Using HCOSS with Windows User Account Control (UAC)

Restriction: This topic applies to Windows environments only.

Restriction: This topic applies to the Windows Vista and 7 operating systems and later.

When you have enabled the Windows User Account Control (UAC) feature, HCOSS exhibits different behavior depending on whether or not you are logged in as a standard user or an administrator, whether or not you are a member of the Windows Administrators group, and how you start the HCOSS user interface.

Standard user and administrator modes

You can run HCOSS as a standard user or as an administrator. When you run as an administrator, all HCOSS features are available to you. However, when you run HCOSS as a standard user, some features are limited. We recommend that you run HCOSS as an administrator when possible.

HCOSS UAC behavior

When using UAC, HCOSS runs in either standard user or administrator mode, depending on these three factors:

The Windows group to which you belong - standard user or administrator
How you start HCOSS - from the Start menu or from within the IDE
The settings for HCOSS UAC Behavior options

To run HCOSS in standard user mode

The following scenarios show how to run HCOSS in standard user mode, limiting access to some features. In each scenario, the statement in each first-level bullet point must be true. Assume all HCOSS UAC Behavior options are set to their defaults:

Scenario 1

You are logged into Windows as a standard user
You are not part of the Administrator group
You start HCOSS as a standard user using either of the following methods:
- From within the IDE by selecting Run > Tools > Data Tools > HCO for SQL Server
- From the Start menu

Scenario 2

You are logged into Windows as a standard user
You are also part of the Windows Administrator group
You start HCOSS using either of the following methods:
- From within the IDE by selecting Run > Tools > Data Tools > HCO for SQL Server
- From the Start menu, answering No to any subsequent prompts.

Scenario 3

You are logged into Windows as an administrator
You start HCOSS from the Start menu, answering No to any subsequent prompts

To run HCOSS in administrator mode

The following scenarios show how to run HCOSS in administrator mode, providing full access to all features. In each scenario, the statement in each first-level bullet point must be true:

Scenario 1

You are logged into Windows as a standard user
You are a member of the Windows Administrator group
You start HCOSS using either of the following methods:
- From the Start menu, answering Yes to any subsequent prompts
- From the Start menu but right-clicking HCO for SQL Server and selecting Run as administrator

Scenario 2

You are logged into Windows as an administrator
You start HCOSS using any of the following methods:
- From within the IDE by selecting Run > Tools > Data Tools > HCO for SQL Server
- From the Start menu
- From the Start menu by right-clicking HCO for SQL Server and selecting Run as administrator

HCOSS UAC prompts

By default, HCOSS could prompt you at startup depending on the settings of the HCOSS UAC Behavior options. You might encounter one or both of the following prompts:

Relaunch HOCSS as Administrator

This prompt appears by default when:

You are a member of the Administrator group
You launch HCOSS from the Start menu without selecting Run as administrator

If you respond Yes to this prompt, HCOSS relaunches in administrator mode, and Windows displays the User Account Control dialog box. Respond to this prompt as appropriate.

If you respond No to this prompt, HCOSS resumes launching in standard user mode.

If you check Stop asking me, HCOSS changes the default setting of the Prompt to automatically run as Administrator option from True to False.

Running as non-administrator information

When you are running HCOSS in standard user mode and you are not a member of the Administrators group, this dialog box appears to notify you that some features are limited in standard user mode.

If you check Do not tell me again, HCOSS changes the default setting of the Warn non-Administrator users of limited functionality option from True to False.

Note: You can change the default HCOSS behavior with regard to launching HCOSS with UAC and UAC prompts by setting the options manually. For information on setting HCOSS UAC Behavior options, see Options.