Elevated Program Shortcut without UAC Prompt - Create

How to Create an Elevated Program Shortcut without a UAC Prompt in Windows​

   Information

This will show you how to create an elevated "Run as administrator" shortcut of any installed program using Task Scheduler so that it will not give you a UAC prompt for permission when you start it while still having UAC turned on in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

In the tutorial, you will first create a new task, then a new shortcut to run the task. Afterwards, how to change the icon of the shortcut.

   Note

Special thanks to OEM for pointing this out, and the previous Vista version by DMEX.

   Warning

• This shortcut and task can only be created and work while logged in as an administrator account.
• This shortcut will not work in a standard user account.

Here's How:
1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type taskschd.msc, and press Enter.
NOTE: This will open Task Scheduler. This file is located at:
C:\Windows\system32\taskschd.msc.

2. While having Task Scheduler Library selected in the left pane, click/tap on Create task in the far right pane. (see screenshot below)

3. Under the General tab, type in the "Name" of the program you want to create this shortcut for. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This will be the name of the task. As an example, I will use CCleaner for that program. Make note of this name, you will need it later in step 12 and 14 below.

4. Check the Run with highest privileges box. (See screenshot below)

5. Click/tap on the Configure for drop down box to open it, and select Windows® 7, Windows Server™ 2008 R2 or the Windows you are currently in. (see screenshot above and below)
NOTE: This is like compatibility mode. If the program does not support running in Windows 7 normally, then you can select the OS that is does support running in instead to have it run in compatibility mode as if it was running in that OS instead of Windows 7.

6. Click/tap on the Actions tab, then on the New button. (see screenshot below)

7. In the Program/script: box in the Actions tab, copy and paste the path below. (see screenshot below step 9)
NOTE: Thank you to chillz for the updated steps 7 and 8.
%windir%\System32\cmd.exe
8. In the Add arguments (optional): box in the Actions tab, type in the argument below. (see screenshot below step 9)

NOTE: Substitute Task Name in the argument below with the name you entered in step 3 (ex: CCleaner) within quotes, and substitute Full Path of Program in the argument below with the actual full path of the program's .exe file within quote.
/c start "Task Name" "Full Path of Program"


For example:

/c start "CCleaner" "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner64.exe"

9. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

10. Click/tap on the Conditions tab, and uncheck the Stop if the computer switches to battery power box first, then uncheck the Start the task only if the computer is on AC power box. (see screenshots below)
NOTE: This step is mostly for laptops, so that you will be able to run the program when the laptop is running on battery power.




11. Click/tap on OK. (See screenshots above)

12. You will now see your new task created with the name (ex: CCleaner) you gave it in step 3. Close Task Scheduler. (see screenshot below)

13. Right click or press and hold on an empty area of your desktop, then click/tap on New and Shortcut.

14. Type in the target below for the location field, then click/tap on the Next button. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Subsitute task-name in the target with the name (ex: CCleaner) within quotes that you used in step 3.
schtasks /run /tn "task-name"

For example: For my task name CCleaner I used from step 3, I would type:
schtasks /run /tn "CCleaner"

15. Type in a name you want for the shortcut (ex: CCleaner), then click/tap on the Finish button. (see screenshot below)

16. Right click on the new shortcut (ex: CCleaner) on the desktop, then click/tap on Properties.

17. Click/tap on the Shortcut tab, and on the Change Icon button. (see screenshot below)

18. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

19. Click/tap on the Browse button. (see screenshot below)

20. Navigate to the .exe file of the program that you have created this shortcut with, select it, and click/tap on Open. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you have a icon of your own that you would prefer to use instead, then navigate to where you have that icon saved at instead.

21. Select the icon you want for the shortcut, then click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

22. Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

23. You can now use this elevated shortcut to run at startup in your "Startup" folder, run at startup as a task, Pin to Start Menu, Pin to Taskbar, assign a keyboard shortcut, or move to where you like for easy use.

24. When you run this new elevated shortcut, you will now no longer have to click/tap on YES to approve the UAC prompt to allow the program run as administrator.

   Tip

To Undo and Remove this Task:

• While having Task Scheduler Library selected in the left pane, right click on the task in the right pane that you created in step 12, then click on Delete and Yes to approve.
• Delete the shortcut.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Set Priority Level for Applications and Processes in Windows 7
• How to Run a Program as an Administrator in Windows 7
• How to See if Process is running as administrator (elevated) in Vista and Windows 7
• How to See if Process is running as administrator (elevated) in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Create an Elevated Command Prompt Shortcut in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Create an Elevated Windows 7 Task Manager Shortcut
• How to Change UAC Notification Settings in Windows 7
• How to Create a Task to Run a Program at Startup and Log On in Windows 7
• Enable or Disable the User Account Control (UAC) Blacking Out of Screen in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Elevate All Administrator Accounts UAC Privilege Level
• How to Add "Run as administrator" to VBS File Context Menu
• How to Add "Run as administrator" to MSI File Context Menu
• How to Require Users to Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to Approve UAC Elevation
• How to Create an Elevated Program Shortcut a Standard User is able to Run in Windows 7
• How to Change Behavior of User Account Control (UAC) Prompt for Standard Users
• How to Display a Message Reminder in Windows with Task Scheduler

 

[verajart]

I wrote a reply a few minutes ago that appears to have disappeared. I guess I'll try retyping it.

