Improve UWP run-as-admin error message to communicate the unsupported elevation limitation

Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/sessions/3bbc6ebf-2a0c-4fea-a7ca-f77b91935925 Co-authored-by: MuyuanMS <116717757+MuyuanMS@users.noreply.github.com>
Fix unhandled Win32Exception when running UWP app as administrator in PowerToys Run
2026-07-02 08:28:55 +02:00 · 2026-05-14 08:10:14 +00:00 · 2026-04-29 09:54:16 +00:00 · 2026-04-29 08:51:46 +00:00
2 changed files with 15 additions and 1 deletions
--- a/src/modules/launcher/Plugins/Microsoft.Plugin.Program/Programs/UWPApplication.cs
+++ b/src/modules/launcher/Plugins/Microsoft.Plugin.Program/Programs/UWPApplication.cs
@@ -152,7 +152,18 @@ namespace Microsoft.Plugin.Program.Programs
                                var info = ShellCommand.SetProcessStartInfo(command, verb: "runas");
                                info.UseShellExecute = true;
                                info.Arguments = queryArguments;
-                                Process.Start(info);
+                                try
+                                {
+                                    Process.Start(info);
+                                }
+                                catch (Exception e)
+                                {
+                                    ProgramLogger.Exception($"Unable to run {DisplayName} as administrator", e, MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType, command);
+                                    var name = "Plugin: " + Properties.Resources.wox_plugin_program_plugin_name;
+                                    var message = Properties.Resources.powertoys_run_plugin_program_uwp_run_as_admin_not_supported;
+                                    api.ShowMsg(name, message, string.Empty);
+                                }
+
                                return true;
                            },
                        });
--- a/src/modules/launcher/Plugins/Microsoft.Plugin.Program/Properties/Resources.resx
+++ b/src/modules/launcher/Plugins/Microsoft.Plugin.Program/Properties/Resources.resx
@@ -165,6 +165,9 @@
  <data name="powertoys_run_plugin_program_uwp_failed" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>Can't start UWP</value>
  </data>
+  <data name="powertoys_run_plugin_program_uwp_run_as_admin_not_supported" xml:space="preserve">
+    <value>Unable to run as administrator. Packaged UWP apps do not support elevated launch via this method.</value>
+  </data>
  <data name="wox_plugin_program_run_as_user" xml:space="preserve">
    <value>Run as different user (Ctrl+Shift+U)</value>
  </data>
Author	SHA1	Message	Date
copilot-swe-agent[bot]	51ab8137be	Improve UWP run-as-admin error message to communicate the unsupported elevation limitation Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/sessions/3bbc6ebf-2a0c-4fea-a7ca-f77b91935925 Co-authored-by: MuyuanMS <116717757+MuyuanMS@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-05-14 08:10:14 +00:00
copilot-swe-agent[bot]	b3e1daa8c7	Fix unhandled Win32Exception when running UWP app as administrator in PowerToys Run Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/sessions/a174b414-9aae-446a-9939-0d7fb74905dd Co-authored-by: MuyuanMS <116717757+MuyuanMS@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-04-29 09:54:16 +00:00
copilot-swe-agent[bot]	1d752875da	Initial plan	2026-04-29 08:51:46 +00:00