How to run this without elevated permissions

[ScuffedOni]

Step-by-Step

Here’s how you would execute these steps:

Open Command Prompt:

Press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Enter.

Change Directory:

Type the following command and press Enter:

cd /d "whatever your path is to the game folder"

Run the Command:

Finally, execute the full command to set the compatibility layer and run the application:

cmd.exe /c "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RunAsInvoker && ONCE_HUMAN.exe --start_from_launcher=1"

This will run ONCE_HUMAN.exe located in your install folder without requesting elevated (administrator) privileges.

Do this every time that you run the game.

[MerlinW]

Първоначално публикувано от ScuffedOni:

Първоначално публикувано от Djozar:

You had to have admin rights enabled to play? Huh... It's nice to just push play.

It autoruns with admin rights. Which is sketchy.

Turn back the UAC on and it won't be automatic... Btw most of the games use admin rights.

[Cmdo.Delta]

Първоначално публикувано от capitalthree:

So I have a slight improvement to the process... working for me at least.

Save the command (reposted here):
cmd.exe /c "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RunAsInvoker && ONCE_HUMAN.exe --start_from_launcher=1"

into a bat file in the game directory, as others have suggested. I named it ONCE_HUMAN_USER.bat

Then simply change the game's launch arguments in steam to:
ONCE_HUMAN_USER.bat %command%

This way you can launch the game normally from steam. An additional cmd window will pop up, which you can ignore.

As Milk correctly mentioned, this does not bypass or change any aspects of windows security. It's working for me right now, but I think the game will still elevate itself when it has updates. If you have disabled UAC prompts (not something I'd recommend), then you might not notice if the game does still elevate itself. And I can't test on windows 11 cuz I ain't touching that.

There's nothing magic about this compared to the previous solutions... I'm suggesting this because it's convenient (at least for me... I prefer this solution to registry editing). I of course agree with the comments that this is a mistake on the part of the developer, who should not make their game ask for admin permissions except when they are needed.

To those calling people paranoid... chill. While I don't think Once Human is doing anything deliberately malicious, it is bad security practice to have online games running as administrator, and it is doubly bad when you start having to run *other* programs as admin (like discord or OBS) because of it. If you want to take unnecessary risks, go for it, but don't make fun of people who put some minimal effort into security.

Thanks mate! This time, Discord didn't complained that the game was elevated while discord was not. A good way to spot which games sneakily tries to elevate itself without your consent :D

[capitalthree]

Първоначално публикувано от MerlinW:

Първоначално публикувано от ScuffedOni:

It autoruns with admin rights. Which is sketchy.

Turn back the UAC on and it won't be automatic... Btw most of the games use admin rights.

Actually it's super unusual for games to run with admin rights. You've probably noticed steam UAC prompts on first launch for a lot of games, when it runs setup steps (usually installing library redistributables, or sometimes installing anticheat drivers).

[◬ ☥ 𝕄𝕚𝕝𝕜 ☥ ◬]

The fact remains this is a placebo and it just bypasses on launch, can't pass to child processes, and doesn't actually do anything. If the game wanted admin rights after you did this, it would ask again anyways. If you have UAC off it would just do it.
Its quite literally a compatibility work around and compat_layer cannot affect system level security.
Not to say that the game needs admin rights, I agree it's pointless (seemingly since it never asks me again) but thats a different topic.
More so this is a point about unnecessary security risks which is kind of ironic in itself I guess. Anyways carry on fellow gamers!

Първоначално публикувано от stooeh:

Първоначално публикувано от ◬ ☥ 𝕄𝕚𝕝𝕜 ☥ ◬:

I think it wouldn't work if the game really needed the permissions, is what I'm trying to say in summary

If the game doesn't actually need the permissions (which appears to be the case) then it shouldn't have its manifest set to request them imo.

I agree completely

Първоначално публикувано от capitalthree:

Indeed. If a simple command could cause the process to elevate to admin without a UAC prompt, then all malware would do so, and UAC would be useless.

exactly right. every malware on the planet would use this simple command and bypass your security entirely if that was the case.

