AS run-as-Admin can't launch program not-as-Admin
Posted: 10 Sep 2019, 04:23
When AS is started in Run-as-Admin mode, it doesn't want to let you launch a program without also launching it in Run-as-Admin mode. This includes both pressing ENTER when an .exe is highlighted in the panel window, and pasting the filename.exe into the commands prompt of the panel below the file list. I saw this in both 3.0x and 4.0.
Perhaps when AS is started in Run-as-Admn mode, the right-click menu should have an additional choice below the "Run as Amdin" choice, something like "Run without Elevated Privileges". I've looked for a menu item to alter the default behavior of launching programs in run-as-admin mode, and I assume there are users out there who depend on the existing behavior.
It's mis-leading to the user to have a right-click menu choice offering to run file.exe as Admin mode, because it causes a reasonable user to assume that launching the program by other methods, such as pressing ENTER to launch that program, would be launching it without elevated privileges.
It can also be a security consideration that when you click on a data file, AS running in admin-mode also launches the associated program with elevated privileges, and none of these elevated launching are showing an "are you sure" style of warning prompt.
To demonstrate what I'm seeing, If I launch mIRC IRC chat client in normal mode from the Windows menu, the client's /write command cannot create a file in the c:\ root folder, but if I launch mIRC by finding it in the AS list panel, while AS is run as admin, then pressing ENTER - this gives mIRC elevated privileges to create files in c:\ root.
Likewise, if AS is run in admin mode, pressing ENTER on a spreadsheet file launches EXCEL with privileges which allows it to create a spreadsheet file in c:\ root.
All 3 of the the right-click menu for spreadsheets:
Open
Open WIth
Send To
... all launch Excel with elevated privileges if AS is run-as-admin
Perhaps when AS is started in Run-as-Admn mode, the right-click menu should have an additional choice below the "Run as Amdin" choice, something like "Run without Elevated Privileges". I've looked for a menu item to alter the default behavior of launching programs in run-as-admin mode, and I assume there are users out there who depend on the existing behavior.
It's mis-leading to the user to have a right-click menu choice offering to run file.exe as Admin mode, because it causes a reasonable user to assume that launching the program by other methods, such as pressing ENTER to launch that program, would be launching it without elevated privileges.
It can also be a security consideration that when you click on a data file, AS running in admin-mode also launches the associated program with elevated privileges, and none of these elevated launching are showing an "are you sure" style of warning prompt.
To demonstrate what I'm seeing, If I launch mIRC IRC chat client in normal mode from the Windows menu, the client's /write command cannot create a file in the c:\ root folder, but if I launch mIRC by finding it in the AS list panel, while AS is run as admin, then pressing ENTER - this gives mIRC elevated privileges to create files in c:\ root.
Likewise, if AS is run in admin mode, pressing ENTER on a spreadsheet file launches EXCEL with privileges which allows it to create a spreadsheet file in c:\ root.
All 3 of the the right-click menu for spreadsheets:
Open
Open WIth
Send To
... all launch Excel with elevated privileges if AS is run-as-admin