User permissions and Visual Studio
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
For reasons of security, you should run Visual Studio as a typical user whenever possible.
Warning
You should also make sure not to compile, launch, or debug any Visual Studio solution that does not come from a trusted person or a trusted location.
You can do nearly everything in the Visual Studio IDE as a typical user. You need administrator permissions to complete the following tasks:
| Area | Task | For more information |
|---|---|---|
| Installation | Install or modify Visual Studio. | Install Visual Studio, Modify Visual Studio |
| Install, update, or remove local Help content. | Install and manage local Help content | |
| Toolbox | Add classic COM controls to Toolbox. | Toolbox |
| Building | Use post-build events that register a component. | Understand custom build steps and build events |
| Include a registration step when you build C++ projects. | ||
| Debugging | Debug applications that run with elevated permissions. | Debugger settings and preparation |
| Debug applications that a run under a different user account, such as ASP.NET websites. | Debug ASP.NET and AJAX applications | |
| Debug in Zone for XAML Browser Applications (XBAP). | WPF host (PresentationHost.exe) | |
| Use the emulator to debug cloud service projects for Microsoft Azure. | Debug a cloud service in Visual Studio | |
| Configure a firewall for remote debugging. | Remote debugging | |
| Performance tools | Attaching to an elevated application. | Beginners guide to performance profiling |
| Use the GPU Profiler. | GPU profiling | |
| Deployment | Deploy a web application to Internet Information Services (IIS) on a local computer. | Deploy an ASP.NET web app using Visual Studio |
Run Visual Studio as an administrator
If you need to run Visual Studio as an administrator, follow these steps to open the IDE:
Note
These instructions are for Windows 10. They are similar for other versions of Windows.
Open the Start menu, and scroll to Visual Studio 2017.
From the right-click or context menu of Visual Studio 2017, select More > Run as administrator.
When Visual Studio starts, (Administrator) appears after the product name in the title bar.
You can also modify the application shortcut to always run with administrative permissions:
Open the Start menu, scroll to the version of Visual Studio that you're using, and then select More > Open file location.
In File Explorer, locate the Visual Studio shortcut for the version that you're using. Then, right-click the shortcut and select Send to > Desktop (create shortcut).
On the Windows desktop, right-click the Visual Studio shortcut, and then select Properties.
Select the Advanced button, and then select the Run as administrator check box.
Select OK, and then select OK again.