Why does Administrator rights not allow me to disable UAC programatically?

Question

I am trying to make a program that does basic check to make a hack work. The hack injects code, and needs to make sure UAC is disabled. Is there a special way i have to do it with windows 8?

************** Exception Text **************
System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Cannot write to the registry key.
   at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowUnauthorizedAccessException(ExceptionResource resource)
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.EnsureWriteable()
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.SetValue(String name, Object value, RegistryValueKind valueKind)
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.SetValue(String name, Object value)
   at Basic_Checker.Form1.linkLabel5_LinkClicked(Object sender, LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs e) in C:\Users\Jennifer\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\BasicChecker v1.1\BasicChecker\Form1.cs:line 386
   at System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel.OnLinkClicked(LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Label.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel.WndProc(Message& msg)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18033 built by: FX45RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
BasicChecker
    Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Users/Jennifer/Documents/Visual%20Studio%202010/Projects/BasicChecker%20v1.1/BasicChecker/bin/Release/BasicChecker.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18037 built by: FX45RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18022 built by: FX45RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18033 built by: FX45RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.17929 built by: FX45RTMREL
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.18033 built by: FX45RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
AxInterop.WMPLib
    Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Users/Jennifer/Documents/Visual%20Studio%202010/Projects/BasicChecker%20v1.1/BasicChecker/bin/Release/AxInterop.WMPLib.DLL
----------------------------------------
Interop.WMPLib
    Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
    CodeBase: file:///C:/Users/Jennifer/Documents/Visual%20Studio%202010/Projects/BasicChecker%20v1.1/BasicChecker/bin/Release/Interop.WMPLib.DLL
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
    <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

This is the error that my program gave. I have run it as admin. It works on windows 7, however windows 8, it gives this. Is there a way to fix this?

"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\EnableLUA" — Synposis, May 07 '13 at 20:56
I'm not convinced that anyone should turn off UAC other than the user. Manually. — spender, May 07 '13 at 20:57
Your program must be elevated (already running as Administrator) to write to this key. — vcsjones, May 07 '13 at 20:59
Besides, setting EnableLUA to 0 has nasty side effects on Metro. Please think twice about this. — spender, May 07 '13 at 20:59
I mean, like i said in my post, i did it with Windows 7. It works just fine, and it is only by choice. The program is not malicious in any way. They have to click something in order for it to be disabled. Spender, what side effect is that? I have them restart after disabling it. — Synposis, May 07 '13 at 21:00
And i do have it elevated. I personally elevated the program. — Synposis, May 07 '13 at 21:02
This isn't a metro app. This is just a regular c# Visual c# 2010 app — Synposis, May 07 '13 at 21:10
@Synposis Yes, but you disabling UAC will break all other metro apps, user's probably won't be happy that happened. — vcsjones, May 07 '13 at 21:16
@synopsis: reg keys have permissions. In regedit, it's worth checking the key's permissions in regedit (edit -> permissions) — spender, May 07 '13 at 21:21

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered May 07 '13 at 20:58

6

Why does Administrator rights not allow me to disable UAC programatically?

So that if an administrator runs some code they don't need to worry about there being malicious code injected somewhere within it that disables UAC and then runs code as the elevated user.

answered May 07 '13 at 20:58

Servy

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+1 Intuitive answer. Ideally, would like to see reliable documentation link. – P.Brian.Mackey May 07 '13 at 21:02
The program itself, will not be released to the public. I am doing this only for myself, however, i need to know why the elevated process is still not allowing it to modify the key value – Synposis May 07 '13 at 21:09
1

Ask yourself, "What if this were possible?" It doesn't matter if the program is only for yourself. If you can break security that easily, that's exactly what malware authors would do." – Bill_Stewart May 12 '13 at 16:48

Why does Administrator rights not allow me to disable UAC programatically?

1 Answers1