Make Vista "Administrators" actual Administrators

From Ben's Writing

So far I've run into four reliable methods to disable Vista’s new Use User Account (UAC) option. If you don't know what that is, it's the little dialog that pops up every time you try to do something dangerous on your computer; if you've never run into this, and then count yourself as one of the lucky ones. For the rest of us— myself included, who has a bad memory for these onetime changes— I’ve outlined the methods, and how to use them. Enjoy!

Contents 1 Group Policy Object Method 2 System Configuration Method 3 The Proper Method? 4 Getting rid of the notification that you are running in non-approval mode

Group Policy Object Method

This one really bugs me about Vista; fortunately, it can be easily remedied with the Group Policy Object Editor:

• Run gpedit.msc;
  • Drill down to: Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options;
  • User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode - Disable;
  • User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode - Elevate without prompting;
• A reboot may be required.

System Configuration Method

Another, much simpler, method is to use the System Configuration application:

• Run msconfig.exe;
  • Click on the Tools tab;
  • From the list of tools, select Disable UAC;
  • Click Launch:
    • This will bring up a console window, which should have the message The operation completed successfully. displayed in it;
  • Click OK to dismiss the System Configuration window;
  • You will need to reboot for this to take effect.

The Disable UAC tool has the effect of running:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD \
 HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System \
 /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

This may be exactly what the previous Group Policy Object Editor options change; however, it requires less time to run this tool and is easier to explain. The caveat to this approach, is that you get warned about your system being configured insecurely; however, since it is a quick way to do it (amd easily reversible), this seems to be a reasonable side-effect (as you can fall back on the above, for a full solution). (See the next section for how to fix this.)

The Proper Method?

• Open the Control Panel
• Open User Accounts
• Click on Turn User Account Control on or off
• Remove the check mark from Use User Account (UAC) to help protect you computer
• Click OK
• You may still want follow the procedures outlined in Getting rid of the notification that you are running in non-approval mode if the notification message start to bother you every tim you log back in yo your computer.

Getting rid of the notification that you are running in non-approval mode

• Open the Control Panel
• Open Windows Security Center
• In the left pane, click on Change the way Security Center alerts me
• In the new window, click Don't notify me and don't display the icon (not recommended)