You will need to provide Administrator Permission to change these settings

[cullam3n]

I copied and pasted the link so you didn't have to open it up.

Certain users have claimed system instability after following this tutorial. Proceed with caution.

Microsoft's User Account Control (UAC) has had a bad reputation among the tech community since the launch of Windows Vista. In Windows 8, this nuisance has found a way to spite all tech geeks alike. Now, "disabling" UAC via Control Panel doesn't actually disable it. If you edit a system file you'll find that, you, the Admin, have no power (and are still pestered by UAC).

If you're reading this, chances are that you've tried disabling UAC via the EnableLUA registry hack. Although this method works, Microsoft has placed a kill switch on Metro apps. In other words, you won't be able to use Metro apps if you disable UAC with the registry hack or with Account Policy clp. Microsoft gives you 2 options; deal with UAC and enjoy the Metro UI or disable UAC and lose Windows 8's signature feature.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to semi-disable UAC while maintaining access to Metro apps. This hack should prevent ~90% of all UAC pop-ups and grant you access to your entire C drive.

Lets get started:

1. Open an explorer window and type in the following path: Control Panel\User Accounts and Family Safety\User Accounts
2. Click on "Change User Account Control settings"
3. Set it to "Never Notify"
4. Press OK (don't restart if prompted to do so)

----------------

5. Press the Windows + R key at the same time
6. Type: regedit
7. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
8. Change "EnableLUA" from 1 to 0 (this step will temporarily disable metro apps)
9. Restart your computer
10. Download these registry files
11. Run the InstallTakeOwnership.reg file
12. Go to My computer
13. Navigate to C:\
14. Select all folders> right click> take ownership

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15. When the aforementioned has been completed, right click on the "Windows" folder and select "properties"
16. Security> Advance> Enable Inheritance
17. Find where it says Owner (second line, below the "Name" section)> Change> Advanced> Find Now> Select your account> Press OK> Press OK again (in the "Share User or Group" Windows).
18. On the "Advance Security Setting for Windows" pane, click Add> Select a Principal> Advanced> Find> Select your Username> OK> OK> Full control> Show Advance Permission> Applies to: This Folder, subfolders and files> OK> Apply> Yes> and Continue (select continue all the times it pops up)

----------------

19. Press the Windows + R key at the same time
20. Type: regedit
21. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
22. Change "EnableLUA" from 0 to 1 (this step will enable metro apps)
23. Restart your computer

-----------------

24. Again navigate to C:\
25. Again select all folders> right click> take ownership
26. Finally, run RemoveTakeOwnership.reg file (you may skip this step if you wish)

You are done, enjoy!

 

[c627627]

Executing everything as posted and now I have no permission to save anything to root C:\
Only inside folders on C:\ but not on C:\ itself.


Wow what a nightmare...

 

[c627627]

Reading further linked page it is clear that THIS SHOULD NOT BE TRIED before making an image of your Win8 system because chances are good that consequences will be pretty bad.

 

[cullam3n]

Personally I haven't tried it myself, but I see some people had good experiences with it, and some didn't. I should have read the replies more thoroughly before I posted... so everyone else is fine other than not being able to change anything in the root C:\ directory?

 

[c627627]

It appears to have fixed itself somehow after a couple of reboots but reading other people's experiences, this is too risky.

 

[cullam3n]

Since when has Microsoft made anything easy?

 

[Culbrelai]

Not like losing metro would be bad?

Unless they use up internet in the background with that silly updating... but they're disabled... so they wouldnt...?

 

[c627627]

I have discovered that installing Retail Windows 8 on Desktop is different from pre-installed Windows 8 on Laptops and then even different between different Laptop manufacturers who insert their own headache-inducing Windows 8 "features."



So questions coming out of this is why is UAC behavior different on Windows 8 retail desktop vs. Windows 8 Laptop?
Is it because my Desktop is Pro Win8 vs Laptoo non-Pro Win8? Is it because of manufacturers?


But yes not having metro apps is a small price to pay to be UAC free.

 

[cullam3n]

I can understand a difference between Pro and non-Pro, but not sure why it would you would have act different on non-Pro OS's on different laptops.

On the bright side; after all this, we will have become Windows 8 professionals.

 

[Culbrelai]

And when we're w8 professionals, the next version will come out and alleviate all of our prior complaints, and then we'll complain because they changed what we just learned =P