Vista - Disable UAC Prompt for Certain Applications

Date: 12-29-2007
Article: KB946932


Result
Sometimes, you want to disable UAC prompt for certain application on a Windows Vista computer. You do not want to disable UAC for the whole computer.

Resolution
Using the tool and steps below, you may disable UAC prompt for the specific application. This does not disable the User Acount Control feature for the whole computer.

1) Download and install the Application Compatibility Toolkit from this link:

To read the rest, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946932 (Appears to be not available anymore)

See this alternative site for instructions:
http://blog.tiensivu.com/aaron/archives/1426-How-to-disable-the-User-Account-Control-Prompt-for-a-certain-application-only.html


NOTE: This is a hit and miss solution. It will work for some programs, but not on others.


Enjoy,
Shawn

NOTE: This is a hit and miss item. It will not work on some programs, while it will for others.

Results so far:

The downloaded program and instructions from the KB946932 worked without any problems. However, it had no effect on the UAC prompt for any program that I used with it. Even after a restart. It still gave me the CONTINUE UAC prompt for it.

I am using the 64 bit Vista Ultimate. Hopefully it will work for you 32 bit Vista folks.

You can follow along at this thread to:
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/117336-new-tool-available-selectively-bypass-uac-prompt.html


Please post your results,
Shawn

Hi Brink,

Thanks for all your guides like this, I am sure everyone appreciates them as much as I do and I know they can be both fun and time consuming

What are your views on totally disabling UAC? I am the only one using my Vista x64 machine so I have it disabled, is this wise to do?

Hi MegaDETH,

Thank you, and your welcome. I enjoy writing these tutorials so that they can help people understand and use their computer. When I started on computers there was no help like this available then. You either sank or swimmed as the saying goes.


The UAC can be a bit of a pain while setting up Vista, but once you have it up and going it is not so bad. UAC is designed to help you protect your computer by asking you for your permission first before anything can run that wants to use Administrator rights, and have complete run of your computer if granted. If UAC is off, then everything will have full run of your computer when it wants it. Think of it as the last line of defense.

In my opinion it is worth it to have it on. It can save you from a piece of malware taking control or damaging your data. Plus, it gives you a chance to cancel running something if you changed your mind or bumped it by mistake.

It would have been nice for this to have worked. Well, it didn't on my computer.
Having an exception list built into UAC for programs that you know are safe and cannot be used to backdoor your system would of helped.

It is up to you since it is your computer. You can read this for more information on UAC to help with your decision. Microsoft TechNet: Security: Inside Windows Vista User Account Control

Shawn

Thanks that was good reading. I think I will have a change of hear. After getting all my applications installed I will keep it ON. But during a fresh install it is quite a pain lol


thanks

Yep, total waste as the only program I needed it for was smartguardian. It seems unless the program is signed, there is no way round UAC. Total waste of time, so I end up running half UAC with automatic elevation which is better than nothing.

I was forced to turn UAC off. I didnt want too, but it so kept interfering with what I wanted to do with my computer that I had to shut it off.

I run dual monitors and on one monitor I like to have my Slingbox on to have the TV on the secondary monitor while I am surfing or doing other things on the main monitor. But every time UAC comes up, it crashes the Slingbox software and I have to restart it.

It bothers me enough that I had to turn off UAC.

I also had to disable UAC due to the fact that if i was in a web support session UAC would kill my net connection.

I don't consider UAC to be a bad thing. I'll agree, during a clean install it gets to be a bit frustrating. I feel, as Shawn does. Microsoft should have and still needs to build an exception list into UAC

Dagra

If what this article says is true, then I suspect UAC, other than being a pina, gives a false sense of security:

Disable Annoying Vista UAC popups with TweakUAC (free!)