Can I have WingetUI start as admin so it never prompts me for admin permission/approval/access?

[imthenachoman]

Yes, I understand the risks.

I basically want to log into my computer, have WingetUI start, it auto update, and it never, ever, ask me for admin permission/approval/access because it already has it.

I think I need to somehow get WingetUI to start as admin, right? But how?

[Spacellary]

For that you can look up how to "Run Scheduled Task as Administrator in Windows".

Basically you'll have a scheduled task run by SYSTEM at Logon, with the highest privileges.

Since you already understand the security risks involved I won't go through that.

This article should be helpful:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-run-scheduled-task-as-administrator-in-windows

[Spacellary]

If you don't mind seeing the prompt once per session, you can try also using the shell:startup folder, and putting a shortcut for WingetUI there, with Run As Admin enabled in the Properties → Compatibility tab.

Disable the built in Start With System option.

I am not sure this would work as expected but it's something else to try.

[imthenachoman]

Thanks.

For the sake of the discussion, are there any unobvious security risks? The way I see it, if my machine has a good login PW, and I trust all the packages I have used winget to install/update, then there is no new risk (for me and my use-case). But I'm wondering if there is anything unobvious I'm not seeing. It's been a while since I looked at Windows security.

[Spacellary]

I can only speak for myself but if you trust WingetUI and the packages you have installed, there shouldn't be any surprises. The exception would be if WingetUI was hijacked in some way or my some other software, but this is valid for anything else you'd run with elevated privileges so the rule of being careful with software and preferably using OSS when possible is still valid and your best protection.

Cheers!

[imthenachoman]

Yeah. I am security architect/engineer for my company. So I take security seriously. But sometimes it's so exhausting.

[dbensmith]

One thing I needed but couldn't find documented until I looked up the autorun entry for WingetUI:

To prevent the app from launching a window at logon, use the --daemon flag on WingetUI.exe.