Jack @ ASP.NET

While on Windows XP by default every user is an administrator (although you can create “standard” users) Windows Vista introduces a new feature named User Account Control (UAC) which causes that by default even administrators run as standard users. When a process requires administrator rights to run, the operating system prompts for an “elevation prompt”.

Here is a demo:

System.Diagnostics.Process process = null;
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo processStartInfo;

processStartInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();

processStartInfo.FileName = "regedit.exe";

if (System.Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major >= 6)  // Windows Vista or higher
{
   processStartInfo.Verb = "runas";
}
else
{
   // No need to prompt to run as admin
}

processStartInfo.Arguments = "";
processStartInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
processStartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;

try
{
   process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(processStartInfo);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
   MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}
finally
{
   if (process != null)
   {
      process.Dispose();
   }
}