With a simple trick, you can let non-admin users run programs requiring administrator rights without giving them the password.
When running a program or application on Windows, if it requires admin privileges, Windows will either show a Yes or No UAC (User Access Control) prompt. For non-admin users. i.e., the Standard users, Windows will display a prompt asking for the admin password.
For example, if you are sharing your computer or have users that use a standard account, they won’t have permission to run applications that requires admin rights. In general, this restriction is a good one as, more often than not, the program that requires administrative privileges needs access to system settings or files.
Though the admin password prompt is good, there might be situations where you need to let non-admin users run programs that require administrative rights. In those cases, rather than manually entering the admin password every time or giving them full administrative privileges, you can use the RunAs command and Windows Credential Manager to allow non-admin users to run a program as admin.
Let me show you how to do it.
Allow a Standard User To Run a Program as Admin Without Password
For non-admin users to run a program that requires admin rights with a password prompt, you need to create a special shortcut with the runas command.
For the shortcut to work, you must enter the admin password for the first time. After that, Windows will not ask for the password, and any user can run the program as an admin without using the admin password.
Though it sounds complicated, it is pretty easy. Just follow the steps, and you will be good.
- Right-click on the desktop.
- Select the “New” and then “Shortcut” options.
- Paste the following command in the blank field. Replace ComputerName, AdminUsername, and dummy path with actual details.
runas /user:ComputerName\AdminUsername /savecred "C:\path\to\app.exe - Click the “Next” button.
- Type a name in the blank field.
- Click the “Finish” button.
- Double-click the newly created shortcut.
- When prompted, type the admin password and press enter.
- This will open the application; close it for now.
- With that, you’ve created a special shortcut.
- Non-admin users can now use this shortcut to run the program as an admin without the admin password.
Steps with more details:
First, we need to create a special shortcut that lets any user run a program as an admin without an admin UAC password prompt. To do that, right-click on the desktop and select the “New → Shortcut” option. This will open the shortcut creation wizard.
In the Create Shortcut wizard, copy and paste the below code. Don’t forget to replace the Computer Name, AdminUsername, and application path with the actual computer name, admin username, and path of the application’s exe file you’d like to launch with admin privileges.
Click on the “Next” button to continue.
runas /user:ComputerName\AdminUsername /savecred "C:\path\to\app.exe
Now, use the blank name field to name the shortcut anything you want. Click on the “Finish” button.
The above action will create the special custom shortcut we need.
As I said before, for the first time, you need to enter the admin password. So, double-click on the newly created shortcut. You will see a Command Prompt window. Type the admin account password and press the Enter button on your keyboard.
As soon as you do that, the application will open with admin privileges, and Windows saves the authentication details in Credential Manager for future use. You can close the opened program if you don’t need it.
From this point forward, any non-admin user can use the shortcut to launch the target program as an administrator without entering the admin password.
When you no longer need the functionality, simply delete the shortcut, and you are good to go.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, the special shortcut we created will allow a standard user to run a program with admin rights without prompting for a password. Though this trick is handy when you want to allow non-admin users to run programs with admin rights, use it sparingly and only when necessary.
I hope this simple Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
If you like this article, check out how to enable the hidden administrator account and how to see full user account details in Windows.