Eraser needs administrative privileges to use?
- Thread starter Brainy84
- Start date
sainokawara
New Member
Sorry, I just noticed you said that you had to enter the Administrator's password. Did you LOGON using the Administrator's User ID? And, exactly what release of Windows are you running? I do not have to enter the password on my Windows 7 system? It would be helpful if you could also provide the following information. The default install location is C:\Program Files\Eraser\. Find the program Eraser.exe, right-click on it and select "Properties". Select the "Compatibility" tab and tell me whether "Run this program as an administrator" is checked (a light-gray check is checked) in the "Privilege Level" box? Then, click on "Change settings for all users" and tell me whether, or not, it is also checked? Thank you,
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Actually, if you reply "yes", the files will be deleted and the recycle bin emptied. What you are seeing is the Window's UAC prompt alerting you to the fact that a program wants to run with Administrator authority. There are ways of suppressing these but, for your system's security, please don't do them! And, there are things that the Eraser team may be able to do to eliminate them if they become aware of them. Until then, any Eraser function from the Recycle Bin ICON or Windows Explorer menu will produce these prompts. However, if you are able to perform the same functions from the Eraser Scheduler window, you can eliminate these annoying prompts. And, there are ways of Auto starting Eraser at LOGON so it will always be just a single click away. Unfortunately, the old method of Auto starting Eraser now fails because Eraser runs with Administrator authority. If you look at my post on March 23, "Install Bug & Enhancement - Registry Entries", I describe how you can Auto start Eraser using the Windows Task Scheduler. If you have any difficulty, please respond here so everything about this problem is kept together.
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Actually, if you reply "yes", the files will be deleted and the recycle bin emptied. What you are seeing is the Window's UAC prompt alerting you to the fact that a program wants to run with Administrator authority. There are ways of suppressing these but, for your system's security, please don't do them! And, there are things that the Eraser team may be able to do to eliminate them if they become aware of them. Until then, any Eraser function from the Recycle Bin ICON or Windows Explorer menu will produce these prompts. However, if you are able to perform the same functions from the Eraser Scheduler window, you can eliminate these annoying prompts. And, there are ways of Auto starting Eraser at LOGON so it will always be just a single click away. Unfortunately, the old method of Auto starting Eraser now fails because Eraser runs with Administrator authority. If you look at my post on March 23, "Install Bug & Enhancement - Registry Entries", I describe how you can Auto start Eraser using the Windows Task Scheduler. If you have any difficulty, please respond here so everything about this problem is kept together.
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Hi,
sorry for the lack of information. I am using Win7 x64 professional with a SSD. I am logged in as standard user without admin rights. The installation location is C:\Program Files\Eraser.
The Checkbox is enabled (run as administrator).
The usage with an standard user was given in the older versions. i need to deploy eraser, so it would be helpful to know how i can use it directly after installation with standard user rights.
Thanks in advance
brainy84
sorry for the lack of information. I am using Win7 x64 professional with a SSD. I am logged in as standard user without admin rights. The installation location is C:\Program Files\Eraser.
The Checkbox is enabled (run as administrator).
The usage with an standard user was given in the older versions. i need to deploy eraser, so it would be helpful to know how i can use it directly after installation with standard user rights.
Thanks in advance
brainy84
sainokawara
New Member
A "Standard" user! Now, I understand exactly what you saw [if UAC was turned off: You "clicked" and, literally, "nothing happened"]. If UAC was on, you should have received a UAC prompt asking for the Administrator's password to elevate to Administrator authority.
Before I continue, I want to make certain that you understand that I am not affiliated with Eraser. I am a retired software engineer interested in privacy/security and the total disregard for it in all PC software. So, any and all opinions are mine. Less than a month ago, I discovered Eraser and liked several of its functions: the altering of folder/file names and the clearing of the Master File Table. This is the only such product that I have found that does that. And, in my opinion, it is critical because massive amounts of information can "leak" from just this source even if the contents of the files have been overwritten. However, I was disappointed in the minimal involvement of the Eraser group and total lack of any community on the Forum. And, the only Eraser 6 documentation that I have found is one incomplete and probably outdated "user guide". So, I have had to resort to educated guesses about its internal workings. Some of the Forum posts were so old and easily answerable, so I replied to several questions including yours.
That said, let me tell you how you can get Eraser 6 [6.2.2969] to run for a "Standard" user and its limitation. Most functions of Eraser 6 do not need Administrator authority to run. However, Eraser users have been struggling to get all of its functions to work especially the "Erase Free Space", which I consider critical, to run because the install process did not create the Registry entries to allow it to run with Administrator authority. So, I posted on March 23 "Install Bug & Enhancement - Registry Entries". Shortly thereafter, Eraser built 6.2.2969 trying to incorporate my findings [but missed slightly]. Eraser install now creates a String [C:\Program Files\Eraser\Eraser.exe] with the DataValue: "RUNASADMIN" in the Registry at the Keys: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers and HKCU\Sofware\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers. Either one of these will result in Eraser running with Administrator authority on Windows 7. On all other releases of Windows, everything I have read says the DataValue must be "~RUNASADMIN". I hope Eraser tested that "RUNASADMIN" works because I can't! So, you can get Eraser to run without UAC requesting elevation to Administrator authority by using REGEDIT to "Modify..." the DataValue to something like just "x" for the key in BOTH the HKLM and HKCU hives. Don't let REGEDIT frighten you, it's a piece of cake.
