How to Disable UAC for a Specific Program

This article will show how to disable UAC (User Account Control) only for a specific program without disabling this security feature entirely. To suppress the UAC elevation prompt for a single application, we will use the RunAsInvoker compatibility flag.

In my case, I want to disable the User Account Control prompt only for a specific app.

• A UAC elevation prompt appears to confirm the launch when a program is run with an administrator account.
• The program cannot be run as a regular user because administrator permissions are required. If you run the program as a non-admin user, a UAC prompt will appear, asking you to enter admin credentials. 

My task is to allow running this program as an unprivileged user and suppress the UAC prompt. This must be done without disabling User Account Control completely.

This can be achieved using the RunAsInvoker compatibility flag, which forces the program to inherit the parent process privileges while suppressing the UAC prompt. For example, launching the program from File Explorer (a non-elevated process) will also launch it in unprivileged mode.

Enable the RunAsInvoker Compatibility Flag in the Registry

Windows can automatically apply the RUNASINVOKER compatibility flag to certain programs. To implement this, create a REG_SZ value in the registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers using the full path to the target program’s EXE file as the value name:

• Value name: C:\Program Files\SpecApp\SpecApp2.exe
• Value data: RunAsInvoker

You can create this parameter in the registry using the following command:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers" /v "full_path_to_app.exe" /t REG_SZ /d "RUNASINVOKER" /f

Create this registry parameter under the HKLM hive to enable app compatibility mode for all users of the computer: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers .

The specified program will always run without a UAC prompt by default, unless it is explicitly launched with the “Run as administrator” option.

Disable User Account Control for a Program from the Command Line

There is another way to run the program without admin privileges and suppress the UAC prompt (see the article).

To run a program with the RunAsInvoker compatibility flag enabled, execute the following command from the command prompt.

cmd /C "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RunAsInvoker && start "" "C:\Program Files\SpecApp\SpecApp2.exe""

Or create a BAT file:

set ApplicationPath= C:\Program Files\SpecApp\SpecApp2.exe"
cmd /min /C "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start "" %ApplicationPath%"

If you run this BAT file as a non-admin user, the specified program will start without a UAC prompt.

The following simple REG file will add an option to run programs without elevated privileges to the context menu of all programs in File Explorer.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\forcerunasinvoker]
@="Run without privilege elevation"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\forcerunasinvoker\command]
@="cmd /min /C \"set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start \"\" \"%1\"\""

Now, by clicking on any app in the File Explorer, you can use the “Run without privilege elevation” option.

Disabling UAC Prompt for a Program Using the Application Compatibility Toolkit

An enterprise-level way to implement the RunAsInvoker is to use the the Application Compatibility Toolkit utility, which is part of the Windows ADK.  Download the latest version of ADK for Windows 11 and 10 here.

Run the adksetup.exe file and during installation (the program needs Internet access), select only the Application Compatibility Tools item to install.

Or install the feature using the command:

adksetup.exe /features OptionId.ApplicationCompatibilityToolkit

There are two versions of Application Compatibility Administrator in the system:  a 32-bit and a 64-bit version. Run the Application Compatibility Administrator version that corresponds to the bitness of the program for which you want to disable the UAC request.

Run the Compatibility Administrator (32-bit) as an administrator (!). In the Custom Databases node, right-click New Database and select Create New -> Application Fix.

In the following dialog, specify the name of the application, the developer, and the path to the program’s executable file (C:\Program Files\SpecApp\SpecApp2.exe).

Skip the Compatibility Mode step in the configuration wizard by pressing Next. In the Compatibility Fixes list, check the RunAsInvoker option. To ensure that the application can run without UAC, click the Test Run button.

In the Matching Information dialog, you can specify which application parameters should be checked when running in compatibility mode (ORIGINAL_FILENAME, FILE_VERSION, SIZE, CHECKSUM, etc.). In the test environment, you can disable all options. For protection against file tampering, it is recommended that these options be configured in production.

Click Finish, then specify the name of the file to which the compatibility fixing package should be saved (for example, SpecApp_UAC_disabled.sdb). This file contains instructions for running the program in selected compatibility mode.

The only remaining task is to install the compatibility fix package. This can be done from the Compatibility Administrator console (select Install from the menu).

Also, the SpecApp_UAC_disabled.sdb file can be deployed to other computers running the same application and installed via the command prompt.

sdbinst -q c:\tools\SpecApp_UAC_disabled.sdb

If you have done it right, a message of successful package installation appears.

Installation of regedit complete.

After applying the compatibility fix, the corresponding entry will appear in the list of installed Windows apps.

Now, try running the application as a non-admin user. It should now start without a UAC request.

To check the current app process privileges, open Task Manager, navigate to the Processes tab, and add the Elevated column. Make sure that your app is running in non-privileged mode ( Elevated=No).

To remove the compatibility fix, run the command:

sdbinst –u c:\tools\SpecApp_UAC_disabled.sdb

Run an App without a UAC Prompt Using Task Scheduler

Another way to run a program without a UAC prompt is to use the Windows Task Scheduler. This method enables the program to execute with administrator privileges without prompting the UAC elevation dialog. Unlike other methods, this one only works in a user session with local administrator permissions.

The idea is to create a task in Task Scheduler with the Run with highest privileges option enabled to run the program.

Such a task can be created manually from the graphical taskschd.mscconsole, but it is easier to create a task with a single command. Open a command prompt as an administrator and run:

schtasks /create /tn "\RunGeekAppElevated" /tr "'C:\Program Files\Geek Uninstaller\geek.exe'" /SC ONCE /ST 12:00 /RL HIGHEST /F

To launch the target program with administrator privileges and bypass the UAC prompt, run the following command (administrator privileges are not required for this step):

schtasks /run /tn "\RunGeekAppElevated" /i

For more convenience, you can create a desktop shortcut containing this command.

Verify that the program is running with administrator privileges (Elevated=Yes) without triggering a UAC prompt.

So, we looked at how to disable UAC for a specific program without completely disabling User Account Control. This will allow you to run Windows programs under a non-admin account without a UAC elevation prompt or entering administrator credentials.