EVGA

Run EVGA Precision and Precision X without UAC prompt (with UAC enabled)

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xanderf
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012 11:15 PM (permalink)
One of the major security improvements to Windows Vista and 7 was the introduction of UAC.  It's been likened in places to the locking users out of the 'root' account that is common in Linux and Mac OSes, which is a major factor in their resistance to virus/worm attacks.
 
However, it plays hell with our ability to run power tools, such as EVGA Precision.
 
Well, workaround for the UAC prompt on EVGA Precision (while still leaving UAC running) is "relatively" painless.
 
First thing we do is run task scheduler as the 'Administrator' user we want to run as.  From the start menu, just type'scheduler'...

 
With the task scheduler running, we then create a 'new' task...

 
...and give it a name we'll remember.  Note that you must check the 'run with highest privileges' box.

 
For 'triggers', make sure to add a new trigger, as a 'one time' run...some time in the past.  Immediate past, even, doesn't really matter.

 
And for 'actions'...well, this scheduled task should run the EVGA precision app!

 
The only other thing we need to verify is that we have the 'run on demand' checked...it will be, by default, but just verify that.

 
Now we've got a new scheduled task!  Remember the name of it...

 
We now right-click on the desktop, and 'new' -> 'shortcut'...

 
...and enter this mess.  Note that the name of the scheduled task must match the name of the Task Scheduler task.

 
Give it a clever name...

 
...and an icon, and you are good to go!  Just double-click on this when you want to run EVGA Precision...or drag and drop this in your Windows 'start' menu...and it'll start EVGA Precision without you needing to acknowledge the UAC prompt, even though UAC is still running!

 
Now, there is obviously a few major caveats to this:
  • This is not system-wide, and cannot be.  EVGA Precision requires the ability to 'interact with the desktop' to work, so has to be a local (logged-on) user.  As such, a task would need to be set up for each different administrator user in Windows.  And, no, EVGA Precision isn't terribly clever about not running if another instance is already running on another user account...it just goes ahead and tries to run itself, however it doesn't seem to do anything...it appears that the first user logged in has all control.
  • This doesn't help "standard" users.  EVGA Precision requires administrator rights, flat out, and while this gets around the UAC prompt if you ARE an administrator...'standard' users still need to enter an admin password.
post edited by xanderf - Thursday, April 12, 2012 4:40 AM


#1

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    xanderf
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    Re:Running EVGA Precision without UAC prompt (while still having UAC enabled!) Friday, March 30, 2012 8:20 PM (permalink)
    In reading around on other apps with this challenge, I've seen a few other recommendations for ways to get this to work with a 'standard' Windows user.
     
    I do not believe these are good ideas:
    • If you enable the built-in 'Administrator' account in Windows 7 (not 'administrator' users, but the default 'Administrator' account created at install time - by default, this is disabled and you only see it when you use [F8] to boot into 'Safe Mode'), you can then choose to 'Run As' any application AS that user.  When you are prompted for the UAC prompt and enter the password for the user, it caches this authentication.  The only problem is, it caches this authentication for ALL apps, now, not just the one you selected.  So, in other words, you've just let that 'standard' user have full administrator rights whenever they want.  Not a good idea!
    • There are some third-party programs you can find on the web that purport to prompt for an Admin account/password, and then you can use them to launch specific applications with the program's cached copy of the admin login.  I'm not a fan of this idea (although it's better than the above, in that this IS, at least, per-application rather than system-wide), as you are storing your Windows authentication in an external program.  Is it as secure as Windows?  Who knows.  Could some virus or malware load up this app and decrypt the Windows password?  Maybe.  Again, not recommended.
    • Obviously, somewhat related to the above point, you could just script out the 'runas' command, passing a username and password to run the script.  But, then, you'll have an admin username and password in somewhat plain text somewhere...which rather defeats the purpose of having a 'standard' user account that is limited in rights.
    There are basically only two ways forward that I can see at present that might work:
    • Possibly there might be a way to get this to work using some options within the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit, but I haven't had any luck, yet, finding which options need to be enabled for this to work properly.
    • With Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate (not 'Home' or 'Home Premium'), you can set up new security account roles in addition to just 'standard' or 'administrator' or 'guest'.  With these additional security roles, or via editing the Local Security Policies (also not available on the 'Home' versions), you could create something like a 'super-standard user' that is more or less a standard user in all ways, but has the necessary 'admin'-like rights to run Precision.  Two downsides here, of course, are that this just isn't an option on the 'Home' editions, flat out; and that with the ability to give EVGA Precision low-level-hardware-access, this user would also have that same access for any other app they wanted to run.
      The long and short of it is, at present, 'standard' users are out of luck.  But, at least the above instructions get around the UAC prompt for 'administrator' users.
    post edited by xanderf - Saturday, March 31, 2012 7:10 PM


    #2
    xanderf
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    Re:Running EVGA Precision without UAC prompt (while still having UAC enabled!) Sunday, April 08, 2012 8:17 PM (permalink)
    Having spent a few more hours banging away at this, I believe the above is as good a solution as can be had at present.
     
    Without overly exposing the system to whatever potential security concerns you had in making a user a 'standard' user in the first place, there is not any way to run EVGA Precision on that type of account without specifying an Admin password.
     
    The key component missing is that the EVGA Precision application installs and runs a service using the rtcore64.sys file:

     
    It is that component that, every other trick to bypass the Administrator requirement aside...including setting up compatibility settings that should work:

     
    ...will still result in failure.  The only way to resolve this is to grant the 'standard' user in question the appropriate LSPs (which, as noted in my last post, can't even be done on Windows Vista/7 'Home' editions) to install and run a service...which, for obvious reasons, is the last thing you want 'standard' users to be able to do.
     
    So...I think that's it.  Want EVGA Precision to run without a UAC prompt as an admin?  See post #1 in this thread.  Want EVGA Precision to run without UAC + password prompt as a standard user?  Impossible without creating security holes in the 'standard' user security implementation. 
     

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    #3
    xanderf
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    Re:Running EVGA Precision without UAC prompt (while still having UAC enabled!) Tuesday, April 10, 2012 2:09 AM (permalink)
    Just spent some time beating my brain out over this using the new "EVGA Precision X" version, just to see if there are any changes to the above.
     
    There are not.  The instructions in post 1 still work A-OK for making this work without the UAC prompt for 'Admin' users, and regarding post 2 and 3...well...nope, 'standard' users are still a no-go.


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    Porpoise Hork
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    Re:Running EVGA Precision without UAC prompt (while still having UAC enabled!) Tuesday, April 17, 2012 7:24 AM (permalink)
    awsome thanks!  really helps a lot!
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    CHughes
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    Re:Running EVGA Precision without UAC prompt (while still having UAC enabled!) Sunday, February 03, 2013 8:12 AM (permalink)
    Thank you so much!!!! This really helped

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