Creating an elevated program shortcut, a quick walk through
Creating an Elevated Program Shortcut
This procedure can be used to create a shortcut to a program that can be run by a standard user and not
require the user enter the Administrator password.
Note: You must start this procedure logged in to the ‘built-in’ Administrator account. If you use any other
Admin enabled account, this procedure will not work. The ‘built-in’ Administrator account must also
have a password associated with it.
1. Start this procedure logged in to the ‘built-in’ Administrator account.
2. Right-click on the desktop and select:
New>Shortcut.
3. In the Shortcut Wizard, enter the following:
runas /user:ComputerName\Administrator /savecred “Full path to the program exe file”
Replace ComputerName with the name of your computer.
Replace Full path to the program exe file with the path to your program file.
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4. Click ‘Next’. Enter a name for the Shortcut. Then click ‘Finish’.
5. Right-click on the new shortcut and select ‘Properties’.
Then click on the ‘Change Icon…’ button.
Then click ‘OK’ in the following dialog:
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6. Click the ‘Browse…’ button in the Change Icon dialog.
7. Navigate to the program you have created the shortcut for, select it and click ‘Open’.
This will load its icon. Then, select ‘OK’ in the Change Icon dialog.
Then click ‘OK’ in the Properties dialog. The shortcut will show the icon.
8. Copy the shortcut you just created to the Standard (non-Admin) users desktop.
The users desktop can typically be found in the following folder:
C:\Users\UserName\Desktop
Replace UserName with the login name of the user you are creating the shortcut for.
9. Right-click on the new shortcut and select ‘Properties’.
Then click on the ‘Security’ tab.
Then click on the ‘Advanced’ button.
Note: the following steps, 10 – 14, may vary depending on your operating system. The intent is to disable
the inheritance security settings and allow read & execute permissions for the shortcut.
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10. At the ‘Advanced Security Settings …” dialog, select the UserName and click the ‘Edit…’ button.
Replace UserName with the login name of the user you are creating the shortcut for.
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11. Uncheck the ‘Include inheritable permissions from this objects parents’ checkbox.
12. At the Windows Security dialog, click ‘Copy’. We want to set specific, non-inherited permissions.
13. In the ‘Advanced Security Settings…’ dialog click ‘Edit…’.
In this dialog, you must at least ‘Allow’ all read and execute permissions.
You may choose to allow Full Control.
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14. To close out the dialogs, click ‘OK’ to each (4 times).
15. Now log-off of the Administrator account and log in to the non-Admin account.
16. Double-click on the shortcut to run it.
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17. The first time it is run, you will be prompted for the Administrator password.
Enter it and press ‘Enter’.
18. The user can now run the shortcut without entering an Administrator password.
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