Handling UAC when launching Future Pinball through FPLoader (BAM)

[byancey]

I'm surprised I didn't find an existing post regarding this issue.  For my cabinet build I'm running  PinballX on windows 10.  I have PinballFX2 and ProPinball working with no issues.  I'm in the process of adding support for Future Pinball which I'm loading via FPLoader (BAM).  I've got a few tables launching correctly from PinballX, with one big caveat.  FPLoader must be run with Administrator privledges, and as such, each time I launch a table I get a UAC prompt from Windows asking for confirmation to run FPLoader escalated.  I have to pull out a keyboard and confirm the dialog to actually get the tables to launch.

I tried creating a shortcut to task scheduler task that will launch FPLoader without a prompt, but PinballX won't run the shortcut.  The other things I'm looking into is launching the task scheduler task directly from PinballX, or possibly using AutoHotKey to dismiss the dialog.  However, It's not clear to me that either of these approaches will work well (if at all).  Thought I'd check in and see how others here have dealt with this issue.

 

Thanks! 

[Tom Speirs]

I am not aware of a solution other than disabling UAC. Windows 10 is pretty smart at blocking little tricks like you mention.

[byancey]

That's actually what I ended up doing.  I found the following steps and used them to completely disable UAC:

To turn off UAC completely, use RegEdit to find the following registry key and change the value of EnableLUA to 0.

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

This did the trick.  Perhaps not a very secure approach...but then again, this PC is being used for one thing only...to be a Pinball Cabinet.  

[Carny_Priest]

I never had issues with PinballX if I install it and ALL pinball apps, Steam, etc. anywhere else on C: drive outside of Program Files folder.

And configure ALL pinball-related executables to run as administrator. Also make sure all exe and dll are unblocked.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hlr53]

I first installed PBX on C which is my Samsung SSD. I got access violation errors when trying to access all the pinball systems. Even with UAC disabled. Except Steam, I kept everything out of the Program Files and Program Files(x86) directories. Drove me nuts trying to figure out why and I never did solve it. So, I moved PBX, Visual and Future over to my D drive which is the regular 7200rpm 2TB drive and everything runs fine. Using Windows 10 Pro. I left Steam over in its default install location on C\Program Files(X86). PBX loads FX2 without any problems.

In Windows 10 Pro no need for registry edits. UAC can be turned off in Settings. I don't care if UAC is off on my pinball system. I'm sure if a hacker could blast through my firewall and encrypted router, UAC enabled ain't gonna matter anyway.

 

[byancey]

16 hours ago, Carny_Priest said:

I never had issues with PinballX if I install it and ALL pinball apps, Steam, etc. anywhere else on C: drive outside of Program Files folder.

And configure ALL pinball-related executables to run as administrator. Also make sure all exe and dll are unblocked.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Disabling UAC had the effect that many built-in Microsoft apps would not run (Edge, Photos, etc.).  They complained about needing to be run from a non-admin account.  I know I've read while setting up my Pinball machine that some apps should not be installed in "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)", though no explanation as to why. I assume it my be related to UAC.

I actually have a "Program Files (SSD)"  folder that I created where I've been installing apps I want to ensure remain on my SSD.  Since this folder is neither "Program Files" nor "Program Files (x86)", I thought it would be OK, but I guess windows simply treats the "Program Files" prefix differently in general..  As a test, I moved my PinballX folder outside of Program Files (SSD), re-enabled UAC, and now FPLoader will run without needing to be escalated.  This seems like a cleaner soluition, though I'm going to have to go back and update a lot of paths in my config files. 

Thanks for the tip.

 

[byancey]

Just another quick update, as I did a clean install and discovered that what I though had addressed the issue, actually didn't.  In copying the Future Pinball binaries and FPLoader outside of "Program Files", some of the compatibility settings I had changed for those executable files were reverted back to default.  Apparently running a program in compatibility mode requires admin, so when comparability mode was dropped, the UAC prompt was no longer required.  If I turn compatibility mode back on for the FP binary, the UAC prompt is required even if the binary is outside of Program Files.

I had originally enabled compatibility mode for Window XP Service Pack 3 because I was getting script errors in most of the tables I loaded...and these errors went away with compatibility mode enabled.  Since these tables ran fine after I moved the executable, I didn't even notice the setting had reverted.  Turns out, launching the table once with compatibility mode enabled updates something persistent in future pinball, because after the table has run successfully once, it can be launched without compatability mode and continue to run fine.

So, my final solution to eliminate the UAC prompts was actually to simply revert the compatibly mode settings for the FP binary.  I setup a copy of the binary that does have compatibility mode enabled which I can run once manually on any new tables that have the script issue I observed.

 

 

 

 

[hlr53]

Interesting. I don't have compatibility mode enabled for FP because it caused me problems. Using Win 10 Pro. I was getting some weird behavior on Slamt1ilt's tables and noticed I had to check Vertical Sync in Preferences. Fixed everything. Man, I love his tables! The Multimedia is insane. Running pinDMD3 and everything is smooth as silk in PBX.

For now.....