Merging reg files as a standard User without UAC prompt ?
I need to merge reg files as a standard user. When I run regedit.exe as a standard user, I get an UAC prompt, thanks to the manifest file embedded in the .exe which requires privilieges elevation. I would like to run regedit.exe as a standard user, without UAC prompt, to merge some .reg files in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER path (standard user has permissions to do so). How could I do it ? (I tried a dirty way to do so : Icopied regedit.exe from Windows XP to an user folder on my Vista machine, and it works. It runs silently (after setting the compatibility mode to "Windows XP SP2") and merge correctely my reg file.) Thanks in advance, Thomas. More info about manifest files : http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=209647http://blogs.msdn.com/uac/ You can easily check this by viewing regedit.exe with notepad for example. Near the end of the exe, you will see this XML part : <!-- Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation --><assembly xmlns="urnchemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0"><assemblyIdentity processorArchitecture="x86"version="1.0.0.0" name="Microsoft.Windows.Regedit" type="win32" /><description>Registry Editor</description><dependency> <dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls" version="6.0.0.0" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df" processorArchitecture="x86" /> </dependentAssembly></dependency><trustInfo xmlns="urnchemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3"> <security> <requestedPrivileges> <requestedExecutionLevel level="highestAvailable" uiAccess="false" /> </requestedPrivileges> </security></trustInfo></assembly>
April 4th, 2007 3:56pm

I found the solution. We have to use ACT5.0. Inside the ACT, there is "Compatibility Administrator" which is used to create compatibility fix database. I created a compatibility fix database for regedit.exe in C:\Windows and checked the fix "RunAsInvoker". After saving the sdb file and importing with C:\Windows\sdbinst.exe, regedit is now launched without UAC prompt. (see Step Six: Run the Compatibility Administrator program to create an application compatibility fix database. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/00d04415-2b2f-422c-b70e-b18ff918c2811033.mspx?mfr=true) Thomas.
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April 4th, 2007 4:18pm

Weird. I don't get a UAC elevation if I try to run Regedit as a Standard User. And if you check the manifest (as per your example above) you still shouldn't get a UAC elevation since the requestedExecutionLevel is set to highestAvailable, which should only give a UAC prompt if you are logged in as an Administrator.
April 4th, 2007 6:31pm

Thanks for your message. Very weird indeed.... I tested on an other machine and it works as you described : no prompt for standard user. I am still investigating why am I getting this prompt...
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April 16th, 2007 7:24pm

Hi Thomas, Did you ever resolve this issue? I have encountered the same problem and I think it is a result of a security policy. When I logon to a workstation outside of out policy OU, I am not prompted for UAC when I run regedit but when I move the same PC into our OU that gets policies I am prompted by UAC when I run regedit as both a standard user and an administrator.
January 10th, 2008 10:23am

I have the same issue. Elevation is blocked for standard users and administrators automatically get elevated by our policy. I am having a hard time figuring out why regedit still won't run as a standard user!!!
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April 29th, 2010 4:59am

I had this same issue. Online I could not find any usefull help for my situation, maby partly because I was not useing the correct searchterms. But now I have finaly found a solution! :) When I was typing 'regedit' in my vista startmenu I saw reg.exe pass by. reg.exe is a commandline application with which you can, among many other things, import a .reg file. reg.exe comes with windows and can be found in the system32 folder. So if you want to import a .reg file for the current user without any UAC, you can do this simply with runing "reg import file.reg" in a commandline. (excuse me for my poor English)
July 10th, 2010 10:06pm

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