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I have work laptop which is set to highest UAC notification setting. It is extremely annoying, especially the bleeboops when I try to launch the task manager. I am able to set UAC to never notify, but after about 10 minutes, it resets to highest notification setting.

Is there any workaround for this? For example can I have a bat file that lowers this every 5 minutes? At the very least can I make the UAC prompts silent (without disabling all system sounds, sometimes it is useful)

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    Since this setting is apparently set by group policy: Have you tried talking to your IT department and asking them to change this setting for your laptop? Being a (part-time) sysadmin myself, I'd happily modify our IT security policy if there is a good reason for it (and "being annoying while not effectively increasing security" is a good reason), but I'd be mad if I found out that someone tried to work around my security measures without talking to me first. – Heinzi Jan 20 at 12:36
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    As a sound-sensitive introvert, I simply turned ALL system sounds to "mute" . This gets rid of notification bleeps from any source but does not interfere with sound from Teams/Zoom/etc meetings, or from web-page videos. – Carl Witthoft Jan 20 at 13:46
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    @Heinzi Afaics UAC on the highest level actually is a security boundary (contrary to all other levels..) so that's probably the reason why they set it to that. Personally I turn off all the system sounds for the same reason too. – Voo Jan 20 at 14:22
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    @Voo: If your user account has admin access on two machines, limited tokens can spawn elevated processes by accessing the machines over \\machine\c$ shares. No UAC demand is ever generated. (Note that these paths don't work when accessing the same machine so you really do have to have two.) Otherwise, the solution is to set a trap in the registry (event viewer is a common bait program) and wait for the next legit elevation. – Joshua Jan 20 at 21:39
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    @Voo: It involves swapping system binaries with hacked versions followed by using sc to restart services. Now, if you have separate user and admin accounts that's a real security barrier no matter what you set UAC to (even all the way down). – Joshua Jan 20 at 22:16
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Your IT dept may take a dim view of changing when UAC is triggered.

To turn the sound off try StartMenu -> Search -> Change system sounds. Then in Program Events change the sound for Windows User Account Control to Sounds: (None). This entry is the last in the Windows group. (None) is at the start of the Sounds: list.

You can use the left arrow on your keyboard to close each group, and then right arrow to re-open the Windows group. Then the End key to go to end of the list, the Windows User Account Control entry should be at the end of the list. enter image description here

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    A solution that I can live with without being.. too bold. Thx. – grdgfgr Jan 20 at 16:55
  • I think "may" is being charitable. I've not seen a corporate IT policy where OP's proposed intervention would not be directly forbidden and quite seriously grounds for termination. – J... Jan 21 at 14:22
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You could try making a task using Task Scheduler. Be warned: This may not work, as your employer may have disabled the Task Scheduler on their computers.

First, create a batch file with this code: %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Next, open Task Scheduler by pressing Win+R and typing out taskschd.msc.

On the right side of the window, click "Create Task"

Under the first tab that appears, make a name for your task (could be anything, doesn't matter)

Click on the "Triggers" tab and add a trigger. Set it to begin the task on a cycle, and choose "one time" from the radio buttons on the left.

Under advanced settings, tick the "Repeat task every:" box, and in the dropdown list, choose "5 minutes". Make sure the "Enable" box is ticked also. Make sure you save the changes!

Under the Actions tab, add a new action. Make sure the dropdown is set to "Start a program," and in the Program/Script box, browse to the batch file you made earlier. Again, make sure that you save your changes.

Now, click OK in the initial window. Your task should be created and running. This will make a command prompt window appear every 5 minutes, but it will open and almost instantly close.

Good luck!

-Chris

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    Oh I wouldn't be worried about it not working. I'd be much more worried about it actually working. Circumventing an intentional security measurement of a work device has a pretty good chance of getting at the very least an official reprimand and worst case could get you fired for cause. – Voo Jan 20 at 14:22

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