Run As Administrator fails

[Joe Wasik]

Some software programs were written by uncool people that expect
everyone on a computer to be an Administrator. One such program is a
game called SIMS2 by EA Games. This is a BRAND NEW game!
Unbelievable!

So I need to be able to get "Run As" to work on the SIMS2 shortcut on
a Limited user's desktop. But I cannot get *any* program to work with
the "Run As".

Here are the steps that I took:
As an admin, I gave the icon the advanced property to run with
credentials.
As a limited user, I click the icon.
As the limited user, I choose my admin account from the dropdown list
and I enter my admin password.
I immediately get this error:
"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may
not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

The permissions on the SIMS2 game were set so that user EVERYONE can
do anything to the folder, files, even the registry. So its not that.

Any advice? Or should I return the SIMS2 game? (The latter will
seriously disappoint my kids, so I'm counting on you Usenet gurus to
help. Thanks)

 

[David Candy]

Do you clear the checkbox in the RunAs dialog.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Joe,

HOW TO: Enable and Use the "Run As" Command When Running Program
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q294/6/76.asp


From a previous post:

You can use the /savecred option to save it the first time the password is
entered and you dont need to enter it from then on.

No there isnt a way to specify the password but you can use the /savecred
option to save it the first time the password
is entered and you dont need to enter it from then on.

For Pro:

You can use the /savecred option to save it the first time the password is
entered and you dont need to enter it from then on.

You add the switch to the shortcut target. Right-click the shortcut and
select Properties, then the Shortcut tab. Edit the target line.

For example, this is the line to run Nero from a limited account:

%systemroot%\system32\runas.exe /user:computername\admin
/savecred "D:\Program Files\ahead\Nero\nero.exe"

The first time you run it, enter the password. After that it won't ask for
one again.

More info:

To create a shortcut using the runas command:

Right-click the desktop, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
In Type the location of the item, type runas and the command parameters you
want to use. In the following table, see examples for creating shortcuts.
Click Next, type a name for the shortcut, and then click Finish.

To create a shortcut to Type:

A command prompt with administrative credentials administrative credentials
Logon information that is used to identify a member of an administrative
group. Groups that use administrative credentials include Administrators,
Domain Admins, and DNS Admins. Most system-wide or domain-wide tasks require
administrative credentials. runas /user:ComputerName\administrator cmd

 

[Joe Wasik]

The runas dialog box has no checkbox when I run as an admin account.
The only checkbox I see on the dialog box is when running as the
current user -- which is irrelavant because it is dimmed out when
using the dropdown box.

 

[David Candy]

Personally I'd ask EA or Google.

1. Are you sure it's not Copy Protection interferring. Turn off any CD related programs (like Virtual CD or burners).

2. Find out what it's looking for if a file or registry key (but this message can refer to obscure things as well). Reg and Filemon from www.sysinternals.com. Monitor the program (might as well be as a normal user) and see where or what it can't access.

 

[David Candy]

Why did you retype the To: groups. You typed them wrong.

 

[Joe Wasik]

Thanks for your note. I did not re-type the group names while posting
to Usenet. I posted through Google Groups -- and Google did the
mistyping all on its own. Interesting. I corrected them for this
post. Let's see how it ends up.

By the way, the suggestion to turn on the "Secondary Logon" service
made a difference. The ill-designed Sims2 runs now. But only the kids
can tell me if it's running right. Hope so.

The people at EA Games don't respond to my questions posted on their
board. I guess my anger at them must have shown in the question. They
go have notes that say "must be admin" on their web site.

 

[Joe Wasik]

Thank you. A very impressive tip. The disabled service was indeed
the problem. And the feature to save the password was nice bonus.
Thanks again.