TNetSharingManager and Windows 8 & 10: Access Denied

Question

I have a delphi porgram that uses TNetsharingmanager tool to enable and disable communication through NIC card. It has worked flawlessly on Windows XP and 7, but it won't on Windows 8 and 10. It keeps raising "Access Denied" error, when my program tries to connect to the first available NIC card on start up. I can't seem to figure this out. I thought maybe its because of the current user doesn't have the permission to make connection, but that isn't the case. I even ran my program as an administrator and still raises the error. Once you okay the error box, my program continues without a problem.

Here is the code I use:

procedure TDXCommdlg.GetConnectionList(Strings,IdList: TStrings);
var
   pEnum: IEnumVariant;
   vNetCon: OleVARIANT;
   dwRetrieved: Cardinal;
   pUser: NETCONLib_TLB.PUserType1;
   NetCon : INetConnection;
begin
   Strings.Clear;
   IdList.Clear;
   pEnum := (NetSharingManager1.EnumEveryConnection._NewEnum as IEnumVariant);
   while (pEnum.Next(1, vNetCon, dwRetrieved) = S_OK) do
   begin
       (IUnknown(vNetCon) as INetConnection).GetProperties(pUser);
       NetCon := (IUnknown(vNetCon) as INetConnection);

       if (pUser.Status in [NCS_CONNECTED,NCS_CONNECTING])
       and (pUser.MediaType in [NCM_LAN,NCM_SHAREDACCESSHOST_LAN,NCM_ISDN] )
       and (GetMacAddress(GuidToString(pUser.guidId))<>'' ) then
       begin
           //we only want valid network cards that are enabled
           Strings.Add(pUser.pszwName);
           IdList.Add(GuidToString(pUser.guidId));
       end;
   end;
end;

function TDXCommdlg.GetMacAddress(CardID: string): String;
var
    Reg: TRegistry;
    KeyValues: TSTringList;
    i: integer;
    CardInstanceID,CardAddress: string;
begin
    Result := '';
    Reg := TRegistry.Create;
    KeyValues := TStringList.Create;
    try
       Reg.RootKey:=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
       if Reg.OpenKey(MacLocation,false) then
       begin
          Reg.GetKeyNames(KeyValues);
          Reg.CloseKey;

          for i := 0 to KeyValues.Count-1 do
             if reg.OpenKey(MacLocation+'\'+KeyValues[i],false) then
             begin
                 CardInstanceID := Reg.ReadString('NetCfgInstanceId');
                 CardAddress := Reg.ReadString('NetworkAddress');
                 Reg.CloseKey;

                 if CardInstanceID = CardId then
                 begin
                     if CardAddress='' then CardAddress := 'Hardware';
                         Result := CardAddress;
                     break;
                 end;
              end;
          end;
      finally
      Reg.Free;
      KeyValues.Free;
  end;
end;

procedure TDXCommdlg.ResetNIC(const aConnection: string);
var
   pEnum: IEnumVariant;
   vNetCon: OleVARIANT;
   dwRetrieved: Cardinal;
   pUser: NETCONLib_TLB.PUserType1;
begin
   enabled := false;
   try
       pEnum := (NetSharingManager1.EnumEveryConnection._NewEnum as IEnumVariant);
   while (pEnum.Next(1, vNetCon, dwRetrieved) = S_OK) do
   begin
        (IUnknown(vNetCon) as INetConnection).GetProperties(pUser);
        if pUser.pszwName = aConnection then
        begin
            (IUnknown(vNetCon) as INetConnection).Disconnect;
            (IUnknown(vNetCon) as INetConnection).Connect;
            sleep(2000);
            break;
        end;
   end;
   finally
   enabled := true;
 end;
end;

Answer 1

I thought I had setup my program to run as administrator, but apparently I didn't do it right. Once I did the following, that access denied message went away.

To run an application one time with a full administrator access token

1. Locate the program icon or a shortcut in Windows Explorer.

2. Right-click the program icon or shortcut, and then click Run as administrator.

   When the UAC message is displayed, do one of the following:

   • If you are logged on as a standard user, or if UAC is configured to always require credentials, enter the appropriate administrative credentials, and then click OK.
   • If you are logged on as an administrator and UAC is not configured to always require credentials, click Yes to start the application.