Powertoys: [tracker] PowerToys Run shows no files or folders when running in admin mode

[Flobii]

Environment

Windows build number: Version 10.0.18363.836
PowerToys version: v.0.18.1
PowerToy module for which you are reporting the bug: PowerToys Run

Steps to reproduce

Install PowerToys via GetWin
Run PowerToys in always admin mode
Run PowerToys Run via Alt + Space
Search for any give file / folder name

Expected behavior

Showing the file / folder which I searched for

Actual behavior

No files / folders showing up what so ever,
unless I type something like "D:\Documents..."

Screenshots

It is a normal folder, I just changed the icon.

[Aeschylus28]

Having the same issue since I updated power toys to v0.18.1. Worked perfectly fine before that.

[AlessandroGiannetti]

I have the same issue.
if I type the name of a file that is both in the ondrive folder and on the desktop no results are shown

[ricardosantos9521]

What are the languages of your systems? @Aeschylus28 @AlessandroGiannetti

[Flobii]

What are the languages of your systems? @Aeschylus28 @AlessandroGiannetti

In my System are both German and Englisch, but I tried it in both languages ("documents" and "dokumente") and with different Folders (also non system folders / files)

[AlessandroGiannetti]

What are the languages of your systems? @Aeschylus28 @AlessandroGiannetti

Italian

[ricardosantos9521]

@Flobii and @AlessandroGiannetti can you try if you didn't already exit powertoys and see if you find powerlauncher on task manager.
Also can you send me an example of a file path in german and italian respectively.
Thanks

[Flobii]

@Flobii and @AlessandroGiannetti can you try if you didn't already exit powertoys and see if you find powerlauncher on task manager.
Also can you send me an example of a file path in german and italian respectively.
Thanks

Yes, powerlauncher is running.
and an example path would be:
D:\Dokumente\Meine Dokumente

But even if I search for the German Variant it is not working at all.

[AlessandroGiannetti]

@Flobii and @AlessandroGiannetti can you try if you didn't already exit powertoys and see if you find powerlauncher on task manager.
Also can you send me an example of a file path in german and italian respectively.
Thanks

I did the same research I did here: #3209
no if I close powertoys there's no powerlauncher process.

[ricardosantos9521]

@Flobii powerlauncher continues running even if you exit powertoys?

[Flobii]

@Flobii powerlauncher continues running even if you exit powertoys?

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood one part. No, if I exit PowerToys it is not running.

[ricardosantos9521]

this is problably the same issue that #3588
(please see my last response there and let me know)
thanks

[Flobii]

this is problably the same issue that #3588
(please see my last response there and let me know)
thanks

I don't exactly know how to index files / folders, but if I search for folders in the windows search (for example my "Meine Dokumente" folder which you can see in the 2. Screenshot it is showing up.

Edit:
When I turn of the administrator mode files and folders show up as expected and everything seems to work just fine.

[AlessandroGiannetti]

yes, if I don't run it in administrator mode it works as it should

[Flobii]

yes, if I don't run it in administrator mode it works as it should

I think I'll stick to that for now, everything seems to work regardless of the admin permissions.

[ricardosantos9521]

@AlessandroGiannetti and @Flobii you found the issue. Files search don't work in admin mode. It does not for me too! I will see if i can do anything about it tomorrow. Thanks

[Flobii]

@AlessandroGiannetti and @Flobii you found the issue. Files search don't work in admin mode. It does not for me too! I will see if i can do anything about it tomorrow. Thanks

Thanks for your help and have a good night!

[Whitewhale2017]

Having the same issue since I updated power toys to v0.18.1.

[Aeschylus28]

yes, if I don't run it in administrator mode it works as it should

Mine started showing documents once I restarted Power Toys without admin perms. Try that out.

[shady2k]

Same issue here, it works without admin perms. This happened after the last update.

[ricardosantos9521]

@enricogior can you have a look into this? I think this is related to #3451. I reverted your pull request in my machine and it worked. Thanks.

[Flobii]

@enricogior can you have a look into this? I think this is related to #3451. I reverted your pull request in my machine and it worked. Thanks.

Sorry if I sound dumb, but what exactly is Pull Request? ^^'

[maxxxis]

Same results for me on 0.18.1; however, I'm unable to search for folders/files within the c:\windows directory, i.e. typing hosts or etc return no results.

[enricogior]

@ricardosantos9521
thank you for looking into this.
When PT runs with administrator privileges we don't want to run PT Run with the same privileges, so we drop those privileges to prevent security issues. Unfortunately the technique used to achieve it, it's too aggressive and reduces the PT Run privileges too much.
We will fix it.
Thank you.

[crutkas]

tracking one item we need to fix this with here: https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/37129

[enricogior]

@Flobii @ricardosantos9521 and anyone else willing to test it, I've attached an unsigned private build with a fix for this issue.
Let me know if this solves the problem for you.
Thank you!

PowerToysSetup-0.18.2-x64-UNSIGNED.zip

[ricardosantos9521]

@enricogior it appears to be solved for me in admin mode. Thanks!

[MarcoPeraza]

@enricogior where the user has turned off UAC completely (EnableLUA=0, different from merely turning UAC _prompts_ off which is what the settings slider does), is the correct behavior really to still run with limited privileges? Standard Windows behavior with EnableLUA=0 is that if you're logged in with an admin account, everything runs with full privileges (including Store apps).

I think the standard Windows behavior, of running everything elevated in that circumstance, is correct. If someone turns UAC off (rather than turning UAC prompts off), the behavior should basically revert to pre-UAC Windows, where there is no real concept of an unelevated token for an administrator account.

[enricogior]

@MarcoPeraza
with the change to fix this issue, the PowerToys Run will run with the same privileges of Windows Explorer, so if the UAC is off, it should run elevated.

[icyyicee]

@Flobii @ricardosantos9521 and anyone else willing to test it, I've attached an unsigned private build with a fix for this issue.
Let me know if this solves the problem for you.
Thank you!

PowerToysSetup-0.18.2-x64-UNSIGNED.zip

Thanks for the unsigned build, however the problem persists for me in the new build (admin priv or no admin priv).

[Agnij-Mallick]

@Flobii @ricardosantos9521 and anyone else willing to test it, I've attached an unsigned private build with a fix for this issue.
Let me know if this solves the problem for you.
Thank you!

PowerToysSetup-0.18.2-x64-UNSIGNED.zip

This build seems to have solved the problem for me. The file search is working both admin and non-admin modes. Thanks a lot for his build.

[crutkas]

fixed in 0.18.2 official release. https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/