We’ve detected an application running with administrator privileges PowerToys error

If after you install PowerToys on your Windows 11/10 PC, you run Registry Editor or PowerShell as an administrator or perform actions that result in User Account Control dialogs being displayed, and you receive this notification; “We’ve detected an application running with admin privileges“, then this post is intended to help you. In this post, we will describe why you may receive this notification, as well as offer what you can do to overcome this anomaly.

When you encounter this issue, you’ll receive the following full error notification:

We’ve detected an application running with administrator privileges. This blocks some functionality in PowerToys.

We’ve detected an application running with administrator privileges

PowerToys will display the ‘We’ve detected an application running with administrator privileges‘ notification when an elevated process is detected. PowerToys only needs to be elevated when it has to interact with other applications that are running elevated. If these elevated applications are in focus, there will be a conflict between PowerToys and those programs running with admin privilege, hence PowerToys will not be able to run in elevated mode thereby triggering the error notification.

There are only a couple of scenarios in which PowerToys may not function unless it is elevated as well, such as when moving or resizing windows, or when intercepting certain keystrokes.

Affected PowerToys utilities

The following scenarios may require running PowerToys with admin privileges:

• Always On Top
  • Pin windows that are elevated
• FancyZones
  • Snapping an elevated window (e.g. Task Manager) into a Fancy Zone
  • Moving the elevated window to a different zone
• File Locksmith
  • End elevated processes
• Hosts file editor
• Keyboard remapper
  • Key to key remapping
  • Global level shortcuts remapping
  • App-targeted shortcuts remapping
• Mouse without Borders
  • Use Service
• PowerToys Run
  • Use shortcut
• Registry Preview
  • Write keys to the registry
• Shortcut guide
  • Display shortcut
• Video Conference Mute

If you encounter the We’ve detected an application running with administrator privileges issue, you can follow the instructions outlined below to resolve the issue.

Do the following:

• Click on the PowerToys icon in the System tray/Notification area on the extreme right of the Taskbar.
• Right-click on it and select Settings.
• Click the General tab.
• Click the Restart PowerToys as Administrator button.
• Once PowerToys reopens, click Settings.
• Now check the box that says Always run as administrator.

That’s it!

Microsoft PowerToys is available as a fully supported suite of utilities for both Windows 10 and Windows 11. It is actively developed and maintained by Microsoft, with frequent updates that add new features and fix bugs.

Currently, with the addition of PowerToys Run, Quick Accent, and Text Extractor, the number of utilities in PowerToys is now 24.

Read: How to Back Up and Restore PowerToys Settings.

How do I Run PowerToys as administrator?

Press the Windows keys and type ‘power toys’ in the search bar. Click Run as administrator next to the PowerToys app. A User Account Control prompt will appear. Click the Yes button to run PowerToys as administrator. Alternatively, you may set PowerToys to always run as administrator. Press Win+E and navigate to C:\Program Files\PowerToys in the File Explorer window. Right-click on ‘PowerToys.exe’ and select Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab and check the box for ‘Run this program as an administrator’. Click Apply, then OK.

Does Microsoft PowerToys require admin rights?

PowerToys requires admin rights while making system-level changes or while interacting with other applications that run in administrator mode. To ensure that PowerToys starts automatically with Windows, it needs to modify the system’s startup settings, which also requires admin rights. You can run PowerToys without admin rights, but doing so will limit the functionality of its tools. For example, basic rename functionality will work in PowerRename, but advanced operations might require admin rights.

Read Next: How to use Environment Variable Editor in PowerToys?