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

 

[Brink]

Hello Willy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if you may be able to use this tutorial to run the shortcut in the tutorial below for this instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10499-task-manager-create-elevated-shortcut.html

Be sure to do this option below at step 23 for the create task.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/67503-task-create-run-program-startup-log.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[WildWilly]

Hello Willy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Thank you, Brink . . . or Shawn . . . or . . . Mr. Shawn Brink. A man of many names. I have been in this web site every day for the past week. It's like a university course in Windows7. I am most grateful.

See if you may be able to use this tutorial to run the shortcut in the tutorial below for this instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10499-task-manager-create-elevated-shortcut.html

Be sure to do this option below at step 23 for the create task.

Step 23? The above tutorial stops at step 7 and the one you refer to below stops at step 21. No matter because . . .

This is exactly the tutorial I followed that resulted in my Shortcut for Task Manager that now resides in my Startup folder. Despite the fact that it doesn't actually launch my Shortcut during system startup, it is a convenient item I will leave there because if, for example, I fat-finger something & manage to close Task Manager while I'm doing stuff, this Shortcut does let me relaunch Task Manager in Administrator mode without the UAC prompt. So it wasn't all a lost effort.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/67503-task-create-run-program-startup-log.html

Aha! Hard to believe that in all the dozens of times I was in Task Scheduler to try to solve this that I never noticed that the Task Scheduler Library item in the left pane was a directory structure with cascading children under it. I'm such an astute observer. Anyway, after creating the folder as your tutorial directs, I didn't see my folder on the left at first. And that's when I finally twigged to the little triangular bullet thingy like what you see in Windows Explorer.

All together now . . . DUH!!!!!

So I cascaded that all out & discovered this is where all those other mysterious things running in my system all the time come from. Like I said, university course.

And the folder I just created according to your instructions was there. From that point on, I was duplicating the steps I had already performed several times by following the tutorial at the head of this thread.

The step for executing schtasks /run /tn task-name didn't do anything observable at all. I didn't get any errors from this procedure but it also didn't do what I wanted.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hope? Beyond hope, my friend. THIS WORKED!! Blessings upon thee, O Jedi Master. The only difference is that when my created item in the Task Scheduler is just another item in the Task Scheduler Library, it doesn't launch at system startup. When the exact same item is inside a Folder inside the Task Scheduler Library, it works like a champ. I note that the first reply post in this tutorial is dated June 2009, three years ago. Perhaps that procedure worked on the W7 current at the time, but the system has changed in the interim & the advice is no longer valid. I am wholly unqualified to answer that question.

I suppose that now, if there's anything else I want to launch automatically at system startup, and it doesn't work from the plain vanilla Startup folder, I can just add another task in this folder in the Task Scheduler and it should do the trick.

By the way, your instructions talk about doing a search for taskschd.msc to get to the Task Scheduler. On my system, I just navigate Start Menu -> All Programs -> System Tools, and it's there. I admit I have shuffled things around in my Start Menu to make them a little less cluttered & more organized so maybe mileage varies on this point. But I'm pretty sure there was already a Task Scheduler item somewhere in my Start Menu from the outset.

So. Bottom line. Another one bites the dust. Thank you thank you thank you mille fois merci.

 

[Brink]

That's great news Willy. You're most welcome.

By default, anything that runs elevated (run as administrator) will not run at startup if it's just simply placed in the "Startup" folder. Only through Task Scheduler will it run elevated at startup instead.

 

[JerometheGiraff]

Is this tutorial in PDF format, for offline viewing ?

 

[Brink]

Hello JerometheGiraff,

Sorry, but no. However, you could click on File and Save as in IE9 to then save the tutorial page as a webpage, complete .htm file.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[IMAyNeed]

I can run the tasks I created from the Task Scheduler(In the task Scheduler, right click, run), but not from the Shortcuts I created. What could the problem be?

For example; this shows in the target area, same as the others except the task name, but the programs doesn't start when I try to run them from the shortcuts.

Target: C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn "Better File Rename"

Start in: C:\Windows\system32

 

[Brink]

Hello IMAyNeed,

There may have been a mistake made in one of the steps. The most critical part in the steps is to make sure that the task name used in step 3 is used in step 8 and with the shortcut's target at step 14. Could you post screenshots showing what you entered in Task Scheduler to see if something may stand out? I'll be happy to look through them to help double check.

