PowerToys always starts as Administrator on standard user accounts after first run

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.98.1

Installation method

GitHub

Area(s) with issue?

General

Steps to reproduce

1. Have two user accounts set up in Windows:

• an Administrator account
• a Standard user account

2. Install PowerToys on the Standard account (per-user / per-machine both have this issue)
3. Observe PowerToys running as the standard user after installation completes, with its own customizations and settings. No UAC prompt should have appeared during installation and PowerToys launching.
4. Restart, or Log off and log back in
5. Observe PowerToys asking for the Administrator account through an UAC prompt
6. Attempt launching PowerToys as the standard user, observe the UAC prompt

PowerToys is set up not to always run as administrator.

The Administrator account is not logged in and PowerToys is not running on the system when attempting to launch it and encountering this issue.

Settings also differ from the first-run standard user state, as PowerToys seems to use the Administrator account's settings when launched from the UAC prompt.
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/36377#issuecomment-2547976880 talks about this being the case when a Standard user is set up, but it's not relevant to the main issue of PowerToys always launching as Administrator.

The generated Bug report ended up on the Administrator account's Desktop folder from the standard user having launched PowerToys through the UAC prompt.

✔️ Expected Behavior

PowerToys should launch as the Standard user, with its own customizations and settings. No UAC prompt should appear when starting PowerToys on the standard user account.

❌ Actual Behavior

PowerToys initially runs as the Standard user after installation completes, but once it's closed, it can no longer run as the Standard user, and will always result in an UAC prompt, asking for an Administrator account's login.

Upload Bug Report ZIP-file

PowerToysReport_2026-04-27-17-12-16.zip

Additional Information

• Windows 11 25H2 26200.8246
• User installation

Other Software

No response

Reproduce the reported behavior with separate Administrator and Standard accounts on Windows 11, testing both per-user and per-machine installation. Start by tracing the launch path after the first run and compare the account and settings context before and after restart. Done means PowerToys consistently launches as the Standard user without a UAC prompt and retains that user's settings.