How to force my C# Winforms program run as administrator on any computer?

Solution 1:

You can embed this manifest into your application.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
<asmv1:assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" name="MyApplication" />
    <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
        <security>
            <requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
                <requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />
            </requestedPrivileges>
        </security>
    </trustInfo>
</asmv1:assembly>  

Solution 2:

Here is the sample code to run your application as admin.

ProcessStartInfo proc = new ProcessStartInfo();
proc.UseShellExecute = true;
proc.WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
proc.FileName = Application.ExecutablePath;
proc.Verb = "runas";
try
{
    Process.Start(proc);
}
catch
{
    // The user refused the elevation.
    // Do nothing and return directly ...
    return;
}
Application.Exit();  // Quit itself

Set the ProcessStartInfo.Verb to “runas” will let it run as admin. Here is related FAQ

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winforms/thread/28f84724-af3e-4fa1-bd86-b0d1499eaefa#x_FAQAnswer91