

8

Does DOpus allow to send key-strokes? If yes, I could send the accelerator key for the Yes button on the UAC prompt.

9

You can't send keystrokes to UAC prompts (at least not if they are secure ones).

UAC was designed to prevent things from bypassing it. (Aside from the lazy backdoor MS gave themselves in Windows 7, which if you leave enabled you might as well just turn off the UAC prompts completely and turn on the "always elevate silently" option for everything, IMO.)

10

But on the UAC prompt I can press "Ctrl-J" (the accelerator key for the YES-button in German Windows) with my computer keyboard to activate the YES-button. So I assume I could do the same with a program sending keystrokes.

11

UAC prompts are on a separate desktop that things on the normal desktop cannot send keypresses to, by default.

You can set UAC to a less secure mode, but it becomes somewhat pointless as then any program can trigger a UAC prompt and send a keypress to it to bypass UAC, so UAC might as well not be on at all. (That's the theory, anyway.)

If programs could bypass UAC easily then there would be no point to having UAC prompts. You can disable the UAC prompts if you don't want them; there is an option in Windows to it so they never appear for anything and are always silently accepted.