Author Topic: HowTo open Explorer with admin rights? (Read 18565 times)

Curt · « **on:** April 08, 2012, 01:06 PM »

Maybe I am too dumb for computers in general, but I am certainly too dumb for Windows 7.

On the process line I see the shortcut to Explorer > Libraries. It is clearly a limited rights -version. This is my first problem. I have no guest accounts, I am The single user Administrator, so how on earth can it be that this Explorer doesn't give me an administrator's rights?

I have QTTabbar installed. When I open one of the folders I have made shortcuts for in Explorer via QTTabbar, I have elevated rights. But never when I click the default Explorer shortcut in the process line. I have tried to remove it from the process line and pin a new shortcut, from a situation when all tabs were made by QTTabbar (and as such should give me Admin's rights), but the shortcut turned out to open a "normal" less rights -Explorer, not the QTTabbar version with elevated rights I was hoping for.

What have you "single-user-administrators" done? Did you shake you shoulders and gave in?
Or are any of you genuine Administrators of Explorer? If Yes: How?

---------------
FYI:
Explorer with ten QTTabbar -tabs:

Renegade · « **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2012, 10:42 PM »

Can you do this:

Screenshot - 2012-04-09 , 1_39_11 PM.png

Is that what you're looking to do? Or are you looking for a particular method/shortcut?

Curt · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2012, 02:57 AM »

-thanks.
I also saw that the Run: box in Start gives Explorer Admin's rights,
-and that I have been confusing myself by forgetting that Hidden system folders were being displayed, and what have we not. Should have gone to bed some sooner yesterday. Just forget this thread for now!

tomos · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2012, 01:36 PM »

is there a shortcut-way of starting an app as admin from the start menu -
Ctrl+Click, or something like that?

x16wda · « **Reply #4 on:** April 09, 2012, 02:31 PM »

I found elevate32 and elevate64 (from http://www.westmesatech.com/index.html), maybe those will work for you. They're in the Elevation Toolkit under Misc Tools.

barney · « **Reply #5 on:** April 09, 2012, 04:45 PM »

is there a shortcut-way of starting an app as admin from the start menu -
Ctrl+Click, or something like that?
-tomos (April 09, 2012, 01:36 PM)

Right+Click, select Run as Administrator.

Curt · « **Reply #6 on:** April 09, 2012, 05:09 PM »

I found an answer, but it is both ~~a little~~ difficult and dangerous: http://social.techne...2-8e98-0bc715e7f641/ so I am not going to try it yet.

-----------

Right+Click, select Run as Administrator.
-barney (April 09, 2012, 04:45 PM)

I am not sure it happens in Real Life...:

Windows 7 Explorer uses a DCOM based start method which prevents you from running Windows Explorer elevated.
-Andre.Ziegler, 37,966 Points

It should be said that Andre.Ziegler is the same guy who gave the linked (dangerous) solution.

barney · « **Reply #7 on:** April 09, 2012, 05:31 PM »

I am not sure it happens in Real Life...:
-Curt (April 09, 2012, 05:09 PM)

I know the menu option is there, and it does start Windows Explorer: further, deponent sayeth not. You'd just have to try it to see. From things I've read, it should start in elevated mode: other things say Explorer can't/shouldn't be run that way. Never tested it to see. However, as you are running the same tool both as desktop initiator and [in/on] the desktop, I can imagine collisions

. Be kinda like inflating a blimp inside a party balloon, maybe $:-\$ ?

Curt · « **Reply #8 on:** April 09, 2012, 05:43 PM »

-well, if I would/could use this method x16wda kindly linked to, I could test it:

However, I am certainly too tired to try right now; It is night around here.

tomos · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2012, 04:42 AM »

is there a shortcut-way of starting an app as admin from the start menu -
Ctrl+Click, or something like that?
-tomos (April 09, 2012, 01:36 PM)

Right+Click, select Run as Administrator.
-barney (April 09, 2012, 04:45 PM)

no, I meant a shortcut method, one click with a qualifier key - maybe it's in FARR ??

barney · « **Reply #10 on:** April 10, 2012, 05:16 AM »

no, I meant a shortcut method
-tomos (April 10, 2012, 04:42 AM)

You could always create a Windows shortcut, then give it admin permissions, as well as give admin permissions to existing icons on the desktop or in the Start menu. You'd have to edit the properties of each individual one (1), however.

Right-click the desktop icon or Start menu entry, select properties, select shortcut tab, click Advanced button, select Run as Administrator checkbox, save. Doesn't always get rid of the UAC prompt, but does allow to run most software with admin privileges.

tomos · « **Reply #11 on:** April 10, 2012, 06:16 AM »

from StackExchange/Superuser

The Windows 7 shell (Explorer) can be made to run with Administrator privileges by this manual process:

   Kill Explorer shell by holding down Shift+Ctrl, right-clicking the Shut down button in the Start Menu, and selecting Exit Explorer
   Start Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc
   Elevate Task Manager privileges by going to Processes tab and selecting Show processes from all users
   Then start up a new instance of the shell by File | Run in Task Manager, typing in explorer, and selecting the Create this task with administrative privileges.

After following the above process, the Windows shell will be running with administrative privileges, and any programs it launches will also have administrative privileges. This makes performing tasks that require the privilege far easier, particularly for command-line applications, which usually fail silently or with an Access denied. message rather than giving an opportunity to use UAC to elevate the process's privileges.

