MC does not correctly grant admin permissions in windows 8

[venerence]

I have multicommander set to automatically run as administrator in the core settings, which works fine in windows 7. In windows 8, it does not automatically prompt for administrator, nor gives admin rights. On some occasions, multicommander *might* retry as administrator (like deleting a file it doesn't have permission to delete). However, I need multicommander to always have admin rights, as I launch subprocesses from multicommander which don't have the rights they need (like partition wizard for example).

Note that I don't appear to have this issue with windows 7, I think it is 8 specific.

[Mathias (Author)]

It works the same in 7 and 8. There is no difference. But depending on security setup and configuration of Windows things might act different.

The Auto Run as admin thing is that it will launch a helper process as admin when the admin task is needed. You will then see a UAC dialog and than the Admin Helper process will start, It will stay active for a while before going away. So if a admin task is needed again a UAC dialog is not shown since the admin helper process is already running. (You see in the statusbar of the program is the admin process is active )

If you want to run MC as admin sometimes you can from start a new MC from MC under Menu > File > New > "Multi Commander (As Admin)"
Or right click and select run as admin on the MC icon.

If you always want to run it as admin you need to modify the shortcut properties for MC, advanced button in the shortcut properties and check "run as administrator"

When MC run as admin you see "[Admin]" on the title bar.

[venerence]

It works the same in 7 and 8. There is no difference. But depending on security setup and configuration of Windows things might act different.

The Auto Run as admin thing is that it will launch a helper process as admin when the admin task is needed. You will then see a UAC dialog and than the Admin Helper process will start, It will stay active for a while before going away. So if a admin task is needed again a UAC dialog is not shown since the admin helper process is already running. (You see in the statusbar of the program is the admin process is active )

If you want to run MC as admin sometimes you can from start a new MC from MC under Menu > File > New > "Multi Commander (As Admin)"
Or right click and select run as admin on the MC icon.

If you always want to run it as admin you need to modify the shortcut properties for MC, advanced button in the shortcut properties and check "run as administrator"

When MC run as admin you see "[Admin]" on the title bar.

Fair enough, I probably just didn't notice that on windows 7 since I usually have UAC disabled.

Windows 7 and windows 8 handle UAC differently. Basically, on 7, if you turn the slider down, you always have administrative rights. It doesn't have to poll for it.

In windows 8, if you turn the slider down, everything still runs as a local user. If something happens to require admin access, at that point it gets elevated without a prompt. I have found though that sometimes windows 8 doesn't elevate a program silently properly, which is probably where I am having trouble.

Anyway, I've gotten around it by using Bat to Exe Converter, with a short bat that starts up multicommander. You can use that program to force elevated access, and any subprocess launched will also have permanent admin rights.

Understandably, there's reasons why a person might not want constant admin access to a computer. Generally I'm using this program either on computers I maintain myself (on computers I regularly backup), or ones I am fixing (and need admin rights anyway).

[Mathias (Author)]

I don't know what happens if you fiddle with the UAC settings. Win7/Win8 might do different things there. But the default on how window security works is the same.

If you disable UAC then everything is run as admin and that can be dangerous.

Don't see why you need bat to exe stuff for elevating a process. It is built into windows.
enabled "run as admin" on the program shortcut you want to run as admin

or if the program in on the taskbar.. hold shift+ctrl when clicking on it.

[venerence]

I don't know what happens if you fiddle with the UAC settings. Win7/Win8 might do different things there. But the default on how window security works is the same.

If you disable UAC then everything is run as admin and that can be dangerous.

Don't see why you need bat to exe stuff for elevating a process. It is built into windows.
enabled "run as admin" on the program shortcut you want to run as admin

or if the program in on the taskbar.. hold shift+ctrl when clicking on it.

Convenience really. You're not wrong. I have basically set up a portable (write protected) drive that has most of the tools I need to fix a computer. Majority of those tools require administrative access, and I have also heavily customized multicommander to launch those tools based on keyboard shortcut or file extension.

The idea is, I can launch multicommander, and launch a range of sub-processes as I need based on what I want to do (remove programs, clean viruses, fix windows settings, etc.). This all works by being packed in a compressed 7zip file and launching, basically like hiren's disc did back in the day.

What I like to do is extract and launch multicommander from an external drive, and have multicommander extract and launch programs based on scripts I've made. The way I use multicommander, I assume that I have administrative access. Launching MC from administrative prompt is irritating when you are fixing, say, 6 computers at a time. Especially when you have to do it every time you restart a computer (which may be 5-10 times per fix). The way I have it set up now, I have the custom exe I made launch MC from admin access every time the computer boots. If I had to do that manually from explorer, I would be doing it 20 times a day. Now I have it set up to do it automatically. It would be nice if that function was built in, but I found a workable alternative.