How To Install Programs Without Administrator Password Windows 10
So my user does not have admin rights and it needs a password every time I try to do an administrative action. Altering the OS requires elevated privileges, that's just how Windows works. Caveat: you must be able to run without admin privileges, but this is how to get around install privileges.
I have an HP laptop running Microsoft Windows 8. As recommended by many sources, I created separate user accounts for my wife and myself, and I have not needed to log in as admin for a while. Now I have simply forgotten the password. I’ve tried all of the obvious variations, which followed a pattern I used for my old iMac. I’ve also tried some processes mentioned online, with no success.
It’s easy enough to back up our personal data, so I have considered a factory reset, but I am certain it is going to ask for an admin password. The obvious thing I have not done is pay for some commercial cracking software, but I have no idea which (if any) are reputable and effective. Please suggest a solution, as I would like to upgrade to Windows 10. Stephen
Did you set up the original administrator account using a Microsoft email address as your MSA (Microsoft Account), which is what I strongly recommend? If so, your logon password is the same as your email password, and this is something you might still remember. You might even have written it down somewhere.
If you did use a Hotmail, Live or Outlook.com account, you have a good chance of getting access to your admin account, by resetting your email account password from the Microsoft Account Password Reset page. There are step-by-step instructions at About.com.
Your PC has to be online so that Microsoft can update the admin password on your laptop. However, if you are resetting the password from your standard account, then you will obviously be online.
Reset your PC
Another idea is to back up your data and then reset your PC to factory condition. This should be possible on all Windows 8 PCs that still have their recovery partition intact. It also works with Windows 10 PCs. These don’t have a recovery partition, but they have a special system for rebuilding the operating system when required.
Unfortunately, I don’t think you can reset a Windows 8 PC from a standard user account. You can’t even see “Reset my PC” from a standard account on Windows 10, and fellow journalist Simon Bisson confirmed this was also the case on Windows 8.1. (Thanks to Windows 10, I’m temporarily out of Windows 8 PCs.)
Other methods of resetting a Windows admin password ultimately boil down to changing files on the hard drive before the admin account gets control. The traditional approach was to interrupt the startup sequence, but you can also restart your PC from your Windows recovery DVD or a bootable USB thumb drive. Another alternative is to load Linux from a “Live CD” or USB drive. I suspect this is how most commercial “cracking” programs work.
Advanced Startup Options
Many Ask Jack readers will be familiar with interrupting the boot sequence of a Windows PC by hitting a function key, and then starting Windows in safe mode or changing the boot order in the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) chip. Windows 8 and Windows 10 PCs no longer use the very old and slow BIOS, they use UEFI with an Advanced Startup Options (ASO) screen.
Many PCs have retained the concept, so that pressing,say, the F11 key or Esc during the Windows 8 boot sequence will take you to the ASO screen, where you can start a command prompt window (cmd.exe) aka “DOS box”. Check the user guide for your HP laptop (on your hard drive or online) to see which function key to press.
Otherwise, you can get to the ASO screen by holding down the shift key while clicking on the power icon and selecting Restart. The long-winded alternative is to use the Charms bar to select Settings, click Change PC settings, and then go through Recovery to the Advanced Startup option, “Restart now”.
When you get to the ASO page, by whatever route, select Troubleshoot, and then Reset your PC. This should return it to factory condition.
Sadly, I’m not sure it will do a reset without an admin password – and I don’t have a machine to try – but it’s worth a go. (I have never been asked for a password when resetting a Windows 8 PC, but I suspect I’ve always done it from admin accounts.)
Breaking in
You can also start your laptop from a Windows DVD or a bootable USB thumb drive and then change the password on the hard drive. Ideally, use the recovery DVD that Windows suggested you create in case you ran into a major problem. (Of course, if you have one of those, you can just reinstall Windows 8 from scratch.)
If not, it doesn’t really matter what you boot from, because you’re not going to install the operating system. It could be almost any Windows DVD or a Live Linux CD.
You “break in” by renaming one of the ease-of-access files. There are half a dozen available, including sethc.exe (Set High Contrast), utilman.exe (Utility Manager), and osk.exe (On-Screen Keyboard). You rename one of these to stop it working: for example, rename osk.exe to osk.exe.old. After that, you rename the Command shell from cmd.exe to osk.exe (or whichever file you chose).
Now, when you start Windows 8, you can run the on-screen keyboard from the utilities icon, but the command shell will load instead. This lets you assign a new password (eg 123) to your admin account, so that you can log in. (Remember to clean up by renaming osk.exe back to cmd.exe and osk.exe.old to osk.exe, and set a new password.)
Lots of YouTube videos show how it’s done. The best one I’ve found is Wesley David’s How to Reset a Windows Password Through a Backdoor. He’s very clear.
If you want to try a Linux-based “rescue CD” then have a look at the Trinity Rescue Kit and Ophcrack v3.6.0 (LiveCD v3.6.0). Both are free.
If you want to try a paid-for cracker, Windows Password Key looks a reasonable bet. I’ve not tried it, but the website is well designed, it has a tutorial, and the FAQ Center articles are sound. Although Windows Password Key is a free download, I assume you end up paying $19.95, though I don’t know how.
