Run PyCharm as Administrator by Default

In this guide, I will show you how to run PyCharm as an administrator by default when you open it. If you are a developer that is working on a project that needs admin access to the system, this is very helpful. Please keep in mind, with the program having admin access, means it is easy to mess things up on the system. So making this change should be done with caution!

PyCharm Administrator Setup

First, we need to find the PyCharm program shortcut on Windows. To do that hit the “Start” icon, also seen as the “Windows” icon in the bottom left of the screen. Once the menu is open, scroll until you find the “JetBrains” folder, click on it so it is expanded. Now right-click on the program, hover over “more”, and finally select “Open file location”.

Windows 10 Open Pycharm Shortcut Location

With the file location open, right-click on the “PyCharm” shortcut, then select “Properties”

Right Click PyCharm Shortcut and Select Properties

In the Properties window, make sure the “Compatibility” tab is selected. Next check the “Run this program as an administrator” box. Finally, click on the “Apply” button on the bottom right to save the changes.

PyCharm shortcut properties for administrator

With the changes saved, you can now open the “PyCharm” program by clicking on it via the start menu as we did at the beginning of the tutorial. Once the program opens you may get a “UAC” or “User Access Control” prompt, confirming you want this program to open with Administrator privileges. After confirming, once the program opens you can see in the title that it is running as “(Administrator)”.

PyCharm running as administrator

As you can see it was easy to run PyCharm as an administrator. If you would like it to open up again as a normal user or with non-elevated privileges, reverse these steps. Simply uncheck the “Run this program as an administrator” box and then “Apply”!

Wrap up

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