Hack Attack : Disable UAC for Certain Applications in Vista
If you are a Windows Vista user, there is nothing more bugging than the UAC in Windows Vista. UAC which was supposed to bring improved security in Windows, does it pretty well but at the cost of user friendliness.
There are lots of apps and softwares that I run on my Machine, and Vista bugs me everytime I open them. For quite some time I’ve been looking to disable UAC for select applications, rather than disabling it all together, as that could possibly create a security havoc. After some time looking around for a solution, I finally found a solution that was recommended by Microsoft, and even Worked pretty well for me.
If you are looking to disable UAC for certain applications in Windows Vista, then follow this guide, and once you are done, the UAC may not really be all that bugging as it used to be.
- First download and install Application Compatibility Toolkit.
- Find the shortcut icon for Compatibility Administrator. Right click it and click Run as administrator.
- In the left hand pane, right-click on the database under Custom Databases and select Create New, and select Application Fix.
- Enter the name and other details of the application you want to alter behavior on and then browse to it to select it. Click Next.
- Click Next until you are in the Compatibility Fixes screen.
- On the Compatibility Fixes screen, find the item RunAsInvoker, and check it.
- Click Next and then Finish.
- Select File and Save As. Save the file as a app.SDB type file in a directory you will easily find it.
- Navigate to Start Menu, Right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.
- Run the following command at the prompt :
sdbinst <path>\app.sdb
Where <path> is the location where you have saved the app.sdb file. For example, if you saved the .SDB file as app.sdb in the c:\Windows folder, the command should be like this:
sdbinst c:\windows\app.sdb
- You should now get a confirmatory message.
- Voila! You’re done, Vista will no longer prompt you with the UAC everytime you open your favorite app.
This one hack, has made Vista a lot more user friendly and a lot less nagging than it was before. I would recommend this method over, disabling the UAC altogether, because that would make your computer less secure.
13 Comments, Comment or Ping
Tyd
wow thx for these tipps ….
I have vista on my laptop and UAC as it is is extremely user-unfriendly …
but with this it’s good
THX
Jan 23rd, 2008
Justin
Yess thnx! I’ve been looking for this!! thank you so much!!
Feb 1st, 2008
Juan Zamora
Do you have to do this for every app? Or can you do it for many at once?
Feb 20th, 2008
Aaron
Notes: 1. This doesn’t work if your running as regular “non-administrator” account and the app requires admin privlages. (RunasInvoker means force the app to launch as the current user (thus avoiding the UAC prompt for elevation or credentials) 2. Just something to be aware of, the apps you launch using this method will be launched with an admin token without prompting you if you are running as an admin account (this is the point, but I am just pointing out you should be aware of it when running them).
Feb 20th, 2008
keeter
If this actually worked it would be a fantastic thing.
But, no.
Feb 20th, 2008
Casey
Actually, in my testing, there is no UAC prompt, but the application does not launch as administrator (high Integrity level). I tested this with regedit.exe and procexp.exe (Process Explorer tool from SysInternals). They both launch without prompting (I’m logged on as an admin), but they launch at Medium Integrity level. So, you can avoid the UAC prompt, but if you’re expecting the application to be running at high integrity, that won’t happen.
Feb 21st, 2008
Mike
Wow, you think they would just make this easy, instead of 12 different steps. This is preposterous, let’s hope they fix this in SP1.
Feb 22nd, 2008
Ed
This didnt work for ccleaner. Still prompts me to authorize the app even though i am running this app as an administrator. Anyone have any other ideas?
Mar 20th, 2008
Roberto
i have an install apllication that stop in Registering modules. what do i can to the install application finish satisfactoy ?
Mar 31st, 2008
Jason
@Casey
Switch from RunAsInvoker to RunAsHighest. That seemed to work for me.
Apr 29th, 2008
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