I’d just follow Wesley David’s tutorial.
Prevention
There are ways to avoid getting into this situation in the first place. I use a Microsoft email address with a long password, but I set up a 4-digit PIN so I can log in quickly. I also have two admin accounts, in case one of them goes bad. Finally, I note that Microsoft allows you to create a password reset disk (or USB thumb drive or floppy disk) so that you can reset your password if you forget it. It’s a simple menu item with a wizard to guide you. Windows 8.1 works the same way.
You should also follow Windows’ directions to create recovery media and back-ups so that if your hard drive fails, you can reinstall Windows from scratch and get your stuff back.
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Is there any way that I can force a program that normally requires administrator privileges (via UAC) to run without them? (ie: no UAC prompt and no system-wide access.)
Added: Without modifying the executable itself.
In spite of James's answer, I have found a few ways that it can almost be done:
- By modifying the executable I can remove the
trustInfoentry from the manifest (or the manifest entirely, so I can use an external one), allowing the program to start without UAC. Unfortunately this modifies the executable, so it exits shortly after due to an internal checksum test. - By using Process Explorer I can launch it as a Limited User. However this seems to limit it significantly more than I would like (it runs like Protected Mode IE and so can access significantly less than what my standard un-elevated user can).
9 Answers
Save this text in <name_of_file>.reg and add it to the Windows Registry. (Double-clicking on it should do the trick.)
Afterwards, right-click the app you'd like to run without administrative privileges and select 'Run without privilege elevation'.
In some cases - small amount 0.1% of programs may ask twice about UAC prompt.
Save to nonadmin.bat:
Now you can drag and drop programs to this to run them without admin.
This doesn't require admin privileges as changing that registry key does. Also you won't clutter the context menu.
Based on Vom's answer
Update: Should now work with programs that have spaces in name as well.
I hope I'm not too late to the party, but I was looking for a similar question and without seeing an answer here I found out that Windows' builtin RunAscommand, when run as administrator, can do that with /trustlevel switch.
This worked in my case.Ironically, starting a program explicitly without elevation requires an elevated command prompt. Go figure. :)I hope it helps you.
MxxMxxIf you have a particular application that you want to always run without UAC, you can target it with the Registry (add the text to a REG file and import it into the Registry):
Unlike this answer, this solution requires no alternate click or change to user interaction.
Microsoft calls this process adding the RunAsInvoker'Compatibility Shim'.
palswimI solved this problem today using the MS application customization toolkit.
I followed the instructions in a tech republic article.
Basically:
1) you get the toolkit from MS here .
2) Click Fix
3) Choose the RunAsInvoker option
4) Right Click the fix and choose Install
0xC0000022LWhile in his question Andrew stated that the following did not quite work:
By modifying the executable I can remove the trustInfo entry from the manifest (or the manifest entirely, so I can use an external one), allowing the program to start without UAC. Unfortunately this modifies the executable, so it exits shortly after due to an internal checksum test.
I was able to modify an external .manifest file for the software I was using and change
<ms_asmv2:requestedExecutionLevel level='requireAdministrator' uiAccess='false' />
to
<ms_asmv2:requestedExecutionLevel level='asInvoker' uiAccess='false' />
Turns out the software I was using did not really require administrator rights so I was able to run it on a Standard User account without UAC or administrator passwords. Thanks!
If it's a setup (installation) exe file that is requiring administration privilege, there's a trick to run it without elevated access:
If the file's name contains words like setup or install windows forcefully runs it with elevated access even if it doesn't need elevated access:
If the .exe file has a manifest in it, these heuristics for elevation do not apply.
This is documented on the UAC (User Account Control) docs:
Installer detection detects setup files, which helps prevent installations from being run without the user's knowledge and consent.
Installer detection only applies to:
32-bit executable files.
Applications without a requested execution level attribute.
Interactive processes running as a standard user with UAC enabled.
Before a 32-bit process is created, the following attributes are checked to determine whether it is an installer:
The file name includes keywords such as 'install,' 'setup,' or 'update.'
...
Read mode here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/user-account-control/how-user-account-control-works
I fixed this problem by going changing the permissions on the folder that contained the program.
I added each user that will run that program and gave them 'full control' priviledges. That took care of the problem and I left the 'run as admin' unchecked.
I don't have any security concerns for the users who will be running the program.
How To Install Program Without Admin Password Windows 10
slhckNo, if a program requires UAC then it is trying to access something outside of its sandbox. The program will not correctly run without the elevated access.
If you just want to get rid of the notification, you can disable UAC.
Disable UAC on Windows Vista: Start, type 'user'. Click on 'User Accounts'. On the window that pops up, click on 'User Account Control Settings' and then Turn off UAC.
Disable UAC on Windows 7: Start, type 'user'. Click on 'User Account Control Settings'. Drag the choice bar all the way to the bottom to 'Never Notify.'
James WattJames Wattprotected by Community♦Sep 22 '15 at 19:34
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