By the way, I created this post to help people remove AppsFlyer, and at the bottom (the VVVVVVVVVVVVV section) is something you can do if you still play the game, those 2 files are the ones seemingly creating the registry entries and after removing them the game did not reacquire them on launch, and the registry stopped updating (adding those 2 files to startup) on launch, too. EZPZ!
If you're NOT still playing the game, use the top section instead.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2139460/discussions/0/6256146068610218929/

[capitalthree]

What exactly are you trying to claim is a placebo, Milk? This isn't the first time you say things that seem to me, in the context of the actual conversation here, to be misleading or at least missing the point. Multiple of us have confirmed that the compat_layer workaround *does* in fact allow us to run this game without it elevating to admin status. That's certainly not a placebo, because it's a network-connected game, and running it without admin (slightly) limits the blast radius if it has RCE vulnerabilities.

[wilson0x4d]

Since a lot of false information is here about "AsInvoker" I want to arm everyone with some "end-user friendly" information:

1) Try the above solution and then ALT-TAB out of the game leaving it running in the background.

2) Run Task Manager (hotkey CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) and switch to the "Details" tab. Right click on any column header and choose "Select Columns", scroll the list looking for "Elevated" and "UAC Virtualization". Enable/Add both of these columns. Click OK.

Scroll the list of applications looking for Once_Human.exe -- take note that the 'Elevated' column reads "No", because THE PROCESS HAS NOT BEEN ELEVATED. That said, if you are running as an admin, the application is running with admin privileges. However, this is NOT the same thing as a process running in an elevated (privileged) context. Even when using an Administrator account, by default, a UAC prompt should be presented to get permission from an Authorized user. if the logged in user is not an Admin they are then required to authenticate using an Administrative account. UAC prompts are not magic, and, injecting an "AsInvoker" override to the app manifest declaration does not allow a UAC prompt to silently succeed (an absurd notion, if an explicitly elevation attempt is made either it will fail or a UAC prompt will be presented.. pick one.)

That said, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR A GAME TO RUN WITH ELEVATED PERMISSIONS.

End-users should also not be gaming, browsing, etc from an Administrative user account. This is how viruses, worms, and malware are even made possible..

Are UAC prompts annoying? Yes. But, they are there to protect you from malicious code.

There was a time when advertisers were installing applications from within an IFRAME/browser without any user confirmation at all, the end-user would see what looked like an advertisement while browsing a website, then discover they had new programs installed that would not uninstall. That is the world you live in. Protect yourselves. Use your PC from a Limited User (Non-Administrator) account. When necessary you can always "run as Administrator" to install programs, anti-cheat drivers, etc or, more appropriately, switch user accounts to perform Administrative tasks and then switch back to the Limited account.

Now all of the know-nothing-know-it-all-non-programmer-keyboard-warriors can crawl into a hole and stop attacking people that are looking to override app manifest assertions.

NetEase, SHAME ON YOU, you know this is only being done to backdoor applications on launch, something you should be doing from an installer! Again, SHAME ON YOU!

SOURCE; 30+ veteran software engineer on Windows, macOS, and Linux -- have worked for multiple game companies.

#TMYK

[pawner1304]

Първоначално публикувано от Mr Snrub:

This should be pinned :)
I refuse to play games that (appear to) require administrative privileges to run so I was very pleased to find this post after a quick search!

I adapted the solution slightly by creating a shortcut named "Once Human" with the following properties:

Target = C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c "set __COMPAT_LAYER=RunAsInvoker && ONCE_HUMAN.exe --start_from_launcher=1"

Start in = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Once Human"

Through "Change Icon" I pointed to ONCE_HUMAN.EXE and pinned it to my Start menu.

Everything was working fine until today's patch (29.08.2024)
Now it crashes to desktop after few secounds of playing - in menu before login in to the world its not crashing.
Eternaland works without an issue

Ok, so launching game normally drops me to the desktop after few seconds, but weirdly enough when you go to the Eternaland and from there leave to the server game works without any problems

[Nathan22awesome]

Първоначално публикувано от Disodium:

While I have not attempted to run the game as a restricted user what I can say is all this command line will do is suppress the elevated permissions prompt

asInvoker - Run with limited user rights unless specifically elevated or called from an already elevated process

For instance if OnceHuman.exe is launched with this command, it will run without a prompt, if OnceHuman.exe does not require elevation it will remain non-elevated, but if OnceHuman.exe requires elevated permissions, this command line is simply suppressing the warning (It will still run as an Elevated Process!).

If you are running this command and are the admin of your computer, this will just suppress the message, I'd be interested to see how a restricted user goes with this command line and what the game does when launched with this

well...it launches for me (im using epic games however) but uh...when i hit the menu to pick a character or a server, the button can be clicked but takes me nowhere

[N4c5]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3317680198