Make UAC prompts less intrusive on Windows 10

Martin Brinkmann
Aug 22, 2015
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Windows, Windows 10
|
18

Microsoft introduced the User Account Control (UAC) in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 to block activities requiring administrative privileges on Windows systems until an administrator permits them.

The company relaxed the feature in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 to make it less annoying for users.

A simple example of UAC kicking in on Windows 10 is the launching of the system's Registry Editor. Windows displays an UAC prompt whenever you open the editor on the system.

This prompt is fullscreen by default blocking everything else that is happening on the screen until the user responds to the prompt by allowing or preventing the action.

These prompts may or may not be annoying depending on how often they spawn on the system. If you work regularly with system applications or install new desktop programs regularly on Windows systems, you may want to relax the User Account Control settings to make UAC as a whole less intrusive.

user account control windows 10

The method described below will disable the "dimming" of the screen until the User Account Control prompt is answered but won't modify the feature in any other way.

This means basically that the prompt is displayed just like any other window on the screen and not exclusively on it.

The controls to do so are identical to those of previous versions of the Windows operating system. The guide may be useful to new users and users who forgot about them.

uac do not dim

  1. Tap on the Windows-key to open the Start Menu.
  2. Type control panel and hit enter.
  3. Select User Accounts on the window that opens.
  4. Select User Accounts on the next window as well.
  5. Click on "Change User Account Control" settings on the next.
  6. Move the slider from "notify me only when apps try to make changes to my computer (default)" to "notify me only when apps try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop)" and click ok afterwards.
  7. This spawns a User Account Control prompt that you need to accept.

The changes take effect immediately. If you want to test them, try running the Registry Editor on the system. You should get a regular UAC prompt instead of an exclusive prompt now.

You may modify the User Account Control behavior further by modifying local security policies or Registry preferences.

user account control security policy

  • Tap on the Windows-key, type secpol.msc and hit enter. This opens the Local Security Policy.
  • Navigate to Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.
  • Scroll down until you find the User Account Control preferences.  You should find 10 policies there that you can modify.

The settings are:

  1. Admin Approval Mode for the Built-In Administrator account
  2. Allow UIAccess applications to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop
  3. Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode
  4. Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users
  5. Detect application installations and prompt for elevation
  6. Only elevate executables that are signed and validated
  7. Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations
  8. Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode
  9. Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation
  10. Virtualize file and registry write failures to per-user locations.

Detailed information about each policy are posted on Microsoft's Technet website.

Summary
Make UAC prompts less intrusive on Windows 10
Article Name
Make UAC prompts less intrusive on Windows 10
Description
The guide highlights how you can make the User Account Control (UAC) prompts on Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system less intrusive.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Dan Donx said on January 15, 2023 at 10:29 am
    Reply

    What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?

    Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.

    If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.

  2. Dexter said on January 15, 2023 at 11:14 am
    Reply

    5. Rufus
    6. Ventoy

    PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.

    1. cdr said on January 15, 2023 at 3:32 pm
      Reply

      I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.

  3. sv said on January 15, 2023 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.

    ps…. time travelling?
    written. Jan 15, 2023
    Updated • Jan 13, 2023

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 16, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.

  4. Anonymous said on January 16, 2023 at 8:24 am
    Reply

    Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.

  5. basingstoke said on January 16, 2023 at 11:18 am
    Reply

    I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:

    1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)

    2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)

    3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””

    4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows

    5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss

    Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:

    6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now

    Have I missed any group off this list?

    1. Heinz Strunk said on September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm
      Reply

      You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.

      Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.

  6. ilev said on August 24, 2023 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update

    1. EP said on August 24, 2023 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      only from windows update though
      KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site

  7. Anonymous said on August 24, 2023 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.

    2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.

    3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.

    This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
    Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.

    Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.

  8. john said on August 24, 2023 at 11:17 pm
    Reply

    Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.

    1. John G. said on August 25, 2023 at 12:08 pm
      Reply

      Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.

  9. EP said on August 25, 2023 at 3:10 pm
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215

  10. EP said on August 29, 2023 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    check out the following recent articles:

    Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
    https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/

    BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/

  11. Leonard Britvolli said on August 30, 2023 at 10:33 pm
    Reply

    While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.

  12. sembrador said on September 5, 2023 at 9:32 pm
    Reply

    My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.

  13. EP said on September 6, 2023 at 11:55 am
    Reply

    motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):

    https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277

  14. Raphael Benzo said on September 24, 2023 at 9:52 pm
    Reply

    I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
    Tank you for your help

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