The user using the computer logs-in to the Windows 7 Professional system through an Active Directory domain and has no administrative rights.
I am the administrator and can give him the rights but, for obvious reasons, don't want to.
The user needs to use one special application (a surveillance dashboard) that demands local administrative rights.
So I need the user to be able to run this (and only this) particular application in elevated rights mode without knowing the password (I don't mind to enter and save it for this shortcut but I couldn't find such an option). And/or (both, ideally) the application to start up (elevated) after the user logs in.
I understand that this is going to be a security breach anyway, but there is hardly any choice.
I have tried adjusting the shortcut properties in many different way with no luck – it still asks for an administrator credentials.
I have also tried experimenting with Task Scheduler but the best result I reached is the application running invisibly with no GUI shown (in all the other set-ups the task was just failing to start).
Any suggestions?
Best Answer
PROBLEM: You're trying to run these computers like a responsible admin, by not giving user's admin rights, and some crappy company writes some crappier app that wants admin rights to run
SOLUTION: Shim it! Use the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit
I.E. a program that was written for XP and insists on running as an admin Look into shimming the application. It's like the Jedi Mind trick of IT. Shims will allow you to trick the program into thinking it has admin rights. Chances are all it really needs is just read/write to c:\program files\crappy company\crappy app or one single regkey.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2011/06/17/demystifying-shims-or-using-the-app-compat-toolkit-to-make-your-old-stuff-work-with-your-new-stuff.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd837644(v=ws.10).aspx