Before you reply with the obvious answers, just want to tell you that they do not work either. shift+right click -> runas runas /user:domain\user appwiz.cpl I am very disappointed with UAC, a lot of emphasis was put on UAC with windows 7 as it being a great improvement over windows xp. This i think is completely incorrect. UAC in itself is completely useless and only annoys people and offers ZERO functionality. There is no privilege escalation built in to UAC it is just a prompt mechanism which is pointless. Holding down shift and right clicking to bring up the "run as another user" option is temperamental and sometimes on shortcuts and other things decides to not appear. Some control panel items do not have this function. Some functions like adding printers and copying files and deleting folders/files etc do not have any privilege escalation functionality available. Well my problem is that if i want to uninstall an application from a non admin account there is no way of loading the appwiz.cpl from another user account, i have tried all methods with no luck, i end up having to log in with a different user completely to uninstall software, which is a step backwards from windows xp. If i want to copy or move or delete or rename files and folders with a non admin account i have to load DOS (yes dos 15 year old dos) as another user and then do it all from there. The biggest problem with all this is that IT departments get so annoyed and tired of having no privledge escalation functionality within the OS that they end up giving domain users local admin privileges and disable UAC completely. Which is completely insecure. SO what needs to be done for windows 8 (or windows 7 + useless new ui on top of it resold for full price) is REAL privilege escalation functionality for non admin users. This means that every single little function and command and feature that does not work because of access rights should prompt the user for higher privileged login and password. Another thing that is completely useless regarding UAC is that install applications can not update without admin rights. There should be some sort of intelligence within the UAC that says, ok flash player is already installed and a trusted application so non admin users can run the auto updates ok. But no, we have to disable, java update (if that is even possible), adobe reader update, flash update as non admin users can not process the updates and then push out updates with group policy. Before you pipe on about SCCM, stick it.

Dear smith38, Go to Start=>My computer Press the "alt" key on your keyboard. click on tools=>folder options=>view Make sure that "show hidden files and folders" is checked Now go to: %SystemRoot%\system32\ find appwiz.cpl Right click and click on "Run as Administrator" Also please note it is possible to turn UAC off.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Local administrator account is completely disabled for security reasons. I am trying to run the appwiz as a domain admin. I can run the appwiz.cpl as a domain admin by running it from an elevated dos prompt or by as you say right clicking on the cpl file. I can also run it as another user by using the specified runas command in the op. The problem is that when you try to uninstall applications the uninstall is not initiated from the elevated user account. So even though the appwiz.cpl opens the uninstall does not work. There are some solutions, finding the actual uninstall string and running that directly as another user. Using third party uninstall software. Both of which are not practical when trying to remove software from a users pc. There argument against it, like, if you local admin is disabled then users won't be able to install software that would need uninstalling anyway and most software would be rolled out and upgraded with group policy or sccm type applications anyway. But there are some cases, especially during testing and with specific applications that privilege escalation as described would make it a lot easier.

UAC is designed for security targets. In Windows XP with no UAC non-administrators even cannot run any tasks that need admin privilege. In Windows 7 with UAC enabled, you can run the tasks with an administrator account. That is an improvement. The bottom line is that if you want to manage the system, you need an adminstrator account. Standard users are a limited users. IT admins can control user behaviors by it. If you need adminstrator privilege, you should contact the IT admins and ask for an administrator account. Otherwise, users are not supposed to do these tasks. Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”

Smith38, I know the frustrations you are experiencing. I have figured out a great work around to uninstalling application while a USER is logged in without logging them off. You need to install this great program called ccleaner. We will be using it primarily for the uninstall feature but the regirstry cleaner and temp internet/cookie cleaner is also kickass. go to filehippo [.] com and you will find it there also a quick google search will take you to it. Step 1: install ccleaner Step 2. shift right click ccleaner >runas domain admin step 3. click tools> uninstall app step 4. ???? step 5. Profit -enjoy!

I'm sorry I have to reply to this because I'm dealing with the same problem the OP did. "The bottom line is that if you want to manage the system, you need an adminstrator account. Standard users are a limited users. IT admins can control user behaviors by it. If you need adminstrator privilege, you should contact the IT admins and ask for an administrator account. Otherwise, users are not supposed to do these tasks." The bottom line is an administrator should be able to remote into a user's desktop (a standard user) and be able to RunAs Programs and Features just like they could in XP when it was called Add and Remove Programs. Despite forums and blogs all saying RunAs appwiz.cpl or RunAs Control.exe for some reason--and there must be something unique to mine and the OP's environment to contradict all these forum posts--those methods do not work. The window opens, but when you try to uninstall anything the elevated credentials are not passed along to the uninstaller. Since RunAs a Different User works on other things (e.g. some EXEs, all MSIs, etc.) it should, at least from our point of view, work on all Control Panels. So why the difference? [Edit]: It appears the appwiz.cpl does not in fact pass along credentials. Our UAC notifications were disabled. I reenabled them and restarted. I launched appwiz.cpl from the Start Menu by typing "appwiz.cpl" and pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER. I signed in as an admin to the prompt. I tried to uninstall something and it prompted again. Close and open appwiz.cpl as a Standard User, try to uninstall something, and I'm prompted to uninstall. So the problem is my admin credentials to launch appwiz.cpl weren't being passed on to the uninstaller. "Disabled" should be labeled more akin to "Supressed."

Kind of a late response to this, but the reason "appwiz.cpl" doesn't run as different credentials is that it's running in/as explorer. In Windows 7, it's not possible to launch an additional instance of explorer.exe as a different user.