> Well, this is something. It appears that I've overlooked quite a bit
> (for how long, I do not know). First, I must admit that I'm not a
> Windows administrator (by hobby or profession). So here is what I did: I
> adjusted the User Account Control settings to each level (they were
> initially set to Default -- the second highest level [3 = Highest, 0 =
> None]). I then successively opened a range of applications as
> Administrator (i.e. Run As Admin).
>
> NONE of them prompted me with a UAC dialog irrespective of level. I
> then launched several other applications: 1) as merely User, and 2) as
> Administrator. Nothing. Finally, I opened the file location for ZTreeWin
> (ZTW.EXE and ZTW64.EXE) and ran them 1) as User, and 2) as Admin. I did
> the same with the Console or CMD. No UAC prompts.
>
> I am at a loss to explain this behavior. My preference has generally
> been to sacrifice convenience at the expense of security, but not
> ridiculously so. Thus, my choice of 2 for the default setting. Until
> now, I have not noticed this UAC behavior (not prompting me at elevated
> privilege). So, I'm as confused about this as anyone. As I said, I'm
> not an expert at UAC or other administrative features, but I suspect
> there is another setting somewhere that is circumventing the UAC setting
> entirely. Other than that, your guess is as good (or likely much better)
> than mine.
>
> Thank you for the ghacks.net link. This should resolve my initial
> request for a fix to skip Windows 10 UAC prompts.
>
> SJ


If you are logged into Windows as BUILTIN\Administrator, then by default, UAC prompts don't appear. All processes you run are running with full administrative privileges. This can be overridden by a group policy setting (Start --> Administrative Tools --> Local Security Policy --> Local Policies --> Security Options --> User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built In Administrator Account). Enabling this means the built-in Administrator account will get UAC prompts.

However, you have said that you launched several applications, including some as a standard user, so that implies that you were logged into Windows as a standard user to begin with.

Or maybe you are logged into Windows as an admin (not the built-in one) but the policy "User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode" has been set to Disabled.

Just some things to check.