How Can My Python Script Request UAC Elevation for Privileged Tasks?

UAC Elevation Request from Within Python Scripts

In environments like Vista, where User Account Control (UAC) restricts file system actions, running Python scripts from a regular command prompt window may hinder tasks like file copying.

To address this issue, consider the following approach which can be incorporated into your Python script:

1. Use the ctypes module to check if the script is running with elevated privileges:

import ctypes

def is_admin():
    try:
        return ctypes.windll.shell32.IsUserAnAdmin()
    except:
        return False

2. Based on the result of is_admin(), proceed as follows:

• If elevated: Proceed with the core functionality of your script.
• If not elevated:

ctypes.windll.shell32.ShellExecuteW(None, "runas", sys.executable, " ".join(sys.argv), None, 1)

This code will re-run the script with admin rights, as if launched from the context menu's "Run as administrator" option.

Advantages of this approach include:

• No dependency on external libraries.
• Compatibility with Python 2 and 3.
• No need to modify file resources or create a manifest file.
• Execution occurs only once (code below the if/else statement is skipped after elevation).

The underlying ShellExecute call documentation is available for further reference. This method provides a simple and effective solution for requesting UAC elevation from within Python scripts, streamlining privileged tasks.

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