Admin rights prompt popup in C# application

Question

I have a function in my application which requires admin rights.

What I want is when I click the button to execute that function, it should ask for admin username and password. (Launch UAC dialog. Also show icon on that button.)

Is it possible?

PS: I know about launching the application with admin right by making modifications in manifest file.

Also this function is a part of a large program and it cannot be transferred to a separate program.

Answer 1

You can get the icon using StockIcons.Shield from the Windows API Code Pack

You can run a program with admin privileges without changing the program manifest using the "runas" verb (you can also use this to re-launch your program with admin rights):

Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo()
   {
        Verb = "runas",
        FileName = "Notepad.exe",
   });

There is a COM API that let you create a COM object with admin rights inside a non-admin process, but I believe it's very difficult to use this from a .net application.

Answer 2

The best way to achieve this is to have a secondary executable that contains the code that requires administrative rights, which is manifested appropriately. When your application needs to execute the code that requires administrative rights, call that program.

For example:

MyProgram.exe - no manifest
MyProgramElevated.exe - has a manifest that indicates it requires admin rights

When MyProgram.exe needs to perform an action as elevated it executes MyProgramElevated.exe, passing command line parameters indicating what elevated task is required.