Running as Administrator is occasionally required by DI Software. Here are answers to our most frequently asked questions on this topic:

1. What does Run as Administrator mean?
   The Run as Administrator option is a method of launching an application as an “Administrator” by elevating the permissions of the user logged into Windows. By default, if you are logged into Windows as a user with administrative rights, any application that is being run does not use the administrative rights to execute. It takes specific actions by the user to run the application as an administrator to use these rights.
   
2. How do you launch a program as Run as Administrator; aka elevate the permissions of the user logged into Windows?
   Users can do this by right-clicking on the application shortcut and selecting Run as Administrator.
   
3. Why do you need to Run as Administrator?
   Instrument Manager and EP Evaluator require Administrator-level permissions to access certain features within the software. Specifically, some actions (e.g. installing the application, loading drivers, activation, etc.) require that a user has the permissions necessary for the application to write to the Windows Registry, and/or write to specific files/folders on the Windows server, which normally requires Administrator-level permissions.
   
4. I launched the application as Run as Administrator, but it doesn’t appear to be working. How do I check if I have administrator access?
   Keep in mind that a site’s Server/Security policies may restrict or even prevent users from gaining true Administrator privileges even after selecting Run as Administrator. In such cases, users who select Run as Administrator may discover that they still don’t have the permissions necessary to access certain features. If this occurs, please check with your IT team about providing the necessary permissions for your user.
   
   Notes:
   • For Instrument Manager, Data Innovations recommend that when loading a driver for the first time on the Standalone or Acting Primary system, do so by right-clicking on the Instrument Manager shortcut and selecting Run as Administrator to prevent any permissions-related issues when loading the driver for the first time. The first time a driver configuration is opened, this process will need to be repeated for each driver for each Thin Client. Defining an Application Server to limit the number of times this action would need to be performed is an alternative solution.
   • For Instrument Manager, when running the installer, right-click on the setup.exe and use Run as Administrator.
   • For EP Evaluator, installing the application the first time requires it to be Run as Administrator in order to write to the registry. If you do not have true Administrator privileges, then a ‘Cannot write to registry’ message will occur.
     
5. What are some examples that require Run as Administrator?
   1. Loading drivers
   2. Configuring drivers
   3. Installing EP Evaluator
   4. Installing Instrument Manager
   5. First launch of EP Evaluator after install
   6. Activation of the EP Evaluator software, including reactivation after the current activation expires
   7. In general, if one is launching an executable (.exe) file it requires true Administrator privileges