If you then do a LOGOFF and LOGON, Eraser should start Automatically. And, almost everything should work as you would expect EXCEPT for the "Erase Free Space" function. [I would, of course, verify that it is the only one because I have been know to make mistakes!] For this function to run as coded, Eraser MUST run with Administrator authority [because of Windows restrictions]. And, that is impossible for "Standard" users. But, because I am unaware of even a single Application that "moves" its "temporary" and "deleted" files to the Recycle Bin where an Eraser like program could do a "Secure Delete" of them, for true privacy/security, therefore, an "Erase Free Space" must eventually be done for ALL partitions to overwrite the file contents and change the folder/file names for all deleted folders/files! An interesting dilemma, isn't it?
I will hang around for a few more days so let me know if you have any difficulties.
Before I continue, I want to make certain that you understand that I am not affiliated with Eraser. I am a retired software engineer interested in privacy/security and the total disregard for it in all PC software. So, any and all opinions are mine. Less than a month ago, I discovered Eraser and liked several of its functions: the altering of folder/file names and the clearing of the Master File Table. This is the only such product that I have found that does that. And, in my opinion, it is critical because massive amounts of information can "leak" from just this source even if the contents of the files have been overwritten. However, I was disappointed in the minimal involvement of the Eraser group and total lack of any community on the Forum. And, the only Eraser 6 documentation that I have found is one incomplete and probably outdated "user guide". So, I have had to resort to educated guesses about its internal workings. Some of the Forum posts were so old and easily answerable, so I replied to several questions including yours.
That said, let me tell you how you can get Eraser 6 [6.2.2969] to run for a "Standard" user and its limitation. Most functions of Eraser 6 do not need Administrator authority to run. However, Eraser users have been struggling to get all of its functions to work especially the "Erase Free Space", which I consider critical, to run because the install process did not create the Registry entries to allow it to run with Administrator authority. So, I posted on March 23 "Install Bug & Enhancement - Registry Entries". Shortly thereafter, Eraser built 6.2.2969 trying to incorporate my findings [but missed slightly]. Eraser install now creates a String [C:\Program Files\Eraser\Eraser.exe] with the DataValue: "RUNASADMIN" in the Registry at the Keys: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers and HKCU\Sofware\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers. Either one of these will result in Eraser running with Administrator authority on Windows 7. On all other releases of Windows, everything I have read says the DataValue must be "~RUNASADMIN". I hope Eraser tested that "RUNASADMIN" works because I can't! So, you can get Eraser to run without UAC requesting elevation to Administrator authority by using REGEDIT to "Modify..." the DataValue to something like just "x" for the key in BOTH the HKLM and HKCU hives. Don't let REGEDIT frighten you, it's a piece of cake.
If you then do a LOGOFF and LOGON, Eraser should start Automatically. And, almost everything should work as you would expect EXCEPT for the "Erase Free Space" function. [I would, of course, verify that it is the only one because I have been know to make mistakes!] For this function to run as coded, Eraser MUST run with Administrator authority [because of Windows restrictions]. And, that is impossible for "Standard" users. But, because I am unaware of even a single Application that "moves" its "temporary" and "deleted" files to the Recycle Bin where an Eraser like program could do a "Secure Delete" of them, for true privacy/security, therefore, an "Erase Free Space" must eventually be done for ALL partitions to overwrite the file contents and change the folder/file names for all deleted folders/files! An interesting dilemma, isn't it?
I will hang around for a few more days so let me know if you have any difficulties.
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Hi sainokawara,
at first, thank u for your help. Basically we have mostly SSD drives in use. But there are still some HDDs. I managed eraser to work with standard user by deleting the registry key (HKLM) you mentioned. if i find any further problems, i will come back
.
so long, have a nice day
kind regards
brainy84
at first, thank u for your help. Basically we have mostly SSD drives in use. But there are still some HDDs. I managed eraser to work with standard user by deleting the registry key (HKLM) you mentioned. if i find any further problems, i will come back
.so long, have a nice day
kind regards
brainy84
BugMagnet
New Member
Where is this "Run as Administrator" option set?
Many, many thanks sainokawara
I have been searching for this solution since I upgraded Eraser to V6.2 running on Windows 10 Professional. I can confirm that deleting Registry keys HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers and HKCU\Sofware\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers allows a user without Admin rights to erase files without getting the Windows UAC prompt.
Now off to search to see if there is a Registry key that I can modify to suppress the Eraser confirm dialog!
I have been searching for this solution since I upgraded Eraser to V6.2 running on Windows 10 Professional. I can confirm that deleting Registry keys HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers and HKCU\Sofware\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers allows a user without Admin rights to erase files without getting the Windows UAC prompt.
Now off to search to see if there is a Registry key that I can modify to suppress the Eraser confirm dialog!
This is an old thread but I wanted to find out if you or anyone else found a way to bypass the confirmation to erase in the latest 6.2.x versions? I reinstalled 6.0.10 because that does not require both the UAC and confirmation prompts to erase files.
Same problem here. Did you find any solution?
Thanks
OK in 2016 I deleted the Layer Registry keys (see above) (Win 10) and I could run Eraser without Admin rights to erase files without getting the Windows UAC prompt. I have just installed Eraser on a brand new Win 10 machine and I can't get that workaround to work any more! I never found a way of suppressing the Eraser confirm dialog. Like Neobond (above) I have now reinstalled 6.0.10 because that does not require either the UAC or confirmation prompts to erase files. I downloaded 6.0.10 from Eraser - Browse /Eraser 6/6.0.10 at SourceForge.net.