Question

My app uses SetSystemTime() to set the PC clock from a GPS source. This works fine in Windows 7 with User Account Control disabled, but in Windows 8, even with UAC disabled, it fails. The error I get back is ERROR_PRIVILEGE_NOT_HELD. The user logged into the machine is in the Administrators group. I can only get it to work if I run the application as “Run as Administrator” from the file’s context menu in Explorer – but the logged-in user IS an Administrator.

So… what do I need to do differently on Windows 8 to get SetSysytemTime() to work? Do I need even more elevated privileges than the current users’ Administrator rights? If so, what has higher privileges than Administrator? Or do I need to set the user account up differently to allow these kinds of calls to work on Windows 8?

EDIT: As noted in the comments, manually attempting to enable the SE_SYSTEMTIME_NAME privilege doesn’t work. Neither does trying to add the privilege using the suggested MSDN method of LsaAddAccountRights.

Answer 1

I think it might be related to the fact that, with UAC disabled on Windows 8, processes (by default) run at Medium Integrity, not High Integrity (see this post).

I think you need to request requireAdministrator in your application manifest