Unfortunately, I have system restore turned off. Usually any little issue like this has a quick resolution, so I'm a bit perplexed that there seems to be little to no information regarding this problem on the web. Also among the search results I get is
this:
Creating a shortcut to an elevated Task Manager, or any shortcut that has the "Run as Administrator" box checked under the advanced properties, exhibits the same behavior. That is, the UAC appropriately prompts me for permission, and once 'Continue' is
clicked, a quick command window flashes in the background and closes. Nothing more happens. At this point I am effectively constrained from running anything with administrator priveledges, USING THIS METHOD ONLY. I am able to install and uninstall programs
(requires administrator priveledges to my knowledge, at least I get a UAC prompt while doing so), so to me this seems as though the string that gets run after clicking 'Continue' on the UAC prompt that is thrown from a shortcut (is the button "show processes
from all users" calling a shortcut?) is either failing while running or before being run. From what I can tell the string that is trying to run (displayed when you click the 'details' button in the UAC prompt) is as follows:
"cmd.exe" /c takeown /f "C:\windows\system32\taskmgr.exe" && icacls "C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe" /grant administrator:F
This string makes sense and should run if the command prompt is elevated. The problem is when the command prompt is opening (after clicking the 'Continue' button in the UAC prompt), I don't think it is opening without elevated priveledges, so it doesn't
have the authority to run those commands.
I can turn off UAC and then use the task manager as expected, but this little quirk is really annoying and I am starting to like the whole UAC concept.