Of course, using a standard user account with limited capabilities has its own downsides. For instance, you cannot use certain programs or change certain settings in a program without the administrator password. However, if you are an administrator and want your users to run programs as an administrator without giving them the actual admin password, then here is how you can do it.
Allow Users to Run Certain Programs as Administrator
To allow users to run certain programs with administrator rights, we are going to use a free and portable utility called RunAsTool. To start, download it from the official website and unpack it to a location where every user in your system can access it. Being a portable application, there is no need for any installation. Just open the unpacked folder and execute the .exe file.
As soon as you run the application, RunAsTool will prompt you to select an administrator account. Just select the admin account from the drop-down menu, enter the admin password and click on the “Apply” button.
The above action takes you to the application’s main window. Here you can add the applications you want users to use as an administrator.
To add an application, simply drag and drop the executable. As you can see from the below image, I’m adding Task Manager. When Task Manager is opened with limited capabilities, you cannot end certain processes and also cannot change the startup state of certain applications.
Alternatively, you can add applications to RunAsTool by navigating to “File” and then selecting the option “Add File.”
Once you are done adding the application, you can configure a few settings in the right pane. The good thing is that the settings are optimally configured by default, so don’t mess with them unless you know what you are doing.
After configuring the RunAsTool, simply close the application. Now, whenever a user wants to launch a program as an administrator, they first need to launch the RunAsTool application. From there they can execute the application. For instance, if I want to run Task Manager as an administrator, then I will double-click on Task Manager inside RunAsTool.
The action will launch Task Manager as an administrator without any UAC prompts.
Don’t worry, only an administrator can add, edit or delete the programs in the RunAsTool utility. As an administrator, if you want to add, edit or delete the applications in the utility, then launch RunAsTool, navigate to “File” and select the option “Launch Edit Mode.”
This action will prompt you for the administrator password. Simply give the details and press the Enter button to work with RunAsTool.
Now, if you ever want to delete an application from RunAsTool, select the application and press the “Delete” button on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can also select “Remove” from the “Edit” menu. If you want to remove all the added applications from RunAsTool, then select the option “Remove All.”
Finally, if you want to delete everything, including the data stored by the RunAsTool, then select the option “Remove Data and Exit” from the “File” menu.
The above action may show you a warning window; just click on the Yes button, and all your data will be removed. If you want to use the tool again, then you need to reconfigure it from scratch.
Conclusion
This free tool may look simple but is quite handy as it lets you launch different programs as an administrator without needing an admin password each and every time. I personally use this application to launch different applications like Task Manager, Services, etc. Do give this app a try and see if it fits your needs. Comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above application.
