runasadminHave you ever come across guides on the internet on how to use certain pieces of software, where they tell you that you need to run the program in Administrator mode? If you’re unsure of how to do this, this guide will provide you with the steps (along with screenshots) on how to run a program in Administrator mode.

Step 1.

howto_runasadmin1To run a program in Administrator mode, just navigate to the location where the application resides and right-click it and select “Run as administrator”.

Step 2.

howto_runasadmin2Upon selecting, you will be prompted by a new window asking if you want to confirm to allow the program to make changes on your computer, in which you want to click “Yes” (or “No” if you are unsure about the program you’re running).

howto_runasadmin4Sometimes there might not be a prompt, and this has to do with your User Account Control Settings. By default it should be set at the level as what you see in the screenshot above. However if someone were to set it to “Never Notify”, you will not see the prompt.

Step 3.

howto_runasadmin3Notice that sometimes there is a difference in the title of the window when it shows the program is running in Administrator mode. This is when you know that you have successfully launched the app as an Administrator.

Bonus Step 4.

howto_runasadmin5If you access a particular app often and don’t want to have to keep being prompted to run as Administrator, there is an option that will allow you to launch the app in Administrator all the time. Navigate to where the app is located, right-click, and go to “Properties”.

Bonus Step 5.

howto_runasadmin6Select “Advanced”

Bonus Step 6.

howto_runasadmin7Check the box that says, “Run as administrator”. Click Ok, and you’re done. From now on whenever you run that program, it will always be run in administrator mode.

Context

Now that we know how to run an app as an Administrator, the question is, why would we need to do that? The main reason is because some apps need to be run in said mode in order to make changes to the system. It can also be thought of as a safety precaution that Microsoft included in Windows to prevent malicious apps from installing itself and making system changes without your knowledge.

It also prevents users from messing around with the system and deleting key files by accident (or out of curiosity), so by making certain system changes an Administrator-only action, only those who know about it will be able to make those changes, as opposed to your elderly parents or grandparents who might be poking around and deleting system files by mistake.

Filed in Computers. Read more about .