How to Disable UAC in Windows 10

What to Know

• Best way: Go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Change User Account Control settings > Never notify.
• User Account Control (UAC) helps prevent unauthorized changes. We don’t recommend switching it off.
• Using the Control Panel leaves little room for error vs. editing the registry. You need to be logged in as an administrator for this to work.

This article describes how to disable UAC in Windows 10 using two different methods. We’ll also explain why you might want to turn off UAC and if it’s safe to do so.

How to Disable UAC in Windows 10

There are two primary methods. This first uses Control Panel and is what we recommend because it’s the “normal” technique and leaves little room for error. But if you like to work in the registry (or you need to for whatever reason), those steps are further down the page.

Control Panel

There’s an easy-to-use slider-style option in Control Panel to disable User Account Control.

1. Open Control Panel. One way to get there is to search for it using the search bar by the Start menu.

   
   

2. Choose User Accounts. If you see it again on the next page, select it once more.

   
   

3. Select Change User Account Control settings. 

   
   

4. Drag the button to the very bottom, to Never notify, and then select OK.

   
   

5. Confirm the change with Yes.

   
   

Edit the Registry

Another way to completely disable UAC is through a Windows Registry tweak. It’s a bit more involved than the Control Panel method but still doable.

1. Open Registry Editor. The quickest way is to open the Run box with Win+R and then enter regedit.

   
   

2. Go to this path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
   

3. Double-click EnableLUA from the right side to open its settings.

4. Set the value to 0 and then select OK.

   
   

5. Restart your computer for the change to take effect.

Is It Safe to Turn Off UAC?

User Account Control’s default state is to be enabled. And for a good reason. Under normal circumstances, you’d get a prompt to confirm various actions before they can take place on your computer. Most notably, when installing programs, opening Registry Editor, and changing key system settings. Several tasks trigger the prompt.

What leads most people to want to disable UAC is that it can be annoying. Being bombarded by these prompts every time you want to run those tasks can seem intrusive. Most people probably don’t think twice when it appears, clicking as fast as possible to get past it and on to whatever it is they were doing before.

Although it’s easy to forget because of how often you see it, the prompt is there for a reason. If you’re not careful, you could accept a malicious program’s request for elevated privileges, which could ultimately lead to disastrous results. The rights it had before get upgraded because you gave it the go-ahead.

This process is put on auto-drive when UAC is off. All of those critical, system-related tasks that you should vet before taking place are granted elevated permissions without a second thought. Opening Registry Editor just…happens—no prompt. Program installations can proceed silently without your authorization. You can see just how dangerous that could be.

We don’t recommend that you turn off User Account Control. But if you have to temporarily for whatever reason, be sure to re-enable it when you finish your task.