Background: Main / local account is 'Standard', and a separate Administrator account is enabled with password, for admin tasks. UAC is set to 'Max'.
Win+x opens the Power User Menu, of which Device Manager can be accessed.
See Also
Opening Windows Device Manager - Windows 10Start device manager - MCCIBest Device Manager | Computer Hardware ManagementWhen I tried to open Device Manager or the Computer Management window, I received an error message: "MMC cannot open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\devmgmt.msc"- In Win10, if you hold Ctrl+Shift when you click Device manager, it starts as Administrator.
- In Win11, Ctrl-Shift doesn't work, and you can't run as Administrator.
Workaround: To run Device Manager as Administrator, either:
- Start an elevated command prompt (Win+R, cmd, Ctrl-Shift-Enter), then run devmgmt.msc
- Start directly (Win+R, devmgmt.msc, Ctrl-Shift-Enter)
It is a massive issue for us because all our client machine logins are now mandated to be 'Standard' (non-Administrator) users, and we still need to be able to do Admin tasks easily.
See Also
How to Access Device ManagerThis is a major productivity killer. Is it intentional, and if so why, and can it be overridden? Is it a design philosophy change in Win11?
Thanks.
[posted on elevenforum.com and answers.microsoft.com, no solutions there]
