General / Off-Topic Windows tech support, somebody?

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
I have a weird problem since today.
First I thought it's just Steam, which I have only because of Planet Zoo and I generally despise it, but turns out that Origin and Uplay have the same problem.

Whenever I try to install, update or uninstall a game, the launcher will give me error along the lines: "Windows prevented this program to make changes, please try again and select "Yes" when the UAC prompt appears."
I've had that before, of course, but the problem now is that the UAC prompt DOESN'T appear and I'm simply treated to the same error message over and over.

I've tried running the launchers as admin, of course, and I've also tried setting the user account control to all four possible levels (as far as I can tell you can't actually completely turn it off in W10, which I really hate)
I don't think I've noticed any Windows update, today, that would screw things up.

Any ideas?
Naturally I've sent reports to all involved parties, but I'm not holding my breath.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Northpin said:
try to run steam as administrator?
also check if you still have admin rights, maybe someone pranked you :)
Click to expand...
Thanks, but as I said, I did try running everything as admin.
And no, I'm the only user of this PC and my account is indeed an admin one.

(Naturally there is always a small but non-zero possibility that somebody broke into my house just to mess my Windows up and then left but I don't really think that's what happened. :LOL:)
 

Northpin

Northpin
Some shell extensions can interfere with UAC prompts.
Also i've seen situations where the prompts were behind the windows, took some alt-tabs to bring it to front

You can try to run SFC and scan for corrupted files (any errors in Application Event Viewer?)
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Yaffle said:
Is it just Steam, or anything that needs UAC?
Click to expand...
Steam, Origin, Uplay, Elite launcher, Radeon software,... Everything is waiting for UAC permission, which never appears. (Or at least I think it's the usual "allow program to make changes" windows prompt)
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Northpin said:
Some shell extensions can interfere with UAC prompts.
Also i've seen situations where the prompts were behind the windows, took some alt-tabs to bring it to front

You can try to run SFC and scan for corrupted files (any errors in Application Event Viewer?)
Click to expand...
What is SFC?
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Northpin said:
answers.microsoft.com

System file check (SFC) Scan and Repair System Files & DISM to fix things SFC cannot

Technical Level : Basic Summary System file check is a utility built into the Operating System that will check for system file corruption The sfc /scannow command (System File Check) scans the
answers.microsoft.com

Edit: although, you need an elevated Command Prompt to run that :/
Click to expand...
The elevated what now?

Okay, I think I'm going to simply reinstall Windows. That will only take 20 minutes and hopefully fix everything. Cracking this nut looks like something I'm not quite equipped for. :LOL:
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Demascus said:
Is this windows 10 or 7?
Click to expand...
10, unfortunately. It's purely a gaming rig and I had to switch coz' new games...
I firmly believe something like this wouldn't happen in 7. If only because you were actually allowed to turn the bloody UAC off in 7s. 10 treats us like children.
 

Becks

Becks
Chris Simon said:
The elevated what now?
Click to expand...

The normal command prompt if you run it as administrator.

The whole problem sounds like either your registry keys are a bit messed up or your secure desktop isn't showing properly for some other reason.

If you haven't already restarted, could you open the registry editor (windows key + R, then regedit, then enter), follow this path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and look what values have been set under ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin and ConsentPromptBehaviorUser
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Becks said:
The normal command prompt if you run it as administrator.

The whole problem sounds like either your registry keys are a bit messed up or your secure desktop isn't showing properly for some other reason.

If you haven't already restarted, could you open the registry editor (windows key + R, then regedit, then enter), follow this path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and look what values have been set under ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin and ConsentPromptBehaviorUser
Click to expand...
ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin is 0x00000000
ConsentPromptBehaviorUser is 0x00000003

Do you know what it SHOULD be set to?
 

Raino

Raino
Chris if You really need 10 for some games get yourself a small SSD and use a dual setup install 7 on one drive 10 at the other and use the boot menu option to switch
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Raino said:
Chris if You really need 10 for some games get yourself a small SSD and use a dual setup install 7 on one drive 10 at the other and use the boot menu option to switch
Click to expand...
I still use W7 on all my computers (Work laptop, travel laptop and home PC), this PC is really just for gaming, dual system wouldn't really make sense here, but yes, generally I agree that W10 is trash.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Chris Simon said:
ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin is 0x00000000
ConsentPromptBehaviorUser is 0x00000003

Do you know what it SHOULD be set to?
Click to expand...

docs.microsoft.com

[MS-GPSB]: User Account Control

This section defines settings that enable the administrator to configure the behavior of the User Account Control feature.
docs.microsoft.com
docs.microsoft.com

User Account Control settings and configuration

Learn about the User Account Control settings and how to configure them via Intune, CSP, group policy, and registry.
docs.microsoft.com

If you're on an admin account, it's already elevate without prompting, but for non-admin users "3" doesn't even seem to be a valid entry.

Anyway, "5" is apparently the default for ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin and "1" for ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Morbad said:
docs.microsoft.com

[MS-GPSB]: User Account Control

This section defines settings that enable the administrator to configure the behavior of the User Account Control feature.
docs.microsoft.com
docs.microsoft.com

User Account Control settings and configuration

Learn about the User Account Control settings and how to configure them via Intune, CSP, group policy, and registry.
docs.microsoft.com

If you're on an admin account, it's already elevate without prompting, but for non-admin users "3" doesn't even seem to be a valid entry.

Anyway, "5" is apparently the default for ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin and "1" for ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin.
Click to expand...
Hrmmph
grumbles

:LOL:

Okay, I'm going to play with this before I nuke the system. :)
 

Becks

Becks
Chris Simon said:
ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin is 0x00000000
ConsentPromptBehaviorUser is 0x00000003

Do you know what it SHOULD be set to?
Click to expand...

That should be the correct setting afaik.

ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin 0 means "Elevate without prompting" according to Windows documentation (https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/wi...ontrol-group-policy-and-registry-key-settings).

You can try changing this to 2 or 5, just for the lulz.

ConsentPromptBehaviorUser 3 is "Prompt for credentials", that is standard for a normal user.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Chris Simon said:
Okay, I'm going to play with this before I nuke the system. :)
Click to expand...

I'd probably just open up the group policy editor (or use the registry) and force everything to elevate without prompting then tell UAC to go stuff itself...but this is also phenomenally insecure and not something that most people should be doing.
 
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