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I have recently upgraded to Windows 8.

I almost exclusively use Win+R and the run dialog to open any program, and as a developer need to open some programs as an administrator.

In Windows 7, the run dialog tells me that This task will be created with administrative privileges.

How can I configure the run dialog to behave like this in Windows 8?

Edit for close as duplicate:
As per my comment, I read the related question (Win+R runs as Administrator in Windows 8) before posting. However, the accepted answer is "Don't use Win+R", which doesn't solve my problem.

Community
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StuperUser
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  • I have read this related question: http://superuser.com/questions/462174/winr-runs-as-administrator-in-windows-8. However, the accepted answer is "don't use Win+R", which doesn't solve my problem. – StuperUser Jun 10 '13 at 16:28
  • If you have to run every program you use as an administrator there are problems with those programs. A program should FULLY function without having to be ran as an administrator. You sure its even required? – Ramhound Jun 10 '13 at 16:57
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    @StuperUser: Why? What is the advantage the Run dialog has? – Oliver Salzburg Jun 10 '13 at 17:21
  • For me, speed and convenience; 1 key stroke then the name of the program. – StuperUser Jun 10 '13 at 17:31
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    @StuperUser It's the same if you do it from the start menu/screen search: one keystroke (the Win key) and the name of the application. You just need to hold Ctrl and Shift while pressing enter, which isn't a great inconvenience with most of the typical hand rest positions. – Bob Jun 10 '13 at 18:01

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That functionality in Windows 7 is provided by turning UAC off; You can try to do the same in Windows 8 for it, but I do not recommend that.

As an end user that has to constantly deal with software written by terrible developers which breaks with UAC, please make sure you test your stuff with UAC if you don't develop with it enabled!

You can also flag the *.exe as requiring elevated privileges (Properties -> Compatibility). This will cause it to elevate when launched from Win+R. This will require a bit more work to flag each executable, but you don't have to disable UAC, and it gives you much more fine-grained control.

Thanks for pointing out that related question though; as a fellow developer, it'll be nice not having to add all my executables to my %PATH% to quickly launch them.

Darth Android
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  • "please make sure you test your stuff with UAC!" really good point. Luckily, all my stuff's web apps, so thankfully I don't have worry about programming for UAC. – StuperUser Jun 10 '13 at 16:44
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    Lucky.... ;) Another solution is to set a compatibility mode for the executable to run as admin; this will allow you to keep UAC and still have Win+R launch as admin for that executable. – Darth Android Jun 10 '13 at 16:46
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    I would recommend against turning off UAC. In essence, you will be running every program with administrative privileges (assuming the user account has such privileges). This is highly dangerous for any untrusted applications, which includes web browsers and especially browser plugins. – Bob Jun 10 '13 at 16:53
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    @Bob: Not to mention turning off UAC completely in Win8 will break Metro apps. – Karan Jun 11 '13 at 02:36