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Comment by ocdtrekkie | Hacker News Reader

I've always been annoyed by the lack of ability for certain things to elevate as needed. Why doesn't Notepad offer to let you elevate when you try and save the hosts file?

I can't count how often I relaunch Command Prompt to Run as Admin.

But I'm hesitant to use a third party tool here, I really wish Microsoft just dealt with this properly.

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Yeah, I'd really like to see MS implement some method for applications to automatically request elevation when they try to do something that they otherwise wouldn't be allowed to.

Also, not sure why you've received two replies, that are - as far as I can see, completely irrelevant to what you've written; it's bizarre.

`Start-Process <stuff> -verb RunAs` in PS

1 - Shift-Right Click on the executable, including links

2 - Select Run As...

His point was more like:

1. Launch Notepad.

2. Open etc\hosts (within the bowels of C:\Windows).

3. Edit the file.

4. Try to save.

5. Profit?!? No, fail!

I do that with vi all the time

How is that different from *nix?

With graphical editors integrated into PolicyKit (I think that's the name), you get an elevation prompt.

Which is not standard across all *nix variants and requires explicit use of Freedesktop APIs.

But it's there.

And if we go by "standard across all * nix variants", outside of base POSIX (if even that), nothing is really standard across all * nix variants. There's no way "standards across all * nix variants" can compete with Microsoft's APIs available across, say, 90% of their installed user base.

Which is why developers that actually care about the whole desktop experience setttle on OS X and Windows.

Developers that are fine with xmonad and CLI, settle for a POSIX experience, making such APIs like PolicyKit barely used, because portable UNIX applications don't adopt them.

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