Run a program as Administrator

How do I run a program as Administrator in Windows? Typically when you launch a program that requires administrative rights in Windows, you are prompted for admin credentials to continue. Sometimes, programs that were designed for older Windows version may not even run or could be limited in functionality if they are not launched with administrative rights. There might also be times in which you want to always run a program as admin.

In the following tutorial, I'll cover the process of launching a program with administrator credentials. In addition I'll show you how to make it so that programs are automatically launched with administrator rights and how to ensure that they run in compatibility mode if the program was produced for an older version of Windows.

How to Run a Program as Administrator in Windows

To run as Admin from Windows;

  1. Browse to the program you would like to launch as an admin.
  2. Right click the program icon and select the option to "Run as administrator"

Run as Administrator

If all works well when the program is run as administrator, you can opt to always run the program as administrator. In addition, you might want to run the program in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows.

How to Set a Program to Always Run as Administrator

    1. Locate the program you want to launch with admin rights.
    2. Right click the program icon and choose the properties option.
    3. Select the Compatibility tab from the window that appears.
    4. At the bottom of the window, under privilege level, check the box to Run this program as an administrator.

How to Run a Program in Compatibility Mode

You may also want to run this run this program in compatibility mode if it was originally created for another version of Windows.

To run a program in compatibility mode for older Windows versions;

  1. Check the box to Run this program in compatibility mode for: and then select the compatible Windows environment from the drop down menu.
  2. Optionally check the box to Run this program as an administrator.
  3. Click Apply to accept the changes.

Always run program as administrator

Enjoy!