When you try to start a program that must run with elevated permissions on a Windows Vista-based computer, you may receive an error message that resembles the following:

The directory name is invalid.

This issue occurs if the following conditions are true:

• User Access Control (UAC) is enabled.
• The system Temp folder does not exist.
  Note: Typically, the system Temp folder resides in the following location

  %windir%\Temp directory

You do not receive a response when you try to perform any one of the following tasks in Windows Vista:

• Click any of the buttons on the sidebar in Backup and Restore Center.
• Modify the settings for Windows Firewall.
• Modify the settings for Offline Files.

Additionally, you do not receive a message or an error.

This problem occurs if the following conditions are true:

• The following Group Policy setting is configured to automatically deny elevation requests:
  

  Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users

• You tried to perform a task that requires elevated user rights.

User Account Control (UAC) is bound to be one of the more talked about features of Vista because it has a tendency to ‘get in your face’ with dialog windows every time you try to change or install something (see image below). Administrators will be quickly annoyed by this and likely look to disable it all together. Though it is easily turned off, before doing so, it’s best to know what the different options are, because you’ll want to find a balance between security and convenience. Keep reading →