Windows 10: Settings App & UAC Off

What's the deal with the Settings App not launching with UAC off? Is there a way around this?

:)

 

"Apps, stores, edges, calendar, email" can't be opened with a Microsoft built-in administration account. Sign in with a different account and try again

I had this once when UAC was set to off, setting back to default & restarting fixed it.

 

update from w7 to w10, can't uninstall OEM programs & more...of course...

Hi Nancy,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand your concern, and we in Community will try to help you in the best possible way we can.

I would suggest you to turn off user account control and check.

User Account Control (UAC) notifies you before changes are made to your PC that require administrator-level permission. By default, UAC is set to notify you whenever apps try to make changes to your PC, but you can change how often UAC notifies you.

To turn UAC on or off follow the below steps:

• Open User Account Control Settings by clicking the Start button, and then type Control Panel in the search box, search for UAC in control panel, and then click Change User Account Control settings.
  
• Turn off UAC and try to uninstall the program, turn on UAC once you finish with uninstalling.
  
  Follow the below steps:
  
  • To turn off UAC, move the slider to the Never notify position, and then click OK.　If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. You will need to restart your computer for UAC to be turned off.
    
  • To turn on UAC, move the slider to choose when you want to be notified, and then click OK.　If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Note:

Accessibility devices or apps, such as screen readers, work best with either the
Always notify me or the Notify me only when apps try to make changes to my computer UAC setting.

Hope the information helps, if you have any further queries, feel free to post. We are here to assist you.

Thank you.

• • 
    

• 
  

 

No. Settings is a Universal app. Universal apps do not work without UAC. Edge won't work either. Nor will probably half the OS.

It's at the point where it's simply not possible to run without UAC anymore, and each new release will get even more so. So, you should probably just bite the bullet.

 

Hmm, rather disappointing. I'm surprised there's not a way around it (or found) yet.

 

Unless you have a compelling need to do otherwise it is best to use the OS as it was designed. As in real life when you force things to work otherwise there is a tendency for them to break. Apps not working is one such example. It may be possible to do what you want now but that may change with the next update of the OS. Undocumented and unsupported methods often break after an OS update.

You can't blame Microsoft for this. For the same reason you can't blame the car manufacturer when the engine is damaged after using fuel it was not designed for.

 

There is no way around this. This is not an arbitrary thing where Microsoft said "Hey, let's just disable Universal apps if they have UAC turned off to mess with them". Universal apps work through the UAC mechanism, and cannot function without it. UAC apps are highly sandboxed, and this function is part of the UAC "Protected Mode" capabilities. Without it, Universal apps can't function.

 

I finally gave in a month or two ago and leave UAC enabled but set to the lowest setting. All Apps work and I can use Settings. The one program I had that did not work correctly with UAC enabled I found a replacement for.

Mystere was the one who gently (ha!) nudged me to do this and I've not had any problems with it so far. Very little UAC intrusion.

 

I don't think I can survive with it on! I use a lot of AV programming apps that all require admin rights, so every time I start them I get a UAC pop-up. REALLY annoying. It might be OK if there was a way to only ask once.

 

@ muzicman82
Curious. Obviously not recommended. Is this the UAC off you reference?
And Settings App or Edge cannot work with UAC in the off position?

 

Yes.

I've ran Windows with UAC off since Vista. I don't use firewall, defender, or any other real-time protection software and NEVER get hijacks, trojans, viruses, etc. I know what I click on and don't follow links I don't trust. It's never an issue. I understand the intent of UAC but have never seen an instance were it's prevented something malicious from happening.

 

How could you have? By your own admission, you've never used it.

Regardless, What is shown in the pictures is not UAC off, and Settings should work just fine. That's just UAC "Quieted".

 

I handle all of the IT duties for the AV company I work for. That's 20 or so PCs I maintain for other people. I also handle the configuration and deployment of systems for clients and do computer work on the side for companies and individuals. I'm around more than just my own systems. While I have kept UAC off in the past, it has remained on for users that aren't "computer savvy". Of those cases, even when UAC is on, I still see issues with people picking up malware. It doesn't appear to prevent everything. Besides, if a user is easily tricked into clicking any popup to "REMOVE VIRUSES NOW", why wouldn't they just click Yes to any UAC prompt that shows up?

If that setting is not UAC off, why did I get a popup telling me I can't use Settings with UAC off? I switched that slider back to one notch up and it worked fine. I didn't turn it off anywhere else.

 

Well, ok. I did a quick search and found out that when the slider is all the way down UAC is off.
The slider makes a change in the registry.

However, it is necessary to reboot after moving the slider the see the effect of UAC off.

 

Yes, you have to reboot in Windows 7 and 8 too after changing the slider for it to be off too. I remember during some of my clean installs on Windows 7, there were problems when I would move the slider to off and then install a bunch of programs. I guess some of them thought UAC was off but it wasn't yet, so all hell broke loose, requiring surgical removal of the programs before I could re-install. It's an odd problem but after that, I always rebooted after changing UAC.