

It's also possible - if you are on an Active Directory environment - your IT department has allowed certain programs to install or allowed you to install programs in certain circumstances - either intentionally or by mistake.

C:\Program Files) or invoke such a program (e.g. It's possible that your program did not write to such a directory (e.g. A program's executableĬertain directories and programs are protected by the system to that they can only be written to by users with a certain level of permission (e.g. User Registry hive, there is no need for administrative access. If those writes are made to locations in your user folders and your Wikipedia: User Account Control - Tasks that trigger a UAC promptĪ program "installation" consists of writing some files and perhaps writing some.Edd Bott: What triggers User Account Control prompts?.Super User: Install Google Chrome to AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application.Stack Overflow: What actions will require UAC elevation in Windows?.Modifying HKEY_CURRENT_USER in RegistryĪs an interesting aside, Google Chrome gets around these restrictions by installing to Program Files by default, but falls back to AppData if the user does not have Administrator rights.Viewing or changing another user's folders or files.


Modifying system-wide registry entries under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.Program Files, Program Files (x86), Windows.Installing to system-level directories.While install location is the most common reason a program may require admin rights, it is not the only reason. Pro tip: If a program's installer requests admin rights, try seeing if a portable version is available, or change the install path to a folder that isn't Program Files. Programs installed to user-specific folders like AppData usually won't require administrator rights. Programs installed to system folders like Program Files or Program Files (x86) will always require Administrator rights when installing. As kreemoweet and Andrew mentioned, the most common cause is a program's install location.
