Keeping administrator privileges

Question

I wrote a WinForms C# app that needs administrator privileges to work and also needs to start at computer startup (with registry).

 RegistryKey reg = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", true);
 reg.SetValue("My app", Application.ExecutablePath.ToString());

So I tried changing the manifest to requiredAdministrator and got an error about clickOnce, which I completely didn't understand. So I tried publishing the app and installing as administrator, but then when the application starts at startup it doesn't have the administrator privileges anymore.

Anyone knows how to get administrator privileges for good?

Answer 1

You can go to the shortcut => Properties => Advanced ... => check Run as administrator.

Now you have configured your shortcut to start the application with administrator privileges.

Answer 2

What you need is permission elevation request. Usually it is done via manifest, or if you have just a process you can start it with elevated permissions. This gives an explanation, and this explains how to embed the manifest.

Answer 3

You can try to use self-elevating, no sure how it will looks for auto-starting application (same as @peer answer)

// at application start
var identity = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent();
var principal = new WindowsPrincipal(identity);
bool isAdmin = principal.IsInRole(WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator);

// if not admin - elevate
if(!isAdmin)
{
    var info = new ProcessStartInfo(Application.ExecutablePath) { Verb = "runas" };
    Process.Start(info);
    return; // exit
}

// if we are here - application runs as admin
...