Execute Code in an Unelevated Context

Question

My application is running as an administrator (elevated), but I need to run certain blocks of code in the current user's context (unelevated).

1. How can I run a given block of code in an unelevated context?

   Is there a way to do this with impersonation, that doesn't require me to know the user's domain, name, and password?

   Is there another API for this, or a way to do it simply with attributes?

2. Likewise, is there a way to detect that I'm currently running in an elevated context, so that I know I need to de-elevate in the first place?

I'm using C# 6.0, .NET 4.x (where x >= 5), and Visual Studio 2015.

Answer 1

1. You can achieve this by encapsulating the code that needs to run un-elevated in a separate assembly (.exe file) and start it as a new process. Take a look at Start non-elevated process from elevated process.

2. To check if you're in elevated context:

   static bool IsAdministrator()
   {
       WindowsIdentity identity = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent();
       WindowsPrincipal principal = new WindowsPrincipal(identity);
       return principal.IsInRole (WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator);
   }
   

   (Taken from: Detect if running as Administrator with or without elevated privileges?)