Windows 7 and Vista UAC - Programmatically requesting elevation in C#

Chris picture Chris · Feb 17, 2010 · Viewed 16.1k times · Source

I have a program that only requires elevation to Admin on very rare occasions so I do not want to set-up my manifest to require permanent elevation.

How can I Programmatically request elevation only when I need it?

I am using C#

Answer

Chris picture Chris · Feb 17, 2010
WindowsPrincipal pricipal = new WindowsPrincipal(WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent());
bool hasAdministrativeRight = pricipal.IsInRole(WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator);

if (!hasAdministrativeRight)
{
    RunElevated(Application.ExecutablePath);
    this.Close();
    Application.Exit();
}

private static bool RunElevated(string fileName)
{
    //MessageBox.Show("Run: " + fileName);
    ProcessStartInfo processInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
    processInfo.Verb = "runas";
    processInfo.FileName = fileName;
    try
    {
        Process.Start(processInfo);
        return true;
    }
    catch (Win32Exception)
    {
        //Do nothing. Probably the user canceled the UAC window
    }
    return false;
}