I found this tutorial incredibly helpful but can't seem to get it to work for one of my tasks. I got it to work with CCleaner, but the task I'm struggling with is running two .exes simultaneously. I checked and double-checked and everything looks good, but when I hit run or when I use the desktop shortcut, it doesn't run either program.

The two actions link to these locations:
/c/start "ESO AddOn Clients" "C:\Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\live\AddOns\TamrielTradeCentre\Client\Client.exe"
/c/start "ESO AddOn Clients" "C:\Users\Veronica\AppData\Local\Minion\Minion.exe"

The apps are standalone exes for the game The Elder Scrolls Online. Currently, I have to select each exe individually and hit yes on the UAC prompt for each one. It's really annoying, so I was really hoping there was a way to just have one button run both, without the prompt. I edited the shortcut to bypass the UAC and to run in administrator mode. I'm not really sure how I messed up or if it just can't work with two exes simultaneously. If that's the case, what are my options?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Brink]

Hello verajart, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I've found this doesn't usually work well for games due to the multiple files being launched.

 

[verajart]

Hello verajart, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I've found this doesn't usually work well for games due to the multiple files being launched.

Hi, Brink. Thanks for the super speedy reply!

The two programs I'm trying to launch aren't actually games, they're standalone desktop applications that provide features that enhance my game. One is an addon management app and the other polls my auction sales and syncs my data with the website. Neither are games themselves.

Thanks!

 

[Brink]

Hi, Brink. Thanks for the super speedy reply!

The two programs I'm trying to launch aren't actually games, they're standalone desktop applications that provide features that enhance my game. One is an addon management app and the other polls my auction sales and syncs my data with the website. Neither are games themselves.

Thanks!

You might test creating separate elevated shortcuts for each .exe file.

Afterwards, you could run the elevated shortcuts together from say a BAT file.

 

[verajart]

You might test creating separate elevated shortcuts for each .exe file.

Afterwards, you could run the elevated shortcuts together from say a BAT file.

Awesome, thank you.
They work individually as elevated shortcuts. How do I run them from a BAT file? I'm not familiar with that.

Thanks again!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

A .bat file basically just runs commands.

You could have two lines in the .bat file with each line a command to run a shortcut.

The command line below is an example of what to use per line. Substitute the part in red with the actual full path of an elevated shortcut.

start "[COLOR="Red"]<full path of shortcut>[/COLOR]"

 

[verajart]

For posterity, I'm going to share what I did (basically) to create a .bat file.
I opened a new doc in Notepad.
I typed:
cd c:\ESO
start Minion.lnk
start TTC.lnk
Then I saved that as a .bat file. That's not a default 'save as' option, so you have to choose 'All Files' and then type .bat, if memory serves.
Unfortunately memory does not serve well for all the steps to this solution.
I know that this runs through CMD. I made a desktop shortcut for it, then put that in my start menu to replace the three other icons, and now this runs all three programs simultaneously. It works great! If I can remember what else I did to create this (with my hubby's help) I'll update this post again with that.
Thanks again!

 

[ToughDiamond]

Anybody know why my attempt at doing this trick has resulted in a shortcut that only intermittently succeeds in opening my program? It flips from working to not working during the same Windows session. No error messages, the program just doesn't open.

 

[WildWilly]

.Bat invoked by Task Scheduler doesn't take focus

I don't know if this has been addressed. I mean, this thread goes back only to 2009 & spans 50 pages (when you're not logged on -- only 13 when you are -- that's weird). I did plow through about half the thread before I couldn't take any more. So here's the deal . . .

I wrote a command script (.Bat file) maybe a few years ago that does a couple of things that require elevation. For these past few years I have popped up the context menu on the file in the file manager & selected Run as administrator. Then it gives me the UAC prompt. But I got fed up with that, especially since about half the time I forget that I need to elevate the thing before it will work correctly.

A number of years ago, I applied this tutorial to create a task that executes Task Manager elevated so it comes up with the Show processes from all users already checked. Now I want to take the same approach with my .Bat script.

So I actually have 2 levels of script. The script I double click on contains 1 line: schtasks /run etc. as prescribed in this tutorial. The task defined in Task Scheduler then invokes the script that I really want to run. The script is sort of interactive. Actually, all it does is Pause every so often so I can read the results of the various commands it is invoking along the way. My approach has eliminated the need to explicitly do the Run as administrator thing, & it avoids the UAC prompt. All good.

Here's what's annoying. The script invoked from the Task Scheduler does not take focus. The command window opens up on top of everything else, which is what I want. But the command window does NOT have focus. I have to do a task switch (Alt+Tab or mouse click) to get into the thing. After that it works as intended.

Any idea how I can make the stupid command window take focus?