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Starting Programs With Elevated Privileges (Windows Vista/7, UAC, Shortcut)

If you are using Windows Vista or 7, of course you know the UAC. It is the reason why many setup programs and programs that need more privileges for execution make the UAC window pop up and ask for elevation. Some programs, however, like the  command prompt cmd.exe, can run both with or without elevated rights, which may lead to problems (for example trying to use route.exe from the unelevated command prompt).

In order to circumvent that problematic, you surely know that you can just open the Start Menu, type the name of the program into the quick search field, wait for it to show up in the results, right-click it and choose "Run as administrator". I found that it was a little to bothersome to use the mouse in addition to typing, especially when you have to elevate quite often in a short period of time.

What is faster is the shortcut I recently found out about. Type the name of the program into the Start Menu's quick search as usual, and instead of right-clicking, just press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. That way, you run the selected program from the list with elevation. You don't even necessarily have to wait for the search results to show up: for example, just type in cmd and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

This is a nice and nifty time saver.

Of course, there is also the method to just create a shortcut, go into its properties, click on the "Advanced..." button on the "Shortcut" tab and tick the "Run as administrator" checkbox. This shortcut will then automatically ask for elevation each time. Downside: You have to use another one in order to run it without elevated privileges.

Also note that the key combination Ctrl+Shift+Enter only seems to work in the Start Menu quick search box. I tried Start => Run with it (or: Windows+R), but it had no effect. Too bad.

I hope that was helpful to you and that it will save you as much time and hassle as it did for me.

Thanks for reading.