Windows 7 Resolving Windows 7 Admin Privilege Issues: Constant Permission Requests

[zilverspoon]

hi
I imagine there must be tons of questions and complains about these admin privileges in win7. I tried to figure it out on my own but I'm just going bananas!! windows 7 keeps asking for all kinds of administrator permissions all the time.... but I AM the administrator!... I'm the only user, the administrator, I believe... (I saw that win7 sees me as admin, but there's another hidden admin....thing...). I don't understand how this works in win 7 (and I don't know anything about vista, never used it).

so I turned the user accounts settings to the minimum (despite the risks I've read a bit about), and now at least I don't get a warning message for everything I want to do on my external hdds. but there still are folders and files who ask me for admin permission, which is just completely insane. pleeeeeeease! anyone. help me get rid of this sick aberration
thanks
zs

 

[Tepid]

No it is not. And if you don't understand the reasons or how to use it then you need to educate yourself.

XP treated Admin account incorrectly. You need to be retrained in proper PC use.
Yes, you can turn off UAC completely and run as a full admin at your own risk.
but doing so leaves you as vulnerable as you are on XP.

You are an admin on your system now running as a standard user.
This is the way it is and will remain to be. There are versions of Linux that require you to type a username and password every time you want to do an admin task.

The way it is designed is the way everyone should have been running XP since day one.
As a standard user and only elevate admin privileges through the run as command.

If you don't like it, turn it off and quit complaining. Or get used to it, we (i for one) am tired of the crying about security where there is none and complaining when it is implemented.
This is not all that different than mac or linux.

Suck it up and get used to it, it ain't going away.

**EDIT**
I am not retracting anything in my post on this, but want to say that I apologize for the tone as you are new to the UAC stuff. But one thing that needs to be done is put the kabash on posts like this when it comes to UAC. Win7 implementation is much better than it was in Vista. But, it is necessity, and will save a lot of people (if they pay attention to it) from a lot of trouble. There are a ton of posts, sites, pages on how to turn off UAC if you just search in google.

 

[reghakr]

That's right, you are not the global administrator, although that account can be turned on.

You can set UAC to Never notify as long as you have a good anti-virus , spyware detector, and/or personal firewall to avoid the constant nagging.

For folder permissions, right-click on the folder, choose properties, click the Security tab, click the edit button, select your username and check the box for Full Control. If your running the 32-bit version, there was a patch for this from Windows Update.

If your using a leaked build, well then...good reason why you should stick with the original RC from MS.

 

[zilverspoon]

well, yeah, I also use linux, but in linux you can login as root and have full access. this is what I also need in win.

meanwhile, I changed the permissions per file in safe mode, after some digging... I guess it's also doable in normal mode, haven't tried.

 

[Tepid]

I also want to add, incase those who don't know read this.

There is nothing wrong with UAC, it does not prevent you from doing anything you want to do.
You will just need to accept the prompts. Could this be implemented even better?

Yes, for power users it can. But for average joe internet, P2P surfer, what's that pretty window that says I get crap free I must click on it. It is adequate.

 

[zilverspoon]

well, actually I had some files in system32, set there by some program, not native... and I tried to modify something, but they were protected, only the TrustedInstaller had full access to them. so I had to change permissions so that the admin also has full access...

 

[Tepid]

well, actually I had some files in system32, set there by some program, not native... and I tried to modify something, but they were protected, only the TrustedInstaller had full access to them. so I had to change permissions so that the admin also has full access...

There is a reghack that you can find called Takeown
You need to be careful using it, but it is very powerful

**EDIT** - Link fixed to the actual files I was referring to. Which does what is posted below.

 

[reghakr]

Before trying the registry script, there is a program called Link Removed - Invalid URL which was actually suggested to me by Microsoft when I couldn't get Service Pack 1 to install on Vista. Read the readme.txt file for a reall laugh.

But if you modify system files, you may hose your system and might not even be able to boot.

This would much easier to understand. Copy and paste the following lines into Notepad, choose Save As, click the drop down box for All Files, set Encoding to ANSI and save the file as takeownership.reg. Double-click on it to merge it into the registry>

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas]
@=\"Take Ownership\"
\"NoWorkingDirectory\"=\"\"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command]
@=\"cmd.exe /c takeown /f \\"%1\\" /r /d y && icacls \\"%1\\" /grant administrators:F /t\"
\"IsolatedCommand\"=\"cmd.exe /c takeown /f \\"%1\\" /r /d y && icacls \\"%1\\" /grant administrators:F

You'll now hat TakeOwnership on the right-click menu for folders and single files.