How To Fix Windows 10’s Missing ‘Run As Administrator’ Option For MSI Files

I discovered a strange quirk with the Windows 10 install on my notebook — the “Run as administrator” option was missing from the context menu for Windows Installer files, which use the extension “.msi”. This isn’t great, as many installers require admin privileges to make system-level changes.

Unfortunately, as How-To Geek’s Lori Kaufman explains, adding the option requires a few edits to the Registry. So to start with, fire up the Registry Editor by pressing Windows + R and typing “regedit” into the Run dialog.

Once it appears, locate this key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Msi.Package\shell

Then, add a new key under shell and rename it runas. Edit the “(Default)” parameter of runas and type in Run as &administrator.

Now, create a new key under runas called command and change its “(Default)” parameter to contain msiexec /i "%1".

If you’re not sure how it should look, here are the collected changes.

And you’re done! When you right-click a Windows Installer executable, you’ll now see the “Run as administrator” option.

How to Force an MSI Package to Install Using Administrator Mode [How-To Geek]