Elevator.exe in Android Studio update

Question

During Android Studio update, it was noticed that elevator.exe (Verified publisher: JetBrains s.r.o) was installed on my computer. What is this application for and why is it required for Android Studio?

P.S - I am aware that Android Studio is Powered by the IntelliJ platform.

Answer 1

According to the commit history in the source code for intellij-community/bin/win/elevator.exe on Github, the very first commit (May 17, 2017) states:

Add sudo-like tool for windows to deal with UAC…

When admin user launches Intellij, Windows revokes many user privileges to improve safety for admin users (that is how UAC works).

One can't access "Program Files": any attempt to write something there leads on ACCESS_DENIED(5) error even if NTFS reports file is writable

The only way to elevate privileges is to launch process as elevated. "Elevator.sln" is Win32API app that launches command as elevated. See its sources for more info.

On Windows, application softwares (like IntelliJ or Android Studio) are limited to standard user privileges until an administrator authorizes an increase or an elevation occurs.

Since IntelliJ powers Android Studio, it makes sense for that file to show up in an Android Studio update.