In the May, 2004, issue of MCP Magazine, a reader posted a question asking how to get Windows Explorer with administrator-level privileges with a regular user account. The editor replied that they were unaware of any such technique to use to get Windows Explorer to run in such a scenario, but I do have a solution, albeit a bit awkward, for anyone who may be interested.

You can launch a new command shell window, specify that it launch with administrator privileges, navigate to the Internet Explorer directory under Program Files, and then launch “iexplore.exe”. Once Internet Explorer is started, you can customize your toolbar view to include the “Folders” button, and by clicking that you will transform IE into Windows Explorer shell mode, or you can enter a local drive path in the Address Bar.

While this workaround is a bit awkward to execute, you can set ultimately launch Windows Explorer with administrator privileges without resorting to a third party Windows Explorer replacement, or relying exclusively on the command prompt to get you around.

For more information on why you should consider developing and in general using Windows with non-administrative privileges, be sure to check out Developing Software in Visual Studio .NET with Non-Administrative Privileges on MSDN.

For a more comprehensive study in developing secure software, I highly recommend Writing Secure Code, 2nd Edition, by Michael Howard.