Windows 10: App can't be opened using the built-in administrator account.

I was getting UAC shields appearing on some of the icons. I found the solution how to get rid of them by going to the "Local Security Policy" > Local Policies > Security Options and disabling:
User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode
User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account

And of course I ran into the bigger issue. I can't open any windows related app. This is what is says (see above). If I re-enable the policy, the programs work again, but the shields appear again. I really don't want them and they bother me and as far as I have researched this is the only solution I found that is working.
Now back to the blue message. I have tried creating a new user and giving it admin rights. Still got the blue message. Then I tried disabling the built-in administrator with this method here. Restarted PC, still the same result.
I really ran out of options. Can somebody smarter than me please help me resolve this problem.
I'm running Windows 10 Pro.
My Local Security Policy list here

P.S. I did not upgrage to Windows 10 from earlier versions, I built PC from scratch and booted from usb.

Follow up!
People have suggested me to reinstall windows/do a clean install. So I did create a new bootable usb with completely different build and got the same result.

I think that this is a huge flaw with windows 10 and I'm really looking forward to solving this issue. Smartest people here please help me!
Also note that I'm not using Built-in administrator account. I'm local Administrator.

 

It is against forum rules to create duplicate threads about the same issue. I have reported this thread and asked mods to add your post in your original thread.

 

It is not a flaw in Windows, it is a necessary security feature.

That being said, now I understand what's going on, having reproduced your scenario and tested it. Have learned something new, too.

By disabling the Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in administrator account, you in effect switched your local admin account to built-in admin account. It still is a local admin account but when running applications it runs all of them, without a possibility for you to change it, in elevated admin mode. That naturally makes it impossible to use Windows Store apps because they cannot be run as built-in admin, elevated.

Enable the security policy to be able to run Windows apps.

 

Yeah....it sucks, because when I re-enable it, blue/yellow shields appear and this happens whenever I want to change something (ex. change icon).

 

It is also interesting that the shields and prompts disappear only if you disable both of these:
User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode
User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account

 

The entire problem starts with the shield overlay on "some" icons and when you are trying to get rid of them as they are annoying to say the least.
The shield overlay on an icon normally tells you that there are restrictions in using the program behind the icon.
The problem is that the overlay does appear irregular and not depending on your account. This irregular appearance is for me a Windows 10 bug which already existed since Windows 8.0 (and maybe before, can't remember that far back).
Sometimes they are there after in installation of a program, sometimes they only appear after a reboot, sometimes they appear after an update etc... and it doesn't matter if you have an administrator account or not, even if you have only one account on your PC with full admin rights they appear on some programs, no matter how you install the program or if you turned UAC off or on.

This shield is annoying because it "destroy's" the beauty of the icon.
One solution found on the net to get rid of them is the UAC: Admin Approval Mode for the built in Admin Account.
But that leaves you with the topic starters problem.

But there's another solution, you can use the same trick as used to get rid of the shortcut arrow.
I haven't found a free one yet to do so (they only offer the option to remove the shortcut arrow) but the payware MircoAngelo On Display offers the option to remove the shield icon.

Mind that this does not change the behaviour of the icon. If it originally had a shield on it, it will come with restrictions. These user restrictions are still there, only the overlay is removed.

 

Thanks for the reply.
This is very very strange. I downloaded the program and selected shields off option to remove shields from shortcuts, restarted the explorer and to my surprise some of the icons still had the shield and some got rid of it. For example I have a game "Dead island", initially it had the shield, when I disabled it in downloaded program, it dissapeared, but on the other hand fraps still has the shield.
Also there are differences between shortcuts, what I mean by that is that when I right click on fraps for example, go to properties, press change icon, and press ok, the admin prompt appears as shown in my earlier post. And when I try to do the same with Dead island, it doesn't require me to approve for admin rights to change the icon.
What the hell is going on lol?

 

The small shield on top of an icon is very important, telling that the program needs to and will be run elevated. It is absolutely not an irregular phenomena.

For me that reminder, to clearly see which programs need to be run elevated is far more important than the aesthetics of an icon.

For the same reason I do not remove shortcut overlays in icons; that is for me a clear indicator that I can delete, remove it from desktop whenever I want to without affecting a program underneath. Without shortcut overlays I could accidentally delete a program executable file, the icon not telling me if it's a shortcut or executable.

 

If there was an option I would completely agree with you, but now when I'm bound to it with no way of disabling it, it bugs the hell out of me..

 

I think I just discovered something! Found on google.

That disabled the prompt for admin rights and removed the shield. I still don't know if I solved it, I just need to install more programs and fully confirm it.

Edit: Nope it turns out this just disables the policy....Sh**......

 

Another discovery.
Uninstalled Fraps, installed again and the shield is gone, but the prompt for permission is still there. Still can't say I solved it, always something bad happens to me...
Still testing..

