1. The Standard Method to Run Programs as Admin
Whether you want to launch a program from your desktop, Start Menu, or File Explorer, right-clicking on it will show a Run as administrator option. Once you click this, you’ll see the UAC prompt to run the program with admin rights.
This is reliable but does take a few extra clicks. You can even do it with icons on your Taskbar—right-click them once to bring up a menu, then right-click the name of the app in that menu to show the Run as administrator option.
2. Use the Keyboard to Open as Admin Faster
As with many operations, you can use keyboard shortcuts to more quickly launch programs as an administrator. To do so using only the keyboard, press the Windows key to open the search bar, then you can immediately start typing the name of the program you want to open.
Once it’s highlighted, hold Ctrl + Shift and press Enter. This will launch the UAC prompt, and you can press the Left arrow key followed by Enter to accept it without touching the mouse.
In some places, you can hold Ctrl + Shift when clicking a program icon to launch it as an admin. However, this was inconsistent in our testing.
3. Try a Geeky Method to Run as Admin
For something a bit different, you can launch programs as an admin through the Task Manager. Use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc shortcut to open it, and expand it with More details if needed.
Click File > Run new task and enter the name of the executable you want to run. Use the Browse button to locate it on your PC if needed. Make sure to check Create this task with administrative privileges, and click OK to run it.
4. Always Run Programs as Administrator
Maybe there’s a certain program you want to run as an admin every time. In that case, you can set it to do so instead of using one of the above methods each time you launch it.
Start by searching for the app you want to modify. Right-click its entry in the search results and choose Open file location to show its main executable. On this, right-click again and select Properties.
In the resulting window, switch to the Compatibility tab. Near the bottom, check the box labeled Run this program as an administrator, then hit OK when you’re done. Once you’ve done this, the app will prompt you to launch with admin permissions each time you open it.
We recommend using this with caution. You shouldn’t give an app admin permissions unless you actively need to; running apps as an admin every time makes it easier for malware to gain control.
If you’d like, a slightly safer solution is to create a shortcut for the app and set that to run as an admin all the time. First, right-click the executable and choose Send to > Desktop (create shortcut) to place a shortcut on your desktop.
Next, right-click that shortcut and choose Properties. In the resulting dialog box, switch to the Shortcut tab and click the Advanced button at the bottom. Here, check the Run as administrator box.
After doing this, only that shortcut, not the main executable file, will run with admin rights.
