Forum Discussion
Buffaloguy
Sep 03, 2021Copper Contributor
Cannot run anything as administrator
Everything is working fine with WIndows 11 (latest beta build as of today) except I cannot execute the cmd command as administrator or run any program as administrator. WHen clicking on the CMD app as administrator nothing happens. I have run scannow and dsim and everything looks good. I can enter Windows Terminal (Admin) using the WIndows X approach. Any attempt to run any program by right clicking and selecting run as administrator fails. I tried a new admin user. No joy. I don;t know if this is significant but when I open the CMD app, the folder icon for run as administrator has a shield image in the lower right hand corner. Any troubleshooting ideas?
- chynnahelenCopper ContributorInstall the latest Windows 11 update and check what happens.
- jaygi1957Copper Contributor1/ no update to install 2/ how do I check? I saw a post online that said updates reported installed but weren't but with no indication how they know they weren't. y'all gotta give more details instead of being so cryptic.
- ChrisRaisinCopper Contributor
Well, I was perplexed by this problem, but I have discovered that the latest release of Windows 11 (22H2) seems to have a problem not just with "Run As Administrator" but most things on context menus (menus which appear when you click the right-,mouse-button). I tried your "fix" with NCH applications running (uninstalled them) but that did not help.
What eventually fixed the problem of not just "Administrator" but also all other problems with the context menus was following instructions in this excellent article:
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/windows-11-classic-context-menusIt involves editing a key in the registry (so be careful).
Everything works fine now!
Hopefully, Microsoft will issue an update to remove the need for returning to the old style
(full as opposed to compacted) context menus. Personally I prefer the full menu anyway!- jaygi1957Copper Contributor
ChrisRaisin I am smart enough to know that I'm too dumb to do regedits. I have a clean load from Dell that I started using Friday the 24th and there are no NCH products listed in the Uninstall Programs in Control Panel. Where else should I look for them? I can't install apps from DVD or download troubleshooters that MS recommends on their site. I also can't run scannow from a command window. It tells me I have to run on a console window as administrator. The
"right click and select run as administrator" solution doesn't work. There was one other solution that has you go in and unclick some recommendation or other, but MS has now removed that option so I can't do that either. I found this as well which suggests that I'll never get future upgrade MS sends me. so this is a serious problem and needs a resolution. - jaygi1957Copper ContributorI am not smart enough to play with regedit. if you have another solution please let us all know because some of us are listed as administrator on our personal laptops and we are still hurting.
- ChrisRaisinCopper ContributorActually, I may have been too hasty here! Although it fixed the current machine I am using, I went to another PC I have which has EXACTLY THE SAME Windows 11 22H2 version and build, and there is nothing wrong with "Run As Administrator" or anything else on the context menus (using the new style contracted menu). The PC I had trouble with is the only one experiencing these problems, so my guess now is that your first observation may be correct (NCH software is causing the problem). I only uninstalled the "Express Zip File Compression" program, so now I will revert to the "compact" content menus, uninstall ALL NCH programs (5 of them) and reboot to see if that was the problem. If it fails, at least I have the option of reverting to the full context menu.
I had updated to W11 22H2 via inline System Update (through an ISO) rather than waiting for Microsoft to update via the normal process. All other computers are updated except the one I am having trouble with. I guess it was not updating because of the problem I am experiencing.
Maybe If I had simply uninstalled all the NCH programs and then attempted a normal update it would have worked, so the "NCH" problem may in fact stop PCs from updating to 22H2 Build!
(If I paid money for NCH programs I want my money back!)- jaygi1957Copper Contributorplease tell me how to find this NCH program when control panel does not list it.
- MTCONROYCopper ContributorI have the same issue, I rolled back to Windows 10 then back to Windows 11 hoping this would correct the issue, however it does not. I also tried and check my admin level and that is order. Hope this issue gets solved by WINDOWS 11 team soon.
- ChrisRaisinCopper ContributorSee my response posted today to solve your problem (and this problem for thousands of others I assume).
- BuffaloguyCopper ContributorSolved. After reading countless posts and trying every remedy I did run across an article that suggested certain programs could cause problems if they used menu context extensions. NCH products were mentioned. I removed the program Express Zip from my PC and I could once again use run as administrator in all its forms. I had Express Zip installed under Windows 10 and it was never a problem. However, once I upgraded to 11 it became one.
- FinStPCopper Contributor
So glad to have come across this old post. I have been tearing out my hair for days because I couldn't run any app as administrator. I had tried every other solution mentioned online and none of them worked. Than I saw your post, uninstalled NCH Express ZIp - and all is well with the world again. Thank you!