Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Some programs on your computer need to be run in administrator mode to function correctly. If you’re like me, I don’t like doing the same thing twice, if I can avoid it. In this guide, you’ll learn how to always run a program as an administrator, by default, in Windows Vista.

Set a Program to Always Run as Administrator

To set a program to always run as an administrator, first locate the program’s exectuable:

Find the program’s executable

To find the program’s executable, do the following:

1. Press the Start button and type the program’s name
   
2. Right click the shortcut and select Properties

   

3. Under the Shortcut tab, copy the location of the file in the Start in box (omit quotation marks)

   

4. Open Windows Explorer (Winkey+E) and paste the path into the Address bar

   

5. Look for the file that ends in .exe and has the program’s icon associated with it

   

Enable Default Running as an Administrator

To set the executable to always run as an administrator, do the following:

1. Right click the program and select Properties
   
2. Under the compatibility tab, select Run this program as an administrator

   

Now you don’t have to right click and run as administrator every time.

Bonus: Keyboard Shortcut to Run as Administrator

If you want to run a program once as an administrator, do the following:

Press the Start button, type the program name, and press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.