Run as administrator?

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DEnc United States of America
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Run as administrator?

#1

Post by DEnc »


I upgraded to ASCOM v6.6 SP1 and saw the following on the website. Just passing it along in case it's of interest:--

Running "as Administrator" on Windows
Running a program "as Administrator" on Windows causes it to run in a separate process space within which the normal protections are blocked. It is like running a program with sudo on Linux, only worse. Windows has rich inter-program communication (which ASCOM COM uses), and Windows prevents programs that are not running "as Administrator" from communicating with elevated/privileged programs that are.

For example, say an app needs to talk to a mount whose ASCOM COM driver is also an executable program (most are nowadays). If that app is running "as Administrator" it will not be able to talk to the mount unless the mount's control program/driver is also running "as Administrator". But wait ... there's more... Now you want to use another app to talk to the mount. Well, now that the mount controller is running "as Administrator", this new app cannot talk to the mount. Now you have to run the new app "as Administrator" to allow it to talk to the mount because the mount is running "as Administrator" so that it can work with the first app which is running "as Administrator"... Do you see the problem?

What would prompt someone to run a program "as Administrator" in the first place?
Fifteen years ago, when Windows Vista came out, and Microsoft introduced an enhanced set of security restrictions for Windows, existing programs often failed due to these new restrictions. This led to a wave of "solutions" where running these programs "as Administrator" bypassed the new security rules, restoring the programs' operation. "Try running it 'as Administrator', that might work."

Conclusion
While this was a useful workaround in the past, today's software should never require being run "as Administrator". To prevent inscrutable techical support issues caused by this, programs are increasingly detecting being run "as Administrator" and prohibiting it.
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Re: Run as administrator?

#2

Post by Gordon »


That's interesting. I will need to do some checking but it's been a while since I've run anything as Administrator.
Gordon
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED80CF, Skywatcher 200 Quattro Imaging Newt, SeeStar S50 for EAA.
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Re: Run as administrator?

#3

Post by JayTee »


DEnc wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 5:14 pm While this was a useful workaround in the past, today's software should never require being run "as Administrator".

For Mainstream products, I would agree with you. Most of our AP software titles though are quite obscure and sit in their very small niche. I run administrator mode all the time with no ill effects on both Windows 10 and 11 machines because I have had more interoperability issues not running in administrator mode than with running in administrator mode. IMHO.
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DEnc United States of America
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Re: Run as administrator?

#4

Post by DEnc »


JayTee wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 7:13 pm ....I run administrator mode all the time with no ill effects on both Windows 10 and 11 machines because I have had more interoperability issues not running in administrator mode than with running in administrator mode. IMHO.

Same here! But it was interesting to read about the basis for it--I never bothered looking into it.
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Re: Run as administrator?

#5

Post by JayTee »


DEnc wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 7:20 pm But it was interesting to read about the basis for it--I never bothered looking into it.
Until now, me neither! :clap:
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
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∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
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Re: Run as administrator?

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Post by chris_g »


I've run APT with Administrator privileges and it has no issues communicating with PHD2 or EQ-Mod, it also has no issues talking to Stellarium, none of which I start in Administrator mode. What you are talking about is low level processes such as debug communications between the OS and apps as well as privileges to make changes to config files, just like SUDO.

Running As Administrator does not create a separate IP stack for just Administrator level apps. It is usually done to fix misbehaving applications that were poorly programmed or for troubleshooting to find what "feature" (bug) in Windows needs to be worked around. I like to call it "Fighting Microsoft" and I do it every day.

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