accessing WMI in windows powershell vs c# program on windows 7 enterprise

Question

My account has administrative privileges. I access WMI on a Windows 7 Enterprise VM with powershell as follows:

 Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\SecurityCenter2 -Class AntiVirusProduct  -ComputerName $computername

and with C# as follows:

        string computer = Environment.MachineName;
        string wmipath = @"\\" + computer + @"\root\SecurityCenter2";
        try
        {
            ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(wmipath,
              "SELECT * FROM AntivirusProduct");
            ManagementObjectCollection instances = searcher.Get();
            //MessageBox.Show(instances.Count.ToString()); 
            foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in instances)
            {
                return queryObj[type].ToString();
            }
        }

        catch (Exception e)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(e.Message);
        }

However, the code in Powershell works always but the code in C# works only if I run the program as administrator explicitly. Can I add anything to the C# code so that it could run for a user with administrative right without starting the C# program explicitly as administrator?

No you can't. With UAC activated in W7, your "administrative priv." will only let you answer YES on the UAC popup when permissions are needed. If your app needs admin-rights you need to start the application with "run as administrator" or build in a check in your software that will trigger the UAC-popup. Remember that you can go into properties on a shortcut -> Shortcut -> Advances -> always admin to always run as admin. Last option is ofc. to deactivate UAC, but that's not popular when it's work-related :) Please correct me if I'm wrong. — Frode F., Dec 17 '12 at 17:21
funny thing is, on one of another machine the same code doesn't demand being run as administrator, I'm slightly confused.... — Greg, Dec 20 '12 at 09:25

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

0

You can force the UAC prompt without having to explicitly "Run as administrator" by editing the manifest (an XML file that goes in the same directory as your C# executable).

See the StackOverflow answers for "How to force my .NET App to run as administrator on Windows 7?".

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

1
1

answered Dec 17 '12 at 18:13

Daryn

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CB. · Answer 2 · 2012-12-17T21:29:09.650

Usually when my application can be run only from machine administrator I use this method to verify admin right:

public static bool HasAdministrativeRight()
        {
            WindowsPrincipal principal = new WindowsPrincipal(WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent());
            return principal.IsInRole(WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator);
        }

In the main part of my code (form or console application)

        if (!HasAdministrativeRight()) 
        {
          if (RunElevated(""))                
          {
           Application.Exit();
          }
        }

Code for run in elevated way:

private static bool RunElevated(string args)
        {
            ProcessStartInfo processInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
            processInfo.Verb = "runas";
            processInfo.FileName = Application.ExecutablePath;
            processInfo.Arguments = args;
            try
            {
                Process.Start(processInfo);
                return true;
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                //Do nothing. Probably the user canceled the UAC window
            }
            return false;
        }

accessing WMI in windows powershell vs c# program on windows 7 enterprise

2 Answers2