Thursday, February 9, 2012

Disable User Account Control in Windows 7



Modifying the User Account Options in Windows 7 is slightly different than in Windows Vista. The default UAC prompts in Windows 7 are, in my opinion, sufficient for the average user. There are instances when a user would want to disable UAC or a Network Admin would want to disable UAC on all computers via Group Policy. Below are 3 methods to turn up, turn down, or disable UAC completely.
Disable UAC via Control Panel
  1. Go to the Start Menu -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Accounts -> Change User Account Control Settings
User Account Control
User Account Control
User Account Control
User Account Control
User Account Control

Disable UAC via Registry Editor
  1. Type “regedit” in the Start -> Search bar.
  2. Go to the following Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem
  3. Locate REG_DWORD: EnableLUA
  4. Set the value of EnableLUA to 0.
  5. Locate REG_DWORD: ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin
  6. Set the value of ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin to 0.
  7. Restart
Disable UAC via Group Policy
  1. Type “gpedit.msc” in the Start -> Search bar.
  2. Double-Click: Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies ->Security Options.
  3. Scrolling to the bottom of the screen shows the following User Account Control Settings.
    User Account Control Group Policy
  4. Locate: “User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode” and modify to “Elevate without prompt”
  5. Locate: “User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevation” and modify it to “Disabled”
  6. Locate: “User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode” and modify it to “Disabled”
  7. Locate: “User Account Control: Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations” and modify it to “Disabled”
  8. Restart.