What is the difference between using Visual Studio 2012 "Run as Administrator" mode and otherwise? Why do developers prefer using VS in administrator mode? What are the advantages/privileges that one gets? I may be naive enough to ask this one but I am just curious. Thanks.
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The only thing that I ever needed administrator privileges in VS for would be the Azure simulator, but [Stijn's answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/20261828/73070) lists a lot more things. But few of these are typical, depending on what you do. – Joey Nov 28 '13 at 09:09
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From MSDN: User Permissions and Visual Studio
You can do nearly everything in the Visual Studio IDE as a normal user, but, you need administrator permissions to complete the following tasks:
- Installing Visual Studio.
- Upgrading from a trial edition of Visual Studio.
- Installing, updating, or removing local Help content.
- Developing solutions for SharePoint 2010.
- Acquiring a developer license for Windows Store.
- Adding classic COM controls to the Toolbox.
- Installing and using add-ins that were written by using classic COM in the IDE.
- Using post-build events that register a component.
- Including a registration step when you build C++ projects.
- Debugging applications that run with elevated permissions.
- Debugging applications that a run under a different user account, such as ASP.NET websites.
- Debugging in Zone for XAML Browser Applications (XBAP).
- Using the emulator to debug cloud service projects for Windows Azure.
- Configuring a firewall for remote debugging.
- Profiling an application.
- Deploying a web application to Internet Information Services (IIS) on a local computer.
- Changing how you participate in the Visual Studio Customer Experience Program.
Joey
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user247702
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@aritra I wouldn't know, I have UAC disabled and don't need to do most of these tasks, but I assume the list is correct. If you find it isn't, please let us know :) – user247702 Nov 28 '13 at 09:29
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@Stijn Yes I am also not aware if all these tasks require VS to run on admin mode, its just that i was curious abt this one "Adding classic COM controls to the Toolbox." – Aritra B Nov 28 '13 at 09:41
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Windows Vista introduced User Account Control which means that you are running all programs as a standard user even if you are an admin. There are certain things that you in VS that requires you to be running as an admin, not a standard user. For example running Windows Azure emulators, asp.net dev server, etc.
You can run VS as a standard user but sooner or later you will run into issues.
Ola Ekdahl
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