Setting the default left-click action on a specific shortcut to "Open" or "Run as administrator"

Question

I have two separate machines (running Windows Server 20008 R2), which both have the same application installed on them (in this case SQL Server Management Studio).

If I right-click on the Start menu item for these programs, one machine has "Open" in bold and "Run as administrator" in normal type; the other has "Run as administrator" in bold and "Open" in normal type.

As such, if I left-click the icon to start this application, one machine will open the application as-is, and the other will issue the UAC prompt for elevation.

I want both to have "Open" as the default, bold option, so left-clicking will open normally without elevation.

I have checked the Compatibility tab for the icons on both machines and both have the "Run this program as an administrator" option unticked.

The neither the HCR\lnkfile or HCR\exefile registry keys show any obvious differences between the two machines.

Where else does Explorer look to determine what the default left-click action should be for an icon?

Answer 1

Actually, this turned out to be really simple. There are two 'run as administrator'-type settings for a shortcut:

1. On the Compatability tab, you can choose Run this program as an administrator. This will change the setting for the application which the shortcut points to, and it will apply every time you open the same program (from this shortcut or another).

2. On the Shortcut tab, there is an Advanced button, which opens a dialog with a Run as adminstrator option. This one changes the setting for the current shortcut only, and does not affect the other ways you might run the same program.

In short, whether the Open or Run as administrator option is the default is dependent on the second option -- unticking the Run as administrator option in the shortcut's Advanced Properties dialog sets the default double-click action back to Open.