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Elevated Privileges vs Administrator: What’s The Difference?
Full control or limited access unavailable to standard users?
6 min. read
Published onNovember 13, 2023
published onNovember 13, 2023
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Key notes
The concept of administrator and elevated privileges on a computer can be a little confusing for someone who is not very tech-savvy. Which one should they choose? Which one would be best?
Let’s look closely at the advantages of each to help you make an informed decision.
What are elevated privileges?
An elevated privilege is a temporary status that gives you access to more powerful system settings than what a standard user has access to. They can be granted by the operating system itself, or they can be requested by an application using specific programming techniques.
What is the difference between administrator and elevated privileges?
1. Administrator account
Overview
An administrator account is a special user account with more abilities than normal users. It is the account that you set up when you first install Windows and has complete control over your computer. Administrative privileges are the highest level of access that can be granted to a user.
With these permissions, you can install new programs and remove existing ones. You can also change permissions and restrict access on your computer, add new users and delete existing ones, manage network settings, and much more.
However, this control only remains when you’re logged in. If you try to perform actions reserved for admins, you’ll get theplease login with administrator privileges and try againmessage.
Advantages of administrator privileges
Disadvantages of administrator privileges
2. Elevated privileges
Elevated privileges, are special permissions granted to a user account. When enabled, you have the authority to make changes to the operating system or other programs. As a users with elevated privileges, you have access to parts of Windows that regular users do not.
The most fundamental reason for using elevated privileges is to increase the scope of your application. The main security model of Windows is that a user can only do what he or she is authorized to do. You cannot perform administrative tasks when you log on to Windows as a regular user.
By using an elevated privilege token, your application can perform these tasks on behalf of the administrator. Another reason is to avoid the need for multiple users with administrative rights on the computer.
Advantages of elevated privileges
Disadvantages of elevated privileges
You can use an elevated or administrator account to run Windows programs, but you won’t be able to do everything in these accounts. You’ll need to log out and log back in using an administrator account if you want to make critical changes to your computer’s registry ordisable the UAC.
In summary, the notable differences between administrator and elevated privileges are as tabulated below:
How do I check if I have elevated privileges?
Elevated privileges are a double-edged sword. The good news is that you can perform tasks more quickly and efficiently than before instead of going around creating extra administrator accounts. The bad news is that you have access to more sensitive data than before.
While there is often a lot of confusion surrounding these two separate sets of permissions, knowing the difference between them is key for understanding how to effectively use your Windows-based computer.
Ultimately, it’s not really a battle of which one is better but how much control you need to perform a certain task. As such, if you need a lot of control over your organization’s network resources, it may be necessary tocreate an Administrator account.
However, in most cases, using an elevated privileges account will be sufficient to accomplish the day-to-day tasks required by an average user.
Now that you’ve learned the differences between these two permissions, you should be able to tell whether a process is running with elevated privileges or not.
We hope that, above all else, this article has helped you better understand the differences between these privileged roles. Do let us know the different scenarios you use either of these permissions in the comment section below.
More about the topics:administrator account
Claire Moraa
Windows Software Expert
Claire has a knack for solving problems and improving the quality of life for those around her. She’s driven by rationality, curiosity, and simplicity, and always eager to learn more about Microsoft’s products. With a background in teaching and reviewing, she breaks down complex topics into easily understandable articles, focusing mostly on Windows 11, errors, and software.
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Claire Moraa
Windows Software Expert
With a background in teaching and reviewing, she breaks down complex topics into easily understandable articles, focusing mostly on Windows 11 errors.
