User Account Control (UAC) in Windows 10 notifies you when you start programs or perform actions that require administrator rights on your computer, which usually means that a program or action will change your system settings or files. This is done in order to protect you from potentially dangerous actions and launching software that can harm your computer.

Also, UAC doesn’t allow you to perform potentially dangerous actions, such as making changes to the registry, deleting or editing system files without entering an administrator password. By default, the service is active and all actions that can affect the operation of Windows cannot be performed by users who don’t have sufficient rights to do so.

UAC slows down the user when installing a large number of programs or making many changes to the registry or system files. If you disable it, before each of these actions, Windows 10 will stop prompting you to confirm administrator rights. But remember that disabling UAC reduces the protection of the operating system, so you should not disable it unless absolutely necessary.

Disable UAC in Windows 10

  1. Open the Control Panel by using Start menu search.
  2. In the control panel at the top right in the "View by" field, set "Large icons".
    The Control Panel
  3. Open the "User Accounts" item.
    The Control Panel
  4. In the next window, click Change User Account Control settings.
    The Control Panel
  5. Move the switch to the down position to completely disable UAC. Click OK.
    The Control Panel

Disable UAC in Windows 10 using Command line

The fastest way to turn off User Account Control completely is to use the Command Prompt.

  1. Run Command Prompt as Administrator. Press the Win + R keys. In the input field, type cmd, then press Shift + Enter.

    Related: How to open the Command Prompt as Administrator.

    Run command
  2. Enter the following command: 
    reg ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
    Hit Enter.
    Command Prompt
  3. Reboot your computer.

Disable UAC in Windows 10 using Registry Editor

User Account Control can be disabled using Registry Editor. This method is suitable for more advanced users.

  1. Press the Win + R keyboard shortcut. Enter regedit in the input field. Click Ok. This will take us to the registry editor.
    Run command
  2. Navigate the following path using the tree menu on the right: 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
    Windows Registry Editor
  3. UAC settings are defined by three registry keys: ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin; EnableLUA; PromptOnSecureDesktop.

You can change key values by double-clicking on them.

Windows Registry Editor

To control UAC there are different key values that are shown in the table below.

ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin EnableLUA PromptOnSecureDesktop
Never notify 0 1 0
Notify without dimming the screen 5 1 0
Notify me when an app tries to change settings 5 1 1
Always notify 2 1 1

Now we change the values of each parameter, to those values that will lead to the desired result.

For example, to completely disable UAC, use the values from the first row of the table.

Conclusion

If you decide to disable Windows 10 User Account Control, which is not at all secure, you should be very careful in the future, since any program can make any changes to your computer without your permission. Therefore, in conclusion, let me remind you again, I don’t recommend disabling User Account Control in Windows 10, unless you absolutely know exactly what you need it for, and also if you are a fairly experienced user.