Question

I’ve got error message :

Requested registry access is denied

when trying to write into registery keys with turned on UAC :

RegistryKey.OpenRemoteBaseKey(Microsoft.Win32.RegistryHive.LocalMachine, "")
tawkey.OpenSubKey(x, true).SetValue(X, V, RegistryValueKind.DWord)

Must I run “subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\PathToMyKeys… /grant=user=f” during My software installation ? Or there is some other way to have access to my registry keys ?

Thank you.

Answer 1

If you wish to write to keys under HKLM, you need an elevated process. This is achieved by setting requestedExecutionLevel to requireAdministrator in the application’s manifest.

Making this change means that your application will present a UAC elevation dialog every time it runs. This will no doubt be irritating and so here are some options of avoiding that irritation:

1. Write to somewhere other than HLKM where standard users have write access.
2. Perform the writes to HLKM in your install program.
3. Arrange that you elevate on demand if writing to HLKM is only needed for occasionally used functionality in your program.

Option 3 needs a little elaboration. You can’t elevate a process once it has started. You can only elevate at process start time. So in order to implement option 3, you need that functionality to exist in a separate process or out of process COM server. If you go down this route remember to include the shield icon on any UI element that results in a UAC dialog.