Create shortcuts programmatically from C# and set “Run as administrator” property

Question

I already know how to create shortcuts programmatically from my C# applications using IWshRuntimeLibrary and WshShellClass. Or I could use IShellLink.

Now, if the user's PC is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, I would like to be able to set the "Run as administrator" property of that shortcut programmactically as well.

Is that possible? If so, how?

Answer 1

While Doug's answer is the correct solution to this problem, it is not the answer to this specific question...

To set that property on a .lnk, you need to use the IShellLinkDataList COM interface. The great Raymond Chen has c++ sample code on his blog for this

Answer 2

You will need to create a manifest file for your application in order to get it to request run as an administrator privileges. Here is a nice tutorial you can follow.

Enjoy!

Answer 3

This example is in PowerShell, but is uses the same objects and classes as C#.

Use the following code to get the byte number to activtae:

# Find the missing admin byte (use this code, when changing the link):
$adminon = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($shortCutLocation)
$adminof = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($shortCutLocation)
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $adminon.Count; $i++) { 
    if ($adminon[$i] -ne $adminof[$i]) { 
        Write-Host Location: $i Value: $($adminon[$i])  
    } 
}

I got byte number 21 and its value was 34. So this is the script I user:

# Turning on the byte of "Run as Admin"
$lnkBytes = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($shortCutLocation)
$lnkBytes[21] = 34
[System.IO.File]::WriteAllBytes($shortCutLocation, $lnkBytes)

Answer 4

With this method you can create a shortcut that “Run as administrator” property is set:

    void CreateShortcut(string shortcutPath, string sourcePath, bool runAsAdmin, params string[] args)
    {
        var shortcut = new IWshShell_Class().CreateShortcut(shortcutPath) as IWshShortcut;
        shortcut.TargetPath = System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(sourcePath);
        shortcut.Arguments = "\"" + string.Join("\" \"", args) + "\"";
        shortcut.Save();

        if (runAsAdmin)
            using (var fs = new FileStream(shortcutPath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite))
            {
                fs.Seek(21, SeekOrigin.Begin);
                fs.WriteByte(0x22);
            }
    }

Credit for run as admin section belongs to here