Vista Users: How to launch EQ2 without UAC elevation prompts...

[Griffinhart]

<p>I posted this in the tips and tricks forum, but thought it might be better to post it here. </p><p>Ed Bott over at ZD Net had a great article on living with UAC in Vista.  One of his suggestions works Very well for EQ2.</p><p>Here's how you can get around running EQ2 without needing to "Run as Administrator."</p><ol><li>Run the Task Scheduler.  (Windows Key, type task scheduler and hit enter) </li><li>In the left window pane make sure "Task Scheduler Library" is selected. </li><li>in the Actions pane, click "create task." </li><li>In the general tab, in the name field type EQ2 </li><li>Make sure the "Run with highest privileges" box is checked. </li><li>Go to the Actions tab and click the "New..." button. </li><li>In the "Program/script:" field, use the browse button to locate and select the EQ2.exe file </li><li>In the "Start in (optional):" field type in the full path to your EverQuest 2 folder.  For example: c:program filessonyEverQuest II  </li><li>Click OK when you are finished and then close the Task Scheduler. </li><li>Right Click on your desktop and select New>Shortcut </li><li>In the "Type the location of the item:" field enter the following line <b>schtasks /run /tn "EQ2"</b> </li><li>Click Next and enter EQ2 in the name field then click finish.</li></ol><p>Once you do that you can go to the properties of your new shortcut and change the icon by clicking the "change Icon..." button and pointing to the EQ2.ico file in your Everquest 2 directory.</p><p>Now just use your new Shortcut.  You no longer need to use the "run as administrator" and will no longer need to confirm UAC elevation when you run EQ2.</p><p>Enjoy!!!</p><p>Edit:  I just wanted to mention, this also works with the station launcher.  follow the same instructions as above, just point to the launcher program instead.  You can also use this method to start the launcher at startup by using the trigger tab in the scheduler.</p>

[TSR-TrevorG]

Good info for all Griffinhart, thanks for the post!

[Talondaar]

The steps in the post worked perfectly!!Thanks Trevor!!CJ

[Zorastiz]

<p>If I might ask an honest question? What purpose does this serve, what are the benefits, are there game based performance issues at play or simply Vista?</p><p>Seriously, not flaming or anything I just don't understand why this is necessary or what is accomplished?</p><p>Thanks.</p>

[LoneGreyWolf20]

Great information for those looking to keep UAC enabled!I have mine disable though as well as Windows defender. I am pretty confident in my ability to keep my computer virus and malware free. The UAC was extremely annoying to me from the start... lol!If you disable UAC, it's at your own risk as it does serve a purpose.

[Griffinhart]

<cite>Zorastiz@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If I might ask an honest question? What purpose does this serve, what are the benefits, are there game based performance issues at play or simply Vista?</p><p>Seriously, not flaming or anything I just don't understand why this is necessary or what is accomplished?</p><p>Thanks.</p></blockquote><p>It's not about performance.  EQ2 performance under Vista is about the same as it is under XP.  Vista has a feature called UAC (User Account Control).  It's a method of limiting rights to system files and processes to help prevent viruses and malware.  The feature is on by default and can be disabled, but doing so means it's no more secure than XP.  It really goes a long way into securing a system against threats.</p><p>The problem is that EQ2 and other SOE games need to patch files that are located in the "Program Files" directory.  UAC deems this folder, rightfully, as a system folder that needs to be protected.  The practical results are that Vista users with UAC on are prompted with a dialog box to confirm you wish EQ2 to run with the rights to make these changes.  It's not bad, but it gets to be a nuisance since it happens every time you run the game.</p><p>The steps listed here makes sure that EQ2 has all the rights it needs to run properly without the user having to confirm it every time they play the game.<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>I hope that explination answered your quetion.</p>

[TSR-TrevorG]

Thanks again for the info Griffinhart!

[tkia]

<cite>Griffinhart wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>The problem is that EQ2 and other SOE games need to patch files that are located in the "Program Files" directory.  UAC deems this folder, rightfully, as a system folder that needs to be protected.  </blockquote>This is the bit I don't understand.  Given the restrictions placed on that folder in Vista why install there in the first place?  Wouldn't it be easier all round to just put it somewhere else?

[TSR-TrevorG]

You are more then welcome to change the directory when you install the game.  I have mine installed to a separate drive then what windows runs under, so it is easier and less of a hassle to reinstall XP every 3-6 months.I will say that it still installs to Program Files because that is where most people expect it to be.  If a neophyte user wanted to install a game and then look for it later, they know that since Win 95, they can go to Program Files/Company and find it.Of course I am ready to be schooled by some of our more advanced forum readers on this on this subject. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />/equip_item Flameshield +2

[Griffinhart]

Unfortunately, the EQ2 Launch pad installs itself automagically in program files.  And that updates itself as well.  I'm not sure if it's possible to move that part elsewhere.  In the end I think using the work around is just easier.

[Pelius]

<p>It can be done so much easier than that if you have windows 7.</p><p>1. RIGHT CLICK EQ2 SHORTCUT</p><p>2. CLICK PROPERTIES</p><p>3. CLICK SHORT CUT TAB</p><p>4. CLICK ADVANCED</p><p>5. <span style="font-size: 12px;">CHANGE TO "RUN AS ADMIN"</span></p><p>Done <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>JUST REALISED HOW OLD THIS POST IS. LOL</p><p>ALSO I COULD BE WRONG BUT I AM SURE I HAVE MOVED THE PATCHER FOLDER AND SENT A NEW SHORT CUT TO DESKTOP AS I HAVE TWO SEPARATE VERSIONS OF EQ2 AND BOTH WORK.</p>

[Barel]

<p><cite>Pelius wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It can be done so much easier than that if you have windows 7.</p><p>1. RIGHT CLICK EQ2 SHORTCUT</p><p>2. CLICK PROPERTIES</p><p>3. CLICK SHORT CUT TAB</p><p>4. CLICK ADVANCED</p><p>5. <span style="font-size: 12px;">CHANGE TO "RUN AS ADMIN"</span></p><p>Done <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p><p>JUST REALISED HOW OLD THIS POST IS. LOL</p><p>ALSO I COULD BE WRONG BUT I AM SURE I HAVE MOVED THE PATCHER FOLDER AND SENT A NEW SHORT CUT TO DESKTOP AS I HAVE TWO SEPARATE VERSIONS OF EQ2 AND BOTH WORK.</p></blockquote><p>I'm running EQ1, not EQ2, but a post in the tech support forums sent me here.</p><p>On my win7 system the game is in its own separate directory, and all of everquest.exe, eggame.exe, and the shortcut itself are flagged "run as administrator".   But I still got the UAC prompt.</p><p>So I tried this task scheduler trick and it worked.  Now those annoying prompts are gone. </p><p>Don't know why.  I would have thought that the simpler way would work.  If someone could explain why it doesn't I would appreciate it.  But I'm glad for the workaround anyway.</p>