Automating Startup of Programs Requiring UAC

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INTRO

This will be a short guide on how to automate the login of a non-administrative user account in Windows while also launching a program at startup after login that would normally require a UAC prompt or user interaction to run. While this guide will not cover all the tricks in the book, it will get you started on working to automate some of your programs that you want running automatically that maybe will not do so without user interaction. The goal is to reduce generated tickets for simple requests.

ALIBI WITNESS | VIGILANT CMS AUTO START

For this guide and for my example I will be installing Alibi Witness CMS V4.0. This is software that interfaces with an Alibi Witness NVR so users can view live camera feeds, playback or export previously recorded footage. Some clients use large flat-screen TVs mounted on walls to view live camera feeds, and they just want their camera views to be displayed on the TVs.

We found a great solution was to install the MeLE stick PC directly on the back of the TV connected to Wi-Fi (LAN is an option also), and with our RMM agent installed we can adjust if needed remotely. With the following guide, we have had no calls or tickets in months regarding the user having issues viewing the cameras or getting things going again.

Be sure to enable Wake-on-LAN (WoL) and/or WoWLAN, AC power recovery in the BIOS, and configure Windows to restart after system failure so that in the event of power failure or the occasional Windows BSOD the stick PC boots back up without user intervention.

GETTING STARTED

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CONFIGURE WINDOWS AUTO LOGON

Note: This step is not needed for Alibi Vigilant CMS as the software has a built-in menu to accomplish this by the following below.

• System Configuration -> System -> Startup
• Enable Auto Login to Windows: Checked
  • Insert creds for Standard user account you’re using or will use.

INSTALLING WITNESS CMS

Now let’s install the Alibi Witness CMS software. You may need to invoke administrator credentials to do this.

• Please check all options during the installation prompts.

• Verify the installation is successful.

• When prompted, disable upgrade detection.

• Create the super user:
  • Username: admin
  • Password: {whatever you desire}
  • Auto-Login: Checked
    • Note: This is for the auto-login of the CMS software, not the Windows user login.
• Note: For Vigilant CMS there are default credentials.
  • Username: admin
  • Password: 123456
    • System Configuration -> System -> Startup
      • Enable Auto Login to Alibi Vigilant CMS: Checked

• Set the security questions:
  • Use an “*” for the answer to the 3 initial questions.

• Modify the Windows UAC level.
  • Set to level 2.

REGISTRY IMPORT – RUNASINVOKER

• Using the below Windows Registry Editor block, save it into a notepad file and save as “alibi-witness-vigilant-uac-fix.reg” (will need to have shown File Extensions enabled so you’re not saving the file as “.reg.txt”) and import into the Windows registry.
  • This prevents UAC from prompting on run for the Alibi software for both Witness CMS and Vigilant CMS.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers] 
"C:\\Program Files\\Alibi Vigilant CMS\\Alibi Vigilant CMS.exe"="~ RUNASINVOKER" 
"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Alibi Witness CMS\\Alibi Witness CMS Client\\Client\\Alibi Witness CMS.Framework.C.exe"="~ RUNASINVOKER"

• Add Alibi Witness CMS Client shortcut to Startup folder.
  • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
    • A shortcut to get there is to open the Run dialog box in Windows and type: shell:startup

• Add the NVR and configure the Main View windows with the cameras they need. The software will remember the last view loaded to Main View.

FINISHING UP

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ADDITIONAL TIPS

If you’re still having issues, maybe that the user account still needs administrative rights to run the software then you need dive a little deeper. You need to look at the following areas in Windows regarding your software.

• File System Permissions

The software you installed will usually have folders in the some or all of the following locations:

• C:\Program Files (x86)
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
• C:\Program Files
• C:\Program Files\Common Files
• C:\ProgramData
• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local
• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\LocalLow
• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Romaing
• C:\

These directories you will need to look for folders within them that are attributed to your software and make sure your user account has Modify or Full permissions to them. Also, you can use Process Monitor from Sysinternals to see what other directories your software might be accessing requiring it to work.

• Registry Permissions

The Registry is another area you will need to look into for your software’s registry keys and make sure your user account has Full permissions to them. Utilize the program RegFromApp to monitor the Registry Keys a process modifies. Sometimes programs run in 32-bit mode, so you need to use both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions sometimes to find the process in question. One of my most treasured tools in my collection for automation and seeing what toggling some settings really does.

Start in the following locations:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node

• Services

Your software may use services that can only be run with certain permissions. You may have to modify the service or disable it and re-create one using Microsoft’s built-in Sc commands or third-party tools, one for example called NSSM.

If none of this works then it’s possible it can’t be done, or maybe it runs but is semi-broken. In which case, it will be up to you to solve the challenge or move one with a different angle or software.

CONCLUSION

Well, that’s about it, hopefully this guide got you going in the right direction. Automating things is fun once you figure out the tricks but sometimes there are challenges with no solutions so always give it your best shot!