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Using Virtual Server on Windows Vista without running IE "as administrator"

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For a while now we've been telling people that in order to access the Virtual Server web site when it is running on Windows Vista they need to run IE "as administrator".  Needless to say most people are not happy with this.  Luckily, last night I stumbled across the way to use the Virtual Server web site without running IE "as administrator".  There are two steps involved:

  1. Explicitly grant your user account administrative privilege for Virtual Server.

    To do this select Server Properties from the Virtual Server section of the navigation pane on the Virtual Server web site (you will need to run IE "as administrator" in order to do this).  Then select Virtual Server security, Add entry, and create a new entry for your user account with full control.  You need to do this because the UAC feature of Windows Vista stops Virtual Server from being able to detect that you're a member of the administrators group, unless you're running IE "as administrator".

  2. Add the Virtual Server web site to your trusted websites.

    To do this press the Alt key while running Internet Explorer, open the Tools menu and select Internet Options.  Then change to the Security tab and select the Trusted sites icon.  Click on the Sites button and add the URL for your Virtual Server web site to the trusted sites.

You should now be able to open up the Virtual Server administrative website using the icon in the start menu, without needing to run the process "as administrator".

Cheers,
Ben

Comments

  • Anonymous
    November 18, 2006
    Legend! This also works when you can't connect using the VMRC client. I couldn't figure out why the administrator couldn't connect - until I realised the Administrator account is disabled... Now I can use my normal account without running as Admin.

  • Anonymous
    December 04, 2006
    Thank you, I was having a problem with "Access was denied" with the user member of Administrator group. Now it's flying on my Vista x64 with MS Virtual Server Standard Edition x64.