How to check if application is running as administrator VB.NET

Question

I have made an application and some of its features only work with admin rights,

How can I check if application is running with admin rights or not ?

And show a message box if application is not running with admin rights to run as administrator.

score 15 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 22 '18 at 03:46

15

Imports System.Security.Principal

Dim identity = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent()
Dim principal = new WindowsPrincipal(identity)
Dim isElevated as Boolean = principal.IsInRole(WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator) 
If isElevated Then
  MessageBox.Show("Is Admin")
End If

In VB.Net there is even a shortcut for this:

If My.User.IsInRole(ApplicationServices.BuiltInRole.Administrat‌or) Then ...

edited Oct 22 '18 at 03:46

Ron DeFulio

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answered Apr 19 '17 at 11:48

Abel Masila

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This should be the accepted answer. It answers the OP's question, and I tested the solution and it works perfectly. – Ron DeFulio Oct 21 '18 at 22:14
Something is wrong in Windows 10 with this code, all the users are reported like administrators, even Guests without Administrator role – Fidel Orozco Dec 05 '19 at 03:04

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 19 '17 at 11:47

3

Just change the app.manifest to force require administration:

Solution Explorer --> My Project --> View Windows Settings

<requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />

answered Apr 19 '17 at 11:47

Mederic

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Downvoted. Doesn't answer/address the specific question. – SixSigmaGuy May 17 '23 at 10:12

Mousa Alfhaily · Answer 3 · 2017-06-15T14:36:53.840

0

You can try and create a file on the system drive inside a try/catch block, and if it catches an access denied exception, then that means that the app is not running as administrator.

Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Try
            File.Create("c://test.txt")
            MessageBox.Show("Is Admin")
            File.Delete("c://test.txt")
        Catch ex As Exception
            If ex.ToString.Contains("denied") Then
                MessageBox.Show("Is Not Admin")
            End If
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class

edited Jun 15 '17 at 14:36

answered Apr 20 '17 at 09:23

Mousa Alfhaily

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Too much lame answer. I got it in my mind, too. But it's definitely not for production environment. – Hamees A. Khan Feb 23 '19 at 18:25
2

Tricky but not proper answer, Use HKLM instead of C drive – Sorry IwontTell Apr 20 '20 at 15:29
1

Great answer. I love creativity like this. – SixSigmaGuy May 17 '23 at 10:09
@SixSigmaGuy Thank you, yes me too and now that I'm looking at it after 6 years, it's kinda flabbergasted. Thank you! – Mousa Alfhaily May 17 '23 at 23:30

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 20 '17 at 20:04

A version for C# 6 (or later), adapted from the Visual Basic solution posted elsewhere on this page. In the interest of general-purpose use¹, here I conceive a bool-valued static property:

(using System.Security.Principal;)

public static bool IsAdministrator =>
    new WindowsPrincipal(WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent())
            .IsInRole(WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator);

Now having shown this, one must acknowledge that @Mederic's approach does indeed seem superior, since it's unclear precisely what an app might helpfully do after presumably detecting—and reporting—that such a (presumably) critical precondition has failed. Surely it's wiser—and safer—to delegate concerns of this nature to the OS.

_{¹ That is, eliding the "MessageBox" desiderata articulated by the OP.}

How to check if application is running as administrator VB.NET

4 Answers4