 

It's the irregularity of one icon having a shield and the other doesn't that makes it weird.
Like i said, i have only one (1) account on my PC, full admin rights, still some programs have the shield overlay, others don't although they are all installed in the same manner and under the same account with the same rights.
Just a little example on the irregularity. I have a flightsim on my PC called DCS (Digital Combat Simulator). The release version is currently on version 1.5.4. The icon does not carry a shield.
Then there can be modules (aircraft) installed into that flightsim. One of those modules is a Russian attack helicopter, the KA-50. To install the 1.5.4 version of this module into DCS, one needs to install the older standalone version of the KA-50 first. If this is installed, all KA-50 standalone icons carry a shield. After that, i can install the latest version into DCS1.5.4 (it looks if the the standalone is actualy there) which then doesn't need the standalone anymore after that. Nothing within DCS will say that that version in there needs a higher evelation to be used or moved or whatever. But the standalone will.
Then there is DCS2.0.2 which is currently in aplha state and can be installed alongside release version DCS1.5.4. The icon for DCS2.0.2 didn't not carry a shield either. All is OK but after a boot or 3 all of a sudden that specific icon turns up with a shield overlay. Nothing has changed, nothing has been updated only the shield is there. The question is why!!!
After that same boot, some icon which carried a shield all of a sudden don't have a shield anymore.
All this happens within one account with full admin rights. I could understand the shield thingy if i didn't had only one account and full admin rights but that is not the case.
The only difference i currently see between shielded and non-shielded stuff is that if i want to do anything with it (move it or open it) it will always ask for confirmation. And i never get rejected. Then this raises the question on why it has to ask me this. I bought the program, i installed it and i registered it. So why bother me with an elevation shield and the stupid questions. Why if everything is installed in the same manner and with the same account with full admin rights. And it is there that people get annoyed and start to look for a cause or a solution and it is then that you have problems like the topic starter has.
The same problem already existed within Windows 8 and is ported over to Windows 10. For me this behaviour is a bug.
Just read Lazarus post above mine, that's another example of the shield screw up.

BTW, can you tell me what makes the difference of having or not having a shield overlay on an icon?

If you know what is on your desktop and keep it clean you don't need a reminder to know what is what. At least i don't so i don't need a shortcutarrow for telling me it's a shortcut.

 

I have already told that:

All my working life I have been involved in instructing users to use they computers. I would never instruct a newbie, an average PC user that "Don't care about shortcut overlays, you will always remember which is shortcut and which not".

In my posts here at Ten Forums and our sister sites Seven Forums and Eight Forums I try to compose my replies and recommendations thinking that quite a many users directly rely on exact instructions, someone else telling them exactly what to do. In ideal world every user would automatically know what to do when we suggest he / she should run, for examples' sake let's say DISM Cleanup, but in reality we have to explain it very carefully and detailed, as if the OP knew nothing.

That's why, thinking of an average Jane or Joe I repeat it now here, and will repeat it in the future if asked: The shortcut overlay is there to visually show that it is a shortcut, not a program executable of physical folder. I do not recommend removing them.

BTW, it's not Microsoft and Windows deciding which shortcuts or icons show the shield overlay. It's the coders, makers of the program who make it require elevated privileges. If it needs to be run elevated, the shield is shown. Logical, no irregularities here.

 

I can 100% understand the need for this if there where 2 (or more) accounts used on the same computer where at least one is not given all the rights the other accounts have. But not on a computer where there is only one account and that account has full admin rights. I might even understand that the vendor/creator of the software puts up a shield on it's icons to tell/prevent the user from doing certain stuff, even if that user has full admin rights.

But...

If i install program A, B and C and it's icons do not carry a shield and i then install program D and after this all of a sudden the icons of program A and C carry a shield and B and D do not. This would mean that the installation of program D changed the elevation of programs A and C but not B, even if none of these programs are in any way related to each other.
When something like this happens, i start to ask myself a question on why suddenly some icons have a shield overlay which they didn't have before and why others don't. And that is also the problem the topic starter had. There is not always a line to draw in this behavior. And that's why it is for it's irregular or inconsistent. Even more when the icon database is refreshed and the shield overlays change again.
I never had a problem with this under 98, XP or 7 but since Windows 8 (Windows changed it's policy regarding UAC) it's a bit of a mess. Again, i can understand the need and the why on a multiple user computer but not on a single user computer where the user granted himself full admin rights.

 

That does never happen. I think it's time for you to start checking the health of your Windows, in worst case reinstall. The shield overlay is shown in icon when program needs to be run elevated. A Windows software installer does not change permissions or privileges of other software. Exception of course add-on installers and such which need access to their parent application to get installed.