Why is Windows asking for system administrator privileges for running executables with "install" in their name?

Question

I am building a tool which allows to install an application into our simulator and it is called 'cl-install.exe'. It really doesn't need any administrator privileges to run. But Windows 7 always pops up a dialog asking the user to provide administrator privileges when this command is invoked from the command prompt.

If I rename the same executable to some other name, without the words 'install' or 'setup' in it, Windows doesn't ask for admin privileges.

Is there any way I can prevent Windows from doing this, without renaming my executable?

Answer 1

This is part of the heuristics present in Windows Vista and later. From here if the file contains the words "install", "setup", "update" or "patch" - installer is assumed.

You can prevent this by adding the following to your manifest

<requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" />