Get rid of UAC for half an hour? You can.

[Lucvdv]

Ever been in a situation where you wanted to get rid of UAC for a
while to do a series of steps that would all have to be confirmed in
turn, but didn't want to disable it permanently?

I had a hunch, and just tried this (the walkthrough below looks longer
than it takes). It works:

- Start a CMD prompt with "run as administrator". Confirm UAC.
- Now click on the desktop, outside of any window, and press Alt+F4.
- The shutdown dialog will pop up.
- Hold ctrl+alt+shift while you click Cancel.
- The taskbar and desktop icons will disappear, only CMD remains.
- Type 'explorer' in the CMD window and press Enter.
- Desktop and taskbar reappear.

No more UAC until you log off and back on, or restart the OS.

I haven't tested yet what it will do through a sleep/restart sequence
(as opposed to a full reboot where you're automatically logged off),
but I suspect that you'll remain in admin mode, so I recommend to log
off after you've done your work.

 

[nicholas hall]

What a good idea (NOT)

UAC is there for a reason.
People moaned about how weak some of the older versions of windows where,
but now that Microsoft has beefed up the security there are people like you
showing people how to weaken it.
This is not a blast at just you. It is a blast at all the people who weaken
their system and then moan when something goes wrong.

.... Time to relax

NIK

 

[Lucvdv]

What a good idea (NOT)

UAC is there for a reason.
People moaned about how weak some of the older versions of windows where,
but now that Microsoft has beefed up the security there are people like you
showing people how to weaken it.
This is not a blast at just you. It is a blast at all the people who weaken
their system and then moan when something goes wrong.

Did you actually READ my post, or just noticed the subject and started
ranting?

 

[Troy McClure]

so all youre doing is killing explorer and relaunching it... pure genius
indeed

 

[Jim]

Ever been in a situation where you wanted to get rid of UAC for a
while to do a series of steps that would all have to be confirmed in
turn, but didn't want to disable it permanently?

I had a hunch, and just tried this (the walkthrough below looks longer
than it takes). It works:

- Start a CMD prompt with "run as administrator". Confirm UAC.
- Now click on the desktop, outside of any window, and press Alt+F4.
- The shutdown dialog will pop up.
- Hold ctrl+alt+shift while you click Cancel.
- The taskbar and desktop icons will disappear, only CMD remains.
- Type 'explorer' in the CMD window and press Enter.
- Desktop and taskbar reappear.

No more UAC until you log off and back on, or restart the OS.

I haven't tested yet what it will do through a sleep/restart sequence
(as opposed to a full reboot where you're automatically logged off),
but I suspect that you'll remain in admin mode, so I recommend to log
off after you've done your work.

Just disable UAC altogether. It's a great idea but it's poorly
implemented. It's just an inhibitor!

Jim

 

[David Hearn]

Just disable UAC altogether. It's a great idea but it's poorly
implemented. It's just an inhibitor!

Jim

It's designed to be an inhibitor - to malware and other unauthorised
applications!

D

 

[Lucvdv]

so all youre doing is killing explorer and relaunching it... pure genius
indeed

It has nothing to do with genius. I'm just trying to point those
people who would otherwise disable UAC altogether at an old trick that
may keep them from doing it.

And trying to keep people like me, who think UAC is a good thing but
also something that can get in the way when you have to do a lot of
work, from cursing it

 

[Kerry Brown]

Thanks for the tip. It should be a good method for troubleshooting when
things go wrong.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Jim;
Generally a bad idea for most.
Is UAC an inhibiter?
Yes and it inhibits malware exactly as it is designed.

I have been using Vista Ultimate RTM since RTM and rarely see UAC.
UAC is much improved since the early Betas.
If UAC is problematic my guess is you are using one of the Betas of Vista.
If not, what are you doing that you will continue to do regularly that
continues to give the UAC message?

 

[Jon Davis]

so all youre doing is killing explorer and relaunching it... pure genius
indeed

You're relaunching it with full administrative priviledges.

It actually is a pretty cool approach to a frustrating problem with Vista
that Administrators face.

Jon