How to run Windows 10 Settings app as administrator?

Solution 1:

Why it's happening

This isn't the problem of not running the Settings app as an Administrator. Those settings are controlled by Group Policy.

It appears by default regular users cannot change these settings (it does make sense).

I actually tried running the app as an Administrator from an elevated command prompt, Windows Powershell (Start-Process "ms-settings" -runas /user:Administrator), and also by right clicking and choosing "Run as Admin" on the actual SystemSettings application located at C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel. Nothing worked

The answer to your question is basically because you're on a normal user account.

How to change group policy for non-administrators

So if you do want normal users to be able to access the greyed out settings I recommend you follow the following tutorial:

Local Group Policies - Apply to All Users Except Administrators

Yes, it says Windows 7 but most likely this will work for Windows 10. Here's a summary:

1. Open the Start Menu, type mmc.exe in the search box, and press Enter. NOTE: In Windows 8, you could press Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, then type mmc.exe, and click/tap on OK instead.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7/8/10) or Continue (Vista).

3. In the MMC Console window, click on File (Menu bar) and Add/Remove Snap-in.

4. In the left pane, select Group Policy Object Editor, and click on the Add button.

5. Click on the Browse button.

6. Click on the Users tab, select an Non-Administrators, and click on OK.

7. Click on the Finish button.

8. Click on OK.

9. In the MMC Console window, click on File (Menu bar) and Save As.

10. Select to save to your Desktop, type in a name (ex: Non-Administrators-Group-Policy) that you would like to have for this "all users except administrators" group policy MSC file, then click on the Save button. NOTE: You can use any name you like, but it would make it easier for you to know what user (ex: Test) or group this "specific" group policy MMC console was for later if you included the user or group name.

11. Move the MSC file (ex: Non-Administrators-Group-Policy.msc) to where you would to keep it saved at. NOTE: You can also Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start Menu this MSC file.

12. Whenever you open this MSC file (ex: Non-Administrators-Group-Policy.msc), it will only apply group policies to all users except administrators.