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Win7 Gadgets and UAC

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redduc900

Inactive Moderator
Joined
Dec 17, 2000
Location
Portland, OR
In Win7, if UAC is disabled (UAC slider set to "Never notify"), you may find that Gadgets don't work as intended. Any previously selected Gadgets may not show up on the Desktop after a reboot or shutdown, and / or the Gadgets program may not open (either from Control Panel--> Gadgets, or by right-clicking the Desktop and selecting Gadgets). This also applies after using the previous Vista registry edit, which retained UAC security like Protected Mode in IE...

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"=dword:00000000

The default Value data for the ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin DWORD is 2, which results in the darkened screen and UAC pop-up to verify consent before proceeding. This setting can also be changed via Local Security Policy | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options | User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode | Set to Elevate without prompting

In Win7, even by only changing the one DWORD value above, still sets the UAC slider to "Never notify". A workaround can be used to elevate the Sidebar process, regardless if UAC is disabled. The following registry edit adds a Settings subkey to the Sidebar key in the registry, then elevates the process via an AllowElevatedProcess DWORD value of 1...

Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings]
"AllowElevatedProcess"=dword:00000001

After merging the above registry edit, the machine will need to be rebooted to take effect.
 
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I will keep this in mind if my gadgets stop working. I haven't had any issues with the retail Win7 as of yet. UAC is disabled and gadgets are all functioning as intended as far as I can tell.

Thanks for posting this, it will be in the back of my mind, just in case I have an issue :D :beer:
 
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