user can no longer run App after a Windows 11 Pro update

One of the users I support can no longer run an App she has been running every month for years after installing an update to Windows 11 Pro. Every time she launches the App she is prompted for administrator credentials which she does not have. If I log into this same PC as the local administrator I can run the App with no problem. I recognize the prompt the user is receiving as a UAC (user account control) panel. Prior to this update I could log into this PC as the administrator and turn off UAC. Restart the PC then have the user try again. Now after the update turning off UAC while logged in as administrator does not turn UAC off for the user. How am I supposed to turn this off for the user now? When I am logged in as the user and go to UAC, I am not allowed to change UAC because I am not an administrator. But as administrator I could not change it for the user?!!! What's the deal? I do not want to have to enter credentials every month so the user can run her reports she needs for billing.

UAC is a system-wide setting, so if it's off for the admin, it's off for everyone. Does it show as off when you're logged on as the admin?

if its just one program, i dont think i would change UAC settings... you can create an elevated shortcut for just that program so that it bypasses uac prompt

pseymour, thanks for your reply!​

I thought UAC was system wide too, but not on this PC after the windows update. It was off for the administrator but when I logged in as the user the UAC setting was different.

That's tied to security update released in August, where - Microsoft modified how UAC behaves in response to a security vulnerability (CVE-2025-50173). UAC is now enforced at the kernel level for operations that touch MSI/COM/elevated system resources - even if the UI control says it’s off - preventing admin acc from completely disabling UAC for standard users. Some apps that performed repair or initialization tasks (via MSI or registry writes) now always trigger elevation - even if UAC is disabled. As a workaround, with a recent cumulative update (the one from September) - they introduced registry trusted list for MSI based apps - to be allowed at your own risk. As explained in the following article - inclduing a guide for allowing said apps:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Set
EnableLUA to 0
reboot

Oh yeah I forgot about the MSI thing, even thought that bit us in August with Autodesk apps. That’s only if the app takes certain Windows Installer actions; we won’t know if that’s true without knowing the app or what happens when the user whitelists it.

dacrone, thanks for the tutorial to create a scheduled task. I had already tried this once without success. But with the information you provided I did get the task created and it actually launched the app if I right clicked and selected run from the task scheduler library. I could not get the short cut to work. I will try again tomorrow. Thank you so much! I feel like I am getting closer!

i realize that is not specifically what you asked for, but in a work environment, i would avoid disabling uac for standard users. a home environment is a different story...

I would also run it sometime with ProcMon running (sorry, garlin). See if it just needs permissions to a couple folders or registry keys. Change the permissions on those things, and it won't have to run elevated at all.

neves said:

That's tied to security update released in August, where - Microsoft modified how UAC behaves in response to a security vulnerability (CVE-2025-50173). UAC is now enforced at the kernel level for operations that touch MSI/COM/elevated system resources - even if the UI control says it’s off - preventing admin acc from completely disabling UAC for standard users. Some apps that performed repair or initialization tasks (via MSI or registry writes) now always trigger elevation - even if UAC is disabled. As a workaround, with a recent cumulative update (the one from September) - they introduced registry trusted list for MSI based apps - to be allowed at your own risk. As explained in the following article - inclduing a guide for allowing said apps:

Unexpected UAC prompts when running MSI repair operations after installing the August 2025 Windows security update - Microsoft Support

support.microsoft.com

Click to expand...

I never knew this / missed this. wow. Thanks

dacrone, you are right about not turning off UAC for only a single app. I would much rather use the method you suggested by creating a task. I have not had a chance to try to figure out what I am doing wrong with my shortcut. I'm not sure if I will get to that today either. When I do, I will let you know one way or the other if I can get it to work. Thank you for your help!

Jp4purvis said:

dacrone, you are right about not turning off UAC for only a single app. I would much rather use the method you suggested by creating a task. I have not had a chance to try to figure out what I am doing wrong with my shortcut. I'm not sure if I will get to that today either. When I do, I will let you know one way or the other if I can get it to work. Thank you for your help!

Click to expand...

does it run from the task scheduler (as in, only the desktop shortcut is not working properly)? here is another tutorial for the same task: