User Account Control notifies you before PC changes that require Administrator-level permissions. It prompts for approval or denial of any initiated changes. If approved, the change is made; if denied, no changes occur. However, we have noticed that sometimes, we just cannot change the User Account Control settings on Windows 11/10. In this post, we will see how to resolve this issue.
Unable to change User Account Control (UAC) settings
Since you are unable to change the User Account Control (UAC) settings, follow the solutions mentioned below.
- Disable antivirus
- Troubleshoot in Clean Boot State
- Edit Registry
- Check via Control Panel
Let us talk about them in detail.
1] Disable antivirus
Disable your antivirus software and see if you are now unable to change the UAC settings.
2] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot State
Next up, we recommend you boot in Clean Boot State if you can disable UAC. You can then, try changing the UAC settings and see if that helps.
Read: UAC Yes button missing or grayed out.
3] Edit Registry
We can make changes to the registry editor to allow alteration of the UAC policy. However, before that, take a backup of your registry.
Run regedit to open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
On the right side, right-click on EnableLUA and modify its value from 0 to 1. See if this helps.
- Value of 0x00000000 – Disabling this policy disables the “administrator in Admin Approval Mode” user type.
- Value of 0x00000001 – This policy enables the “administrator in Admin Approval Mode” user type while also enabling all other User Account Control (UAC) policies.
If EnableLUA does not exist, create it.
4] Check via Control Panel
Another special scenario exists. In the Windows “System and Security” control panel category, the Action Center lets you change User Account Control (UAC) settings. In the User Account Control Settings dialog box, you move the slide bar control for notifications and then click the OK button.
The dialog box does not close in this scenario, and no change is made. When the mouse pointer is positioned on the OK button, and you press ENTER, the dialog box still does not close, and no change is made. If you click Cancel, the dialog box closes, and no change is made, as expected.
Read: UAC blocks executable apps with revoked certificates.
How to change UAC settings in Windows 11?
To change the UAC Settings on Windows 11, open Search by Win + S, type “UAC”, and open Change User Account Control Settings. Now, you can alter the utility to configure the UAC settings of your computer and make it strict or lenient as you wish.
Also Read: File system error when pasting password in UAC credential box.
