Launching PSO Apps Without UAC Prompts

[Roland 9]

This is a guide that will help you to, with UAC enabled (for higher security), start the PSO-related apps in any order/at any time without crashing PSO.

Spoiler

As opposed to simply turning off the UAC globally - which is the more common (and vulnerable) workaround - the greatest benefit of the method outlined in this guide - selectively skipping the UAC for PSO apps - is that it allows you keep a higher level of security on your machine for unrelated apps. With the PSO apps no longer triggering the UAC, you can play with minimal to no interruptions from UAC prompts, except when you make a mistake such as trying to install an app while PSO is running, which would honestly be very rare and you can control this by just installing it later.

THE ISSUE: PSO crashes whenever a UAC prompt is displayed and the PSO apps - PSO BB, Destiny Reader, AHK scripts - all trigger UAC prompts when launching.
THE SOLUTIONS: Listed below are some of the potential solutions.

1. Disable UAC Prompts Globally: Lowers the security on the machine by allowing unknown actors to secretly make unauthorized system changes without your knowledge. (Not recommended)
2. Disable UAC Prompts Selectively: Utilize advanced techniques to launch selected apps without UAC prompts, leaving the prompts on for all unrelated applications. (Suggested)

Solution #2 is what is covered in this guide. For this guide, we are specifically using Task Scheduler Tasks and Task Scheduler Shortcuts to circumvent UAC prompts for PSO apps only. That might sound complicated, but below is a step-by-step guide to make it less daunting.

GUIDE: Creating a Task Scheduler Task & Shortcut

1. Launch the Task Scheduler
   1. Click on the start menu
   2. Type and select "Task Scheduler"
2. Create a Task Scheduler Task
   1. In the left hand pane, make sure "Task Scheduler Library" is selected
   2. In the right hand pane, click "Create Task..."
   3. Give it a name
      1. Note: You'll need this name in step 3.2 below.
   4. Tick "Run with highest privileges"
      1. Note: This skips the UAC prompt and runs it with admin privileges.
   5. Click the "Actions" tab in this popup
   6. Click "New..."
   7. Click "Browse..."
   8. Browse to the target executable and select it.
      1. Example: DestinyReader v0.9.17.exe
   9. Click the "Conditions" tab
   10. Un-tick "Stop if the computer switches to battery power" and "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power"
   11. Click "OK" to finish creating the task.
3. Create a Task Scheduler Task Shortcut
   1. For simplicity of the guide, go to your Documents folder and right-click and select "New > Shortcut"
      1. Note: The New>Shortcut prompt is blocked in admin-only folders like C:\Program Files, which is why I'm suggesting your "Documents" folder.
   2. In the "Type the location of the item" input box type "C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn "[TaskName]""
      1. Note: Don't include the outside quotation marks. Replace [TaskName] with the name you chose in step 2.3.
   3. Click Next
   4. Give the shortcut a name
   5. Click Finish
4. Optionally, move the shortcut to the intended target folder.
   1. For example, I keep mine in my PSO installation folder, but I created them in my documents folder due to the note mentioned in step 3.1.1 above.

Ta-Da! Now when you double-click this shortcut it'll launch the target application with admin privileges without a UAC prompt. Go launch your Destiny Reader like a pro with full security.

Edited Monday at 08:30 PM by Roland