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Holding Ctrl+Shift while clicking on a shortcut (or in the Start Menu’s search box) no longer works to run as administrator. Specifically, nothing happens; no UAC prompt and the program does not run at all.

I can still run things as administrator by using the run as admin context-menu item on the EXE, but not on shortcuts to it. I can also run as admin if the run as admin property of a shortcut is checked and the shortcut is opened normally. Also, EXEs that have the admin flag (those with the shield icon overlay) work either directly or through the shortcut. It is non-admin programs that cannot be manually run as admin.

The only notable change since this behavior that I can think of is that I disabled the Win-key hotkeys (NoWinKeys=1), but that should not be related.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? I thought that maybe something in the shortcut handler (HKCR\lnkfile) was corrupted, but it looks okay.

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Have you tried changing NoWinKeys back to see if that 'fixes' it? –  techie007 Mar 14 '11 at 4:45
 
No. I had considered it, but that would require a reboot, and then another once I confirm that it has nothing to do with it (at least it had dang well better not!) :-) I’ll try it tonight before I shutdown. –  Synetech Mar 14 '11 at 5:03
1  
Nope. Not surprisingly, it did not fix it. (I’m kind of conflicted about the results.) –  Synetech Mar 14 '11 at 17:40

1 Answer

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I have the impression that CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER only works when using the Instant Search feature in the Windows Start menu. Open the Services applet and check if Windows Search Service is enabled. If disabled, see if enabling it changes anything (let it have a few moments to do its indexing).

A question : What happens if you turn off UAC temporarily ?

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I have had UAC turned off for quite a while now, but I’m fairly sure that it used to work on regular shortcuts as well. Either way, I don’t use the normal Start menu anymore, I use the Classic Shell instead, and Ctrl+Shift+clicking on shortcuts in there do prompt for access when UAC is on. Perhaps if I have the time and space, I’ll install 7 in a VM and check with a fresh install. –  Synetech Nov 4 '11 at 17:29
 
Ctrl+Shift+click is a standard feature of Windows 7. –  harrymc Nov 4 '11 at 19:25
 
> Ctrl+Shift+click is a standard feature of Windows 7. Yes, hence the question. –  Synetech Nov 4 '11 at 21:10
 
Does it work if you login as another user ? Have you done any keyboard mapping ? Or used AutoHotKey ? Or installed any kind of mouse software ? –  harrymc Nov 4 '11 at 21:30
 
Like I said, if I get the time and space, I’ll try a fresh install in a VM. Either way, it is not just a feature for Instant Search. Google for Ctrl+Shift admin and you’ll find that none of the references mention it working only in the Start menu, and in fact, most specifically say any shortcut or program. For example. –  Synetech Nov 4 '11 at 21:46
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