Whitelist For UAC?

Microsoft security professional volunteers on the forums will tell you how horrible of a idea this is

Not really, because common users do not use full UAC and those who do, do it already.
Smart App Control in Windows 11 deals with this problem, basically creating a whitelist.

Just an FYI.

You can create a shortcut to the batch file then run the shortcut elevated when you click on it.

EDIT: To be a little more clear. Here's a shortcut to a batch file. Create the shortcut. Then create an elevated shortcut and place it anywhere you like.

Is UAC on max? If so turn it down one notch.

Or if we can use the batch file post the contents.

The posted PS script can be reworked to exclusively run batch files, and create a normal desktop shortcut.

Code:

$whitelist = @{
    "Script 1" = "C:\Users\GARLIN\batch.cmd"
    "Script 2" = "C:\Users\GARLIN\other_batch.cmd"
}

$tasksPath = "\UAC Whitelist"
$shortcutsDir = "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop"

$user = [System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent().Name
$principal = New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal -UserId $user -LogonType Interactive -RunLevel Highest

$whitelist.GetEnumerator() | ForEach-Object {
    $name = $_.Name
    $file = $_.Value

    # Create "scheduled" task
    $action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -Argument ('/c ' + $file)
    $task = New-ScheduledTask -Action $action -Principal $principal
    Register-ScheduledTask -Force -InputObject $task -TaskPath $tasksPath -TaskName $name

    # Create shortcut to run the above task
    $WshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
    $shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut("$($shortcutsDir)\$($name).lnk")
    $shortcut.TargetPath = "C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe"
    $shortcut.Arguments = "/RUN /TN `"$($tasksPath)\$($name)`""
    $shortcut.IconLocation = "C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe,0"
    $shortcut.WorkingDirectory = "C:\Windows\System32"
    $shortcut.Save()
}

batch.cmd

Code:

COPY NUL C:\TEST.txt

The shortcut now runs your file with Admin rights. Or you can call the scheduled task from inside another batch file.

Code:

C:\Users\GARLIN>batch.cmd

C:\Users\GARLIN>COPY NUL C:\TEST.txt
Access is denied.
        0 file(s) copied.

C:\Users\GARLIN>schtasks /run /tn "\UAC Whitelist\Script 1"
SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "\UAC Whitelist\Script 1".

C:\Users\GARLIN>dir C:\
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 16C2-2E4E

 Directory of C:\

05/06/2022  10:24 PM    <DIR>          PerfLogs
07/17/2023  05:44 PM    <DIR>          Program Files
07/15/2023  02:27 PM    <DIR>          Program Files (x86)
07/20/2023  02:02 PM                 0 TEST.txt
07/17/2023  09:48 PM    <DIR>          Users
07/16/2023  01:03 AM    <DIR>          Windows
               1 File(s)              0 bytes
               5 Dir(s)  26,620,268,544 bytes free