Why is SWTOR requesting UAC Elevation? There is absolutely no need for it to run with elevated privileges and it's breaking the functionality of other applications such as Ventrilo, which have to be run as an administrator in turn, just so they can see keypress events.

Bad programming and/or anti cheat surveillance.

why are you even using uac

why are you even using uac

 

Because he wants a more secure system, duh. Let me guess, you're one of the "experts" that advise people to turn it off?

Edited January 7, 2012 by FloatingFatMan

Probably because you have your UAC settings on one of the more strict settings and since this game want's to access your network (and the internet beyond) your computer is making sure you are aware. Also I think on some operating systems you need to run it as Admin or at least have Admin privileges.

Probably because you have your UAC settings on one of the more strict settings and since this game want's to access your network (and the internet beyond) your computer is making sure you are aware. Also I think on some operating systems you need to run it as Admin or at least have Admin privileges.

 

Uh, no. The game runs on a process with elevated (admin) privileges.

 

In no way shape or form does simply accessing the internet require process elevation. It probably has to do with how the patcher writes files into Program Files.

Uh, no. The game runs on a process with elevated (admin) privileges.

 

In no way shape or form does simply accessing the internet require process elevation. It probably has to do with how the patcher writes files into Program Files.

 

Also nothing to do with it. I don't have TOR installed in the default directory or even primary HD, yet it still requires elevation. It's not the first MMO to do so either, and it's annoying as there really is no need for it unless they have built in anti-cheat systems that need to monitor other processes.

Edited January 7, 2012 by FloatingFatMan

Uh, no. The game runs on a process with elevated (admin) privileges.

 

In no way shape or form does simply accessing the internet require process elevation. It probably has to do with how the patcher writes files into Program Files.

 

I don't have my game in Program Files and it still asks for privileges. See post #2 for an explanation.

It probably has to do with how the patcher writes files into Program Files.

 

Nope - that's why Microsoft implemented the VirtualStore, so that applications installed into protected areas such as "Program Files" can still virtually update themselves without UAC elevation.

 

However, my game is not installed on the system drive, there is absolutely no requirement for admin privs. World of Warcraft never requires it, and it's doing pretty much the same thing as SWTOR.

Because he wants a more secure system, duh. Let me guess, you're one of the "experts" that advise people to turn it off?

 

because using uac actually secures your computer

 

lol

 

its a system built for people that are entry-level computer users, you dont have to be an expert to be above uac

I don't have my game in Program Files and it still asks for privileges. See post #2 for an explanation.

 

So? The launcher is going to still launch itself with Admin privileges. They're not going to go searching to make sure it absolutely doesn't need to write to Program Files before doing so.

 

You can say "bad programming" but there must be SOME reason why the launcher requires admin privileges. Even if it's a bad one. They didn't just put in for the lulz.

Nope - that's why Microsoft implemented the VirtualStore, so that applications installed into protected areas such as "Program Files" can still virtually update themselves without UAC elevation.

 

However, my game is not installed on the system drive, there is absolutely no requirement for admin privs. World of Warcraft never requires it, and it's doing pretty much the same thing as SWTOR.

 

VirtualStore was for old applications incompatible with Vista's security model.

 

You should know that you can't put an unlimited amount of crap into VirtualStore. Putting game patches in there, for instance, really isn't a good idea at all. The VirtualStore is in the user profile, after all, and unavailable to other users.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Leadlian

because using uac actually secures your computer

 

lol

 

its a system built for people that are entry-level computer users, you dont have to be an expert to be above uac

 

Disabling UAC on an admin account is just like running any Unix machine as root. It's just a dumb, dumb idea.

because using uac actually secures your computer

 

lol

 

its a system built for people that are entry-level computer users, you dont have to be an expert to be above uac

 

I'm well aware of its pro's and cons. Contrary to your rather arrogant opinion, 99% of users do not have the technical know how to protect their systems beyond what it ships with and advising people to disable it just to avoid a few security prompts is utterly irresponsible.

 

Fact: Windows is more secure with UAC enabled, than without.

Disabling UAC on an admin account is just like running any Unix machine as root. It's just a dumb, dumb idea.

 

not really

 

theres 100x other options to keep your machine secure, like using EMET and being good at the internet

 

uac is a safety blanket

99% of computer users don't even know what EMET is.

not really

 

theres 100x other options to keep your machine secure, like using EMET and being good at the internet

 

uac is a safety blanket

 

OK. If you think it's OK for untrusted processes to run as Admin without notifying you, go for it.

 

There are, of course, more ways to keep your computer secure. Likewise, locking your front door is only going to help so much. But you should still lock your doors.

Ok maybe I am misunderstanding. When you say it wants UAC elevation, what is that asking you to do? Yes I disabled my UAC notifications. I don't need my computer asking me if I am sure with everything that I do.

 

On that note I also have a firewalls/security software running all the time.

 

 

OK. If you think it's OK for untrusted processes to run as Admin without notifying you, go for it.

 

There are, of course, more ways to keep your computer secure. Likewise, locking your front door is only going to help so much. But you should still lock your doors.

 

I also keep an eye on what processes are running to ensure nothing runs that shouldn't be.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Vesperascit

Ok maybe I am misunderstanding. When you say it wants UAC elevation, what is that asking you to do? Yes I disabled my UAC notifications. I don't need my computer asking me if I am sure with everything that I do.

