Running an HTA or WSH script as administrator

Hi,

does anyone knows how to run an HTA file as administrator with UAC enabled ?
HTA doensn't have the "Run as administrator" in the context menu, doesn't
have the compatibility tab in the properties and seems to completely ignore
a myapp.hta.manifest file. The runas command with /trustlevel:unrestricted
doesn't work. I cannot runas built-in administrator because this is disabled
by default (and it's better to leave disabled)
I even tryed to run cmd as administrator and run the HTA from there, but it
still don't have administrative rights (I think it creates a new context
with lower trustlevel).
I've the same problem with WSH scripts (i.e. VBS).
I'm not in a domain, so I cannot use group policy.

Thanks for any help.

Massimo.

HTAs, and also scripts, are not applications per se. Therefore, they do not
have the "Run as administrator" in the context menu. They are simply scripts,
interpreted by mshta.exe and cscript.exe.

When I run an HTA from an elevated command prompt, however, mshta.exe is a
full admin. How are you determining that it is not in your case?

"m.piceni@newsgroup.nospam" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> does anyone knows how to run an HTA file as administrator with UAC enabled ?
> HTA doensn't have the "Run as administrator" in the context menu, doesn't
> have the compatibility tab in the properties and seems to completely ignore
> a myapp.hta.manifest file. The runas command with /trustlevel:unrestricted
> doesn't work. I cannot runas built-in administrator because this is disabled
> by default (and it's better to leave disabled)
> I even tryed to run cmd as administrator and run the HTA from there, but it
> still don't have administrative rights (I think it creates a new context
> with lower trustlevel).
> I've the same problem with WSH scripts (i.e. VBS).
> I'm not in a domain, so I cannot use group policy.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Massimo.
>
>
>

Forgot to mention, if you want to add the "Run as administrator" item to the
context menu for HTA files or scripts you can do that by hacking the
registry. Here is a reg script that does it for HTA files:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htafile\shell\runas]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htafile\shell\runas\command]
@="C:\\Windows\\system32\\mshta.exe \"%1\" %*"
"IsolatedCommand"="C:\\Windows\\system32\\mshta.exe \"%1\" %*"



"Jesper" wrote:

> HTAs, and also scripts, are not applications per se. Therefore, they do not
> have the "Run as administrator" in the context menu. They are simply scripts,
> interpreted by mshta.exe and cscript.exe.
>
> When I run an HTA from an elevated command prompt, however, mshta.exe is a
> full admin. How are you determining that it is not in your case?
>
> "m.piceni@newsgroup.nospam" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > does anyone knows how to run an HTA file as administrator with UAC enabled ?
> > HTA doensn't have the "Run as administrator" in the context menu, doesn't
> > have the compatibility tab in the properties and seems to completely ignore
> > a myapp.hta.manifest file. The runas command with /trustlevel:unrestricted
> > doesn't work. I cannot runas built-in administrator because this is disabled
> > by default (and it's better to leave disabled)
> > I even tryed to run cmd as administrator and run the HTA from there, but it
> > still don't have administrative rights (I think it creates a new context
> > with lower trustlevel).
> > I've the same problem with WSH scripts (i.e. VBS).
> > I'm not in a domain, so I cannot use group policy.
> >
> > Thanks for any help.
> >
> > Massimo.
> >
> >
> >

Hi Jesper,

the REG script works fine. Using it you can run an HTA in elevated mode from
a script, in this simple way:

Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objFolder = objShell.Namespace("C:\")
Set objFolderItem = objFolder.ParseName("myhta.hta")
objFolderItem.InvokeVerb "runas"

This will bring up the Vista confirmation box and then run c:\myhta.hta in
elevated mode.
This will run on any executable that has the "Run as Administrator" in the
context menu (BAT, COM, EXE, etc.)

Thanks.

Massimo.

"Jesper" <Jesper@discussions.microsoft.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:488DBE68-8D45-4197-BD80-620010925102@microsoft.com...
> Forgot to mention, if you want to add the "Run as administrator" item to
> the
> context menu for HTA files or scripts you can do that by hacking the
> registry. Here is a reg script that does it for HTA files:
>
> Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htafile\shell\runas]
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htafile\shell\runas\command]
> @="C:\\Windows\\system32\\mshta.exe \"%1\" %*"
> "IsolatedCommand"="C:\\Windows\\system32\\mshta.exe \"%1\" %*"
>
>
>
> "Jesper" wrote:
>
>> HTAs, and also scripts, are not applications per se. Therefore, they do
>> not
>> have the "Run as administrator" in the context menu. They are simply
>> scripts,
>> interpreted by mshta.exe and cscript.exe.
>>
>> When I run an HTA from an elevated command prompt, however, mshta.exe is
>> a
>> full admin. How are you determining that it is not in your case?
>>
>> "m.piceni@newsgroup.nospam" wrote:
>>
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > does anyone knows how to run an HTA file as administrator with UAC
>> > enabled ?
>> > HTA doensn't have the "Run as administrator" in the context menu,
>> > doesn't
>> > have the compatibility tab in the properties and seems to completely
>> > ignore
>> > a myapp.hta.manifest file. The runas command with
>> > /trustlevel:unrestricted
>> > doesn't work. I cannot runas built-in administrator because this is
>> > disabled
>> > by default (and it's better to leave disabled)
>> > I even tryed to run cmd as administrator and run the HTA from there,
>> > but it
>> > still don't have administrative rights (I think it creates a new
>> > context
>> > with lower trustlevel).
>> > I've the same problem with WSH scripts (i.e. VBS).
>> > I'm not in a domain, so I cannot use group policy.
>> >
>> > Thanks for any help.
>> >
>> > Massimo.
>> >
>> >
>> >