How To: Disable(or Turn Off) Annoying UAC(User Account Control) in Windows 7

The user interface of User Account Control (UAC) settings in Windows 7 has changed to reflect the move to make UAC(User Account Control) less annoying. In Windows 7, the UAC has a slider bar which allows users to configure and select which level of notification (and hence protection against unauthorized and malicious access) they want. With the fine-tuning of UAC, the wording ‘disable’ or ‘turn off’ is no longer available. So how can disable UAC safely in Microsoft’s new generation operating system Windows 7? Or at least, how can turn off the UAC notification prompt or pop-up in Windows 7 so that they appear less regularly? In fact, the steps to disable UAC in Windows 7 is similar to steps to Disable UAC(User Account Control) in Windows Vista, only with slight user interface change, and there is plenty of methods to turn off UAC too.

Method 1:

Disable or Turn Off UAC (User Account Control) in Windows 7 through Control Panel

• To user Control Panel to disable UAC(User Account Control) in Windows 7, there are several methods to access the User Account Control settings page:
  • Go to Windows 7 Start Menu -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Account.
  • Go to Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> Action Center.
  • Click or right click on Flag icon in notification area (system tray), and then Open Action Center.
  • Type “MsConfig” in Start Search to start System Configuration, then go to Tools tab, select Change UAC Settings, then click on Launch button.
• Click on User Account Control(UAC) settings link.
• Slide the slider bar to the lowest value (towards Never Notify), with description showing Never notify me.
• Click OK to make the change effective.
• Restart the computer to turn off User Access Control.

Method 2:

Disable UAC in Windows 7 with Registry Editor (RegEdit)

• Run Windows 7 Registry Editor (RegEdit).
• Navigate to the following registry key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem
• Locate the following REG_DWORD value:EnableLUA
• Set the value of EnableLUA to 0.
• Optional step to suppress UAC consent prompt dialog, locate the following REG_DWORD value:ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin
• Set the value of ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin to 0 (optional).
• Exit from Windows 7 Registry Editor and restart the computer to turn off UAC.

Method 3:

Turn Off UAC in windows 7 Using Group Policy

For Windows 7 Ultimate, Business or Enterprise edition which has Local Group Policy, or computer joined to domain and has Active Directory-based GPO, the group policy can be used to disable UAC for local computer or many computer across large networks at once.

• Enter GPedit.msc in Start Search to run Local Group Policy editor. (Or gpmc.msc to run Group Policy Management Console for AD-based domain GPO editor).
• Navigate to the following tree branch:Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security OptionsIn GPMC, browse to the required GPO which is linked to the domain or OU where the policy wants to apply.
• Locate the following policy in the right pane:User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval ModeSet its value to Elevate without prompt.
• Locate the following policy in the right pane:User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevationSet its value to Disabled.
• Locate the following policy in the right pane:User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval ModeSet its value to Disabled.
• Locate the following policy in the right pane:User Account Control: Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locationsSet its value to Disabled.
• Restart the computer when done.

The annoying UAC prompts in Windows 7 is now gone.