3

I just installed Windows 10, after years spent with Windows 7.

Drag & dropping a .wav file into SoundForge is something important in my workflow. Why doesn't it work anymore in Windows 10?

Maybe linked: why the shield icon on the SoundForge shortcut? I tried Properties > Shortcut > Advanced > Run as administrator ON or OFF, it's the same.

PS: I'm using Windows 10 Pro, with a single user account (I'm the administrator).

enter image description here

I also tried administrator ON/OFF in Properties > Compatibility, but it's also the same.

enter image description here

Basj
  • 2,143

4 Answers4

8

You see a effect of the User Account Control. Drag & Drop only works for programs that have the same permission level. If you run an application as admin, you can only drag and drop files from applications that also run as admin.

User Interface Privilege Isolation (UIPI)

UIPI blocks Windows messages being sent from process with a lower MIC level to one running at a higher MIC level. Drag-and-drop is implemented via Windows messages. Therefore, if you try and drag-and-drop a file from Windows Explorer (medium MIC) to Notepad running elevated (high MIC), the Windows messages are blocked and drag-and-drop doesn’t work.

Moving the slider down to the lowest position no longer disables UAC since Windows 8, because UAC is required to use the store apps, because UAC provides the sandbox in which the apps run isolated.

The version 8 is very old, so Windows detects that it has issues running under normal user permissions and requires admin rights.

As mentioned above this is a feature that can't be fixed. But there is a workaround to run Explorer as admin to be able to drag & drop files from Explorer to a process running as admin.

magicandre1981
  • 99,606
2

I have this exact same issue with an older version of Wavelab and my only workaround is to drag and drop onto the Wavelab desktop icon shortcut. For some reason this opens the file in the program as normal and can also be used to add more files into it while running.

Shriker
  • 21
0

As posted in a comment from @magicandre1981 (to whom I'll give bounty of course, credit to him), another solution is to use RunAsInvoker as mentioned in http://meridian.ws/wordpress/?p=306 and http://www.ghacks.net/2010/07/08/get-rid-of-uac-prompts-with-microsofts-application-compatibility-toolkit/.

Here is how it goes; I used a similar method to previous links, but with a few slight differences (point 6 was not mentioned in these articles, it was needed for me).

More precisely:

  • Download ADK (Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit) from here and install ACT

  • Launch Compatibility Administrator (32 bit, in my case) and create a new Application fix:

  • Choose the SoundForge 8 executable path, and add RunAsInvoker:

  • Auto-generate in the next step:

    enter image description here

  • Save the Database (File > Save As) somewhere. Then File > Install it.

    enter image description here

  • In the Properties of "Forge80.exe" (right click on it), uncheck everything related to Compatibility mode (this was necessary for me)

  • Delete the original shortcuts, and create new shortcut on your desktop if necessary

  • It works!

Basj
  • 2,143
0

New solution, without requiring installation of "Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit".

Just create a noadmin.reg file containing:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Sound Forge 8.0\Forge80.exe"="RunAsInvoker"

Launch it, done!

NB: it might be needed to right click on C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Sony\\Sound Forge 8.0\\Forge80.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Change settings for all users > disable "Run this program as administrator".

Basj
  • 2,143