Verifying True Administrator Elevation

While initial methods effectively detect administrator privileges, they don't reliably distinguish between standard administrator accounts and those with elevated privileges (e.g., running within vshost.exe). This improved approach uses a more robust technique.

Utilizing the UacHelper Class

We employ the UacHelper class for accurate elevation status determination. This class thoroughly examines the system registry to verify User Account Control (UAC) status. It then uses advanced methods, including OpenProcessToken and GetTokenInformation, to analyze the current process's elevation level.

Detailed Elevation Analysis

The IsProcessElevated property within the UacHelper class performs these key steps:

1. UAC Status Verification: It checks if UAC is enabled. If not, the process is considered non-elevated.
2. Security Token Retrieval: OpenProcessToken retrieves the process's security token.
3. Elevation Type Extraction: GetTokenInformation extracts the elevation type (full/elevated, limited, or default).

Interpreting Elevation Results

The IsProcessElevated property returns:

• True: The elevation type is "full," signifying elevated privileges.
• False: UAC is disabled, or the elevation type is "limited" or "default."

This enhanced method provides a reliable way to confirm whether your application is running with truly elevated privileges, regardless of the administrator context.