 

[IMAyNeed]

The problem was at the beginning.
In my task scheduler library, there were already like 40 tasks (OS and Software auto created, not by me); so, I created a folder inside the library to put my tasks in there so that I wouldn't confuse my tasks with the computers. I haven't thought of this subfolder thing before.

I changed the target in the shortcut to C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn "\Elevated Tasks\Better File Rename"

and it worked.

So, the problem was the tasks being in a subfolder.

Thank you for the tutorial by the way.

 

[Brink]

IMAyNeed,

The tutorial will not work with the tasks in a subfolder of Task Scheduler Library instead as it's written. I just didn't include subfolders to make the tutorial universal and easier. That's all.

However, for the shortcut to work using a subfolder, you would just need to use the location below instead at step 14.

schtasks /run /tn "subfolder name\task name"


For example: If used a subfolder named CCleaner under "Task Scheduler Library" for the task CCleaner Test (step 3), I would type:

schtasks /run /tn "CCleaner\CCleaner Test"

 

[IMAyNeed]

Yes, I got that right after I typed my reply. Thanks again.

 

[Brink]

LOL, posting inbetween each other. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[FerchogtX]

Nice! I had a program that was bugging me off with UAC (a simple text editor) as it most likely doesn't need it, but with this I can execute without problems and UAC, and even better, somehow runs smootly now (whereas clicking the prompt made the program run slower... ).

Just for asking as it is not really important, is there any way to get the program focused while executing? because of the CMD being oppened (no matter if it is minimized or not) the program looses focus... just for asking, if there is no way to get this is not really important.

Thanks for the tutorial Brink!!! You always have something nice and useful for all us

See ya!!!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome FerchogtX, and thank you.

The program used for this shortcut should open as the active/focused window by default. The only exception should be if click on something else right after it opens, or have another program/window opening right after it.

What program is this for? I'll be happy to test with it if I'm able to.

 

[FerchogtX]

Ha, you will make laugh of me, is a program called Fighter Factory Ultimate used to créate MUGEN chars (I do this in my lil' free time),
You can get it from here:
VirtuallTek Systems
Is a lil' harmless program, but needs UAC (????) to execute just because some of the data for configurations is stored at C:\ProgramData\VirtuallTek once executed the first time instead of other folder XD. That's why your tutorial was so usefull

Another thing is that I was in need to modify a lil' the method, instead of adding cmd + the parameters, I just added the program shortcut (In my case, D:\Programs\MUGEN\VirtualTek\ff32.exe) because cmd wasn't hidden with the start minimized option in the final shortcut using the cmd + parameters method.

Hope this gives you a whole panorama, but anyway is not that important

Thanks again for the tutorial and also for those for Windows 8, they saved me lots of troubles

See ya!!!

 

[Brink]

After testing it with the elevated shortcut created exactly as written in the tutorial, the cmd window stayed open for me for a few seconds longer than normal for only the first time I ran the program before closing. Afterwards, I never saw the CMD window again when running the program with the shortcut.


To have it open in focus, you will need to use %windir%\System32\cmd.exe at step 7 instead.

For me, the file path to ff32.exe was this below instead:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\VirtuallTek\Fighter Factory Ultimate\ff32.exe"
I used Fighter Factory Ultimate as the task name, so I used this at step 8.

/c start "Fighter Factory Ultimate" "C:\Program Files (x86)\VirtuallTek\Fighter Factory Ultimate\ff32.exe"

....and used this for the shortcut:
schtasks /run /tn "Fighter Factory Ultimate"

 

[FerchogtX]

Funny thing is that it appears the command window for a lil sec and then FFU is loaded... well then, I can live with it XD.
Thanks for this man!!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

Yeah, the cmd window usually opens and closes so fast that you normally would only see a quick flash if that.

 

[ColinWG]

This Is A Thank You Post

Specifically for this tutorial:
Elevated Program Shortcut without UAC Prompt - Create
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11949-elevated-program-shortcut-without-uac-prompt-create.html

It helped me greatly and avoided me having to just plain turn off the UAC due to W7 not liking Audition needing to run with Aero off.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Collin. I'm happy to hear that it was able to help you.

 

[ColinWG]

Sub question, do I modify my associations to call this instead of the program directly to achieve the same thing with associated file opening? That is, Right Click -> Edit -> Audition So instead of Audition, should I point it to the modified shortcut on the desktop?