 

On that note I also have a firewalls/security software running all the time.

 

It's asking you if it's OK to run a process with elevated (admin) privileges.

 

If you are on an admin account and disable UAC, it will just go ahead and do it automatically if requested, just like back in the XP days.

 

The purpose of UAC isn't to make sure if you are OK with whatever actions you do - it's to make sure that you are actually the one doing said actions and not malware.

Ok maybe I am misunderstanding. When you say it wants UAC elevation, what is that asking you to do? Yes I disabled my UAC notifications. I don't need my computer asking me if I am sure with everything that I do.

 

On that note I also have a firewalls/security software running all the time.

 

When a program request elevated priviledges, it means it wants unrestricted access to the core of the entire OS; from there it can do literally ANYthing to your computer. Turning off the prompt that asks you to verify if you really want to allow this is rather stupid.

 

Sure, the other stuff you use will help, but they won't protect you from everything.

When a program request elevated priviledges, it means it wants unrestricted access to the core of the entire OS; from there it can do literally ANYthing to your computer. Turning off the prompt that asks you to verify if you really want to allow this is rather stupid.

 

Sure, the other stuff you use will help, but they won't protect you from everything.

 

That is what I thought it did. And yes I know that but as I said I also keep an eye on processes to make sure nothing is running that shouldn't be.

 

Also OP, what OS are you running? I know UAC means you are using Vista or Win7 but I am still curious.

When a program request elevated priviledges, it means it wants unrestricted access to the core of the entire OS; from there it can do literally ANYthing to your computer. Turning off the prompt that asks you to verify if you really want to allow this is rather stupid.

 

Sure, the other stuff you use will help, but they won't protect you from everything.

 

That's not how it works.

 

When a program is launched the manifest file determines whether it requires elevated permission or not. In other word's it's not "program wants to do something dangerous, show UAC prompt". It's "Program needs admin privileges when it runs, show UAC prompt".

 

The difference is subtle but important. For example if a program does NOT require admin privileges in the manifest file and it writes to the program files directory, whatever it writes will be put in the virtual store.

 

If a program requires admin privileges in the manifest file, it will write to the actual program files folder.

 

The SWTOR launcher requires UAC elevation because it can do patches, I'm not sure whehter the actual game is launched in admin mode though, the prompt only shows for the launcher and not the game itself.

Edited January 7, 2012 by bludwork

I found that if starting the game in XP compatibility mode, it does not request admin priviledges at all; so I suppose that those priviledges are not needed at all for neither the launcher nor the game, heh.

 

It looks like bad coding on the launcher side, here, as what I also found was that the launcher did not just try to elevate its priviledges, but to fully impersonate admin role - the AppData directory it uses is that of the admin account, while programs are in principle able to use admin priviledges for certain tasks while still running under the actual user's account, but it requires more work from the programmers.

 

Or maybe it's just an entry in the launcher's manifest that flags it as an installer, Vista and above automatically treat anything considered an installer as requiring admin priviledges (try it, any application names like "setup" or "install" suddenly automatically triggers a UAC prompt, by just having this name), even if they don't.

 

When a program is launched the manifest file determines whether it requires elevated permission or not. In other word's it's not "program wants to do something dangerous, show UAC prompt". It's "Program needs admin privileges when it runs, show UAC prompt".

 

The difference is subtle but important. For example if a program does NOT require admin privileges in the manifest file and it writes to the program files directory, whatever it writes will be put in the virtual store.

 

Yes andn no. A program can, at runtime, request higher priviledges without impersonating a higher priviledges user, but that is more complicated than just a manifest entry.

 

The SWTOR launcher requires UAC elevation because it can do patches, I'm not sure whehter the actual game is launched in admin mode though, the prompt only shows for the launcher and not the game itself.

 

When the launcher is run under an admin account, the game is automatically also run under that account. Go and have a look at SWTOR's AppData directory, you may find it inside your admin account's user directory.

 

But as I mentioned running it in XP compatibility mode removes the necessity for admin mode entirely, so it is definitely not doing anything that wouldn't work without.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Mephane

This is false. You cannot elevate a process at runtime, there's no manifest entry to do that. The only way is to launch another process that requires elevated permission. That's one way they could have done it, to run the launcher in non elevated mode and then use another application that requires elevated mode to do the patching.

 

-An elevated process cannot "downgrade" itself. Once it is run elevated it stays elevated.

-A non elevated process cannot "upgrade" itself. Once it is run non-elevated it stays that way.

-An elevated process can start a separate non elevated process

-A non elevated process can start a separate elevated process.

 

The launcher is not the same as the game. if you look in your taskman you will see two swtor exectuables, the launcher and the game.

 

Not getting the UAC prompt in compatibility mode means nothing, the application can work in non elevated mode it just won't be able to do certain things WHEN it needs to. For example, if a non-elevated app tries to start a service or do something that requires elevation, the function call will fail with access denied. App will continue working just fine. You won't see any prompts, just weird behavior (if that behavior is triggered at all).

The two processes in the Task Manager are the client itself (swtor.exe) and swtor.exe @RemoteRendererServer.icb

 

I assume it's the Remote Renderer Server that is causing the UAC to require elevation. I am not 100% on that but I assume since it is a Remote Server (according to that name anyways, i could very well be wrong.