A new software installation requires administrative privileges for deployment. Which of the following is the best way to provide the necessary permissions to install the software?
The best option is to provide temporary elevation rather than permanently increasing a user’s privileges. Quentin Docter explains the principle of least privilege: users should have “the fewest number of privileges that they need to do their job,” because administrative access increases the chance of misconfiguration and security compromise. He also describes how User Account Control (UAC) supports least privilege by logging an administrator in with minimal permissions and then allowing the user to “run as a standard user with the ability to escalate privileges.” That is the practical idea behind just-in-time access—grant admin rights only at the moment they are needed.
The All-in-One guide reinforces this by explaining that if you are logged in with a less-privileged account, you can elevate for installs by entering admin credentials or choosing Run as administrator. Adding the user to the local Administrators group (D) violates least privilege. Assigning Power User (B) is not reliable in modern Windows and still broad. Manual installation (C) doesn’t solve the permission requirement.
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