What I'm interested in, though, is creating an account which uses a privileged shell by default, rather than having to follow this laborious process every time. How can it be done?

FWIW, the general verdict there is that "creating an account which uses a privileged shell by default" is not a good idea (I didnt read enough to figure out if they know *how* to do it). You could turn off UAC, but that doesnt seem like a good idea either (but I'm not sure if that's why you want to run it elevated?)

tomos · « **Reply #12 on:** April 10, 2012, 06:22 AM »

is there a shortcut-way of starting an app as admin from the start menu -
Ctrl+Click, or something like that?
-tomos (April 09, 2012, 01:36 PM)

Right+Click, select Run as Administrator.
-barney (April 09, 2012, 04:45 PM)

no, I meant a shortcut method, one click with a qualifier key - maybe it's in FARR ??
-tomos (April 10, 2012, 04:42 AM)

I found it

Works from the start menu here (wouldnt work for Explorer though):

Using a Keyboard Shortcut

NOTE: This will allow you to temporarily run a program as an administrator once until you close it.

   1. Press and hold Ctrl+Shift while opening the program.

   2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes to apply permission to allow the program to run with full permission as an Administrator.
   NOTE: If you are doing this is while logged in as standard user instead of an administrator, then you will need to provide the administrator's password before the program will run as administrator.

from the Windowst7 forums:
http://www.sevenforu...n-administrator.html

Curt · « **Reply #13 on:** April 10, 2012, 08:36 AM »

-thanks a lot, tomos

I #imagine/think# that the folders I was denied access to, really doesn't exist! I now think they are leftovers from the previous OS, a 32-bit Vista system. But I have deleted what I could find from Vista, when there were no more private files to recover, so these system folders are empty, because they link to something I have deleted. I #guess# this is why I am denied access; it is not as much a question of rights, but a question of me requesting Explorer to open something that really doesn't exist. As an example: to my understanding, "C:\Documents and Settings" is not a part of Windows 7, but surely must be leftovers from XP > Vista?

So maybe I can now be cool about this little weird problem of mine; it doesn't exist!

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #14 on:** April 10, 2012, 11:41 AM »

The seemingly hidden folder [C:\Documents and Settings] on a Window 7 Drive is part of Windows 7. It's a virtual link that transparently redirects legacy software to the new [C:Users] directory.

Best not to fiddle with it...

mwb1100 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 10, 2012, 12:36 PM »

This page has a pretty good explanation of the 'legacy redirect' folders such as "C:\Documents and Settings":

- http://answers.micro...ec-b889-1860addfcc0b

However, what I've never had adequately explained to me is why Microsoft doesn't make it so that when you double-click on one of those "legacy link" folders, Explorer doesn't just 'follow the link' and open the target folder. While that might be somewhat confusing to some people, I think it would be vastly less confusing than the "access denied" error, as well as infinitely more useful.

Here's an article that attempts to explain why Explorer won't - or can't - follow the link (it also gives more detail on why these things exist):

- http://technet.micro...gazine/ee851567.aspx

However, I remain unconvinced that Microsoft couldn't come up with better behavior. Even if you might not want arbitrary applications to list the contents of those special folders, I think that some scheme could have been devised that would allow Explorer to be smarter about them.

One last edit: XYplorer follows these links just as I think it should. I'd think there's a good chance that other 3rd party file managers might as well.

Renegade · « **Reply #16 on:** April 10, 2012, 07:23 PM »

$:-\$

Sometimes Windows is just bucket loads of stupid...

Pasting "C:\Documents and Settings" into Windows Explorer results in:

Screenshot - 2012-04-11 , 10_19_41 AM.png

Screenshot - 2012-04-11 , 10_19_41 AM.png

BUT...

Screenshot - 2012-04-11 , 10_21_37 AM.png

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #17 on:** April 11, 2012, 07:12 AM »

Right, because Documents and Settings is an empty target (e.g. Link). It's not supposed to contain anything, it just a way to get somewhere else. If you go to C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName% however, you will get a file list of that folder. Because it is a folder. D&C isn't.

Renegade · « **Reply #18 on:** April 11, 2012, 08:04 AM »

Right, because Documents and Settings is an empty target (e.g. Link). It's not supposed to contain anything, it just a way to get somewhere else. If you go to C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName% however, you will get a file list of that folder. Because it is a folder. D&C isn't.
-Stoic Joker (April 11, 2012, 07:12 AM)

Yeah, but it just strikes me as a bit crazy to return the bare bones instead of using it more like a pointer to the actual resource. Like, if you're "at" "Documents and Settings", why not simply treat it exactly like "Users"? i.e. Treat it exactly like a pointer.

i.e. When you go to "C:\Documents and Settings\", under the hood you are actually at "C:\Users\".

Like, this is just dumb:

Screenshot - 2012-04-11 , 11_02_00 PM.png

Screenshot - 2012-04-11 , 11_02_00 PM.png

The error message there is WRONG. "Documents and Settings" isn't a file and it isn't a subdirectory. It's a half-assed symbolic link.

Sigh... Anyways, that's just sort of explaining a bit of the reasoning behind why I find Windows so utter nutty sometimes.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #19 on:** April 11, 2012, 02:07 PM »

I think it's just the nature of the beast. Similar to why a folder must be empty before you mount a partition to/in it. Or why you can't write files to a DFS root from the network side.

They're actually rather consistently nutty if you add the rest of the quirky behavior.