How to Tweak User Account Control (UAC) Options in Windows Vista Home Basic & Home Premium?



There is a tutorial on this site for Tweaking UAC (User Account Control) using secpol.msc (Local Security Policy):

A Complete Guide for Tweaking User Account Control (UAC) in Windows Vista

But if you are a Windows Vista Home Basic or Home Premium user and want to tweak UAC (User Account Control) settings using secpol.msc, then you'll be out of luck cause secpol.msc is a part of Group Policy Editor and its not included in Vista Home editions.

But don't worry, the same settings can be applied using Windows Registry Editor, so you can also enjoy the UAC tweaks in Vista Home editions using registry editor.

1. Open regedit and goto:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies

2. Under Policies key look for a key with the name "System". If its not present then create it by right-click on Policies key and select "New -> Key" and give it name "System".

3. Now select "System" key and in right-side pane create a new DWORD value to apply the desired tweak as mentioned in following list:

User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account

DWORD Value - FilterAdministratorToken

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0

User Account Control: Allow UIAccess applications to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop.

DWORD Value - EnableUIADesktopToggle

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0

User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode

DWORD Value - ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin

Elevate without prompting - 0
Prompt for credentials - 1
Prompt for consent - 2

User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users

DWORD Value - ConsentPromptBehaviorUser

Automatically deny elevation requests - 0
Prompt for credentials - 1

User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevation

DWORD Value - EnableInstallerDetection

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0

User Account Control: Only elevate executables that are signed and validated

DWORD Value - ValidateAdminCodeSignatures

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0

User Account Control: Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations

DWORD Value - EnableSecureUIAPaths

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0

User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode

DWORD Value - EnableLUA

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0

User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation

DWORD Value - PromptOnSecureDesktop

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0

User Account Control: Virtualize file and registry write failures to per-user locations

DWORD Value - EnableVirtualization

To Enable - 1
To Disable - 0



This article was posted in Troubleshooting, Windows Vista.

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7 Comments

  • Hi

  • Hi

  • It keeps saying it cannot write the new changes. What now?

  • VG

    ^^ Login as Administrator and then try it.

  • Hi all!!! Good and nice site!! I ad this site to bookmark!!! Regards!!!!!!!

  • I have an application will only run for users with Admin rights.

    I would like to turn on "Audit object access" to see what this program is trying to access to see if can get it to run for general users.

    Is there any registry hack to enable Audit object access for failures?

  • chad: use Process Monitor from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx to help identify what objects are being accessed and/or blocked.

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