How to Create Elevated App Shortcut without UAC Prompt in Windows 10
When you open an application file with Run as administrator, you will get a UAC prompt for approval before the app is allowed to run with elevated rights.
In addition, Windows will not allow elevated apps to run at startup by default.
If you want to run an app as administrator (elevated) without getting a UAC prompt or at startup, then you can create an elevated task to run the application as a workaround to do so.
This tutorial will show you how to create a shortcut of an elevated task to run an app as administrator without getting a UAC prompt in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
You must be signed in as an administrator to create and use this elevated shortcut.
Contents
- Option One: Automatically Create Elevated App Shortcut without UAC Prompt using Script
- Option Two: Manually Create Elevated App Shortcut without UAC Prompt in Task Scheduler
Special thanks to Matthew Wai for creating the scripts in this option.
See also: How to Add Create Elevated Shortcut to New Context Menu in Windows 10
1 Click/tap on the download button below to download the Create_an_elevated_shortcut.bat file.
2 Save the .bat file to your desktop.
3 Unblock the .bat file.
4 Double click/tap on the Create an elevated shortcut.bat file to run it, and click/tap on Yes if prompted by UAC.
5 Type the name (ex: "Elevated Command Prompt") you want used for the shortcut and task name, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
6 Type the full path of the application file without quotation marks (ex: "%windir%\System32\cmd.exe"), and press Enter.
7 A shortcut will now be created on your desktop using the application's default icon with the name you provided in step 5. This will be your elevated shortcut.
1 Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog, type taskschd.msc into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Task Scheduler.
2 Click/tap on Task Scheduler Library in the left pane of Task Scheduler, and click/tap on Create Task in the right Actions pane. (see screenshot below)
3 In the General tab, type a name (ex: "Elevated command prompt") you want for this task, and type an optional description of the task. (see screenshot below)
Make note of this task name. You will need to know it in step 8 and when you create a shortcut of this task in step 13 below.
4 In the General tab, check the Run with highest privileges box. (see screenshot below)
5 In the General tab, select Windows 10 in the Configure for drop down menu. (see screenshot below)
6 Click/tap on the Actions tab, and click/tap on the New button. (see screenshot below)
7 Type cmd.exe in the Program/script field. (see screenshot below)
This is what is being used to open the elevated shortcut from, so it cannot be changed to anything else.
8 Type the command below into the Add arguments field, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
/c start "Task Name" "Full path of application file"
Substitute Task Name in the command above with the task name (ex: "Elevated command prompt") you used in step 3 above.
Substitute Full path of application file in the command above with the actual full path of the application file you want to run as administrator.
For example:/c start "Elevated command prompt" "%windir%\System32\cmd.exe"
9 You will now see this new action listed. (see screenshot below)
10 Click/tap on the Conditions tab, uncheck the Start the task only if the computer is on AC power box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
11 You will now see this new task (ex: "Elevated command prompt") listed in the Task Scheduler Library. You can now close Task Scheduler if you like. (see screenshot below)
12 Right click or press and hold on your desktop, click/tap on New, and click/tap on Shortcut.
13 Type the command below into the location field, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
schtasks /run /tn "Task Name"
Substitute Task Name in the command above with the task name (ex: "Elevated command prompt") you used in step 3 above.
For example:schtasks /run /tn "Elevated command prompt"
14 Type a name (ex: "Elevated command prompt") you want for this shortcut of the task, and click/tap on Finish. (see screenshot below)
15 Right click or press and hold on the new shortcut on your desktop, and click/tap on Properties.
16 Click/tap on the Change Icon button in the Shortcut tab. (see screenshot below)
17 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
18 Click/tap on Browse, navigate to and select the application file (ex: "%windir%\System32\cmd.exe") you want to run as administrator, click/tap on Open, select the icon you want for the shortcut, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshots below)
You can use any icon you want for this shortcut.
19 Click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
20 You can run at startup, Pin to Taskbar, Pin to Start, add to All apps, add to Quick Launch, assign a keyboard shortcut to, or move this elevated shortcut to where you like for easy use.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
Related Tutorials
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