What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10?

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 1

Run as Administrator what?

Let's start with the most basic definitions to be able to analyze the role of Run as Adminstator . If you have ever used Windows XP before or even the latest version of Windows 10, there will be times when you will receive a notification window when you enter an application and that window is called User Access Control.

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 2

Basically, User Access Control (abbreviated: UAC) is a security feature on Windows, its role is to warn you about the application you are about to run that intends or is trying to access and change other system files. Therefore, UAC was born to allow that access as well as allow changes to system files compared to normal access.

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 3

No matter how many generations of UAC have passed , this is still the security mechanism of the Windows system, the latest of which is Windows 10. Thanks to it, the system will minimize many problems that cause system damage as well as avoid the effects of software and malware that comes with that software.

However, these notifications gradually decreased, this is not necessarily because UAC has become worse, but because Windows' data system can now identify which applications are bad, and the security layers behind have also worked better over time through periodic updates. That is also the reason why you should update Windows more often. From there, the Run as Administrator form was born.

Now back to Run as Administrator , when you right-click on any software or application, there will be a notification panel to select Run as Administrator , which means running as an administrator, that is, the PC system manager. That means you are allowing a software or application to come from clean sources but has the ability to change the way your system operates.

In more detail, the trust level is controlled through the Mantatory Integrity Control system (abbreviated: MIC). This control system has 6 levels, corresponding to 6 trust levels for applications and files, including: untrusted, low, medium, high, and trusted. According to the initial default settings, your computer will automatically be at the medium level. At this time, Windows will display Run as Administrator, which means allowing access because the system has previously scanned and found no problems related to applications containing malicious code.

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 4

Note that this system will scan most applications with the exe extension. By default, it is medium trust. If you need to intervene in the system, UAC will appear to notify you about the application you are about to run. For applications under development, Microsoft recommends that it should be set to the lowest possible access level. This will help you feel more secure when experiencing the application and avoid encountering malware.

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 5

Although Microsoft does not encourage users to use applications in the form of ' Run as Administrator ' because they may not have been thoroughly censored. Previously, there was a software called AutoHotKey, which did not cause any harm to the computer, but this software was also used by hackers to clone malware for easy penetration, or even fake Unikey versions also contained malware that we did not know about.

Ways to access Run as Adminstrator application

Method 1: Hold Ctrl + Shift when double-clicking on the software application shortcut or icon. The software will run under admin rights.

Method 2: Hold Shift as you right-click on an application. The right-click menu will display the option ' Run as Administrator ' so you have full access to your application.

More advanced ways:

Start Menu: Right-click on the application on the Start Menu , and a Run as Administrator option will appear.

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 6

Windows Explorer: Select the file in Explorer , click on Manage in the menu at the top of the window, select ' Run as Administrator '

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 7

Alternatively, you can use the command on the Windows Run feature. Open Run by pressing the Windows key + R combination or go to the start menu and type Run

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 8

Then type the command RunAs.exe /user:Administrator "[application name].exe"

When you are typing a command on cmd and want to open a file, you can use the following command: runas /user:administrator "[file path to open].exe"

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 9

In the Task Manager application , to run a program with admin rights, select the File menu, select Run new task , tick the ' Create this task with administrative privileges' box and then enter the file path.

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 10

To always run an application under admin rights, you can easily do it in a few ways as follows:

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 11

Right-click on the application shortcut, select Properties , select the Shortcut tab, select Advance , a window appears and you check the box with the Run as Administrator option . With this method, you can also allow applications to start at the same time as Windows that are allowed by the admin.

First, you have to create a Shortcut file from the main application's Exe file. Follow the steps above. Then copy it to the following path: C:Users[Your account name]AppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup.

Also from the Properties of the application Shortcut, you can also make the application run as admin through the Compatibility tab.

In addition, we can open it by opening Run (press Windows key + R or go to the start menu and type Run) type regedit.msc.

What is Run as Administrator in Windows 10? Picture 12

When the Registry Editor window appears, you look in the left directory tree at the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionAppCompatFlagsLayers.

If the key named Layers does not appear, right-click on its parent folder AppCompatFlags and create a key named Layers . Right-click on Layers and select Create a new String Value

In the Value name section , select the path to the application file. In the Value data section , type ~ RUNSASADMIN and press OK .

And that is the explanation of 

Micah Soto

Update 17 January 2025