Launching HWiNFO at Startup for Normal Users After Windows 10 Anniversary Update

[Undesirable]

Hi there!

After the Windows 10 Anniversary update I am no longer able to automatically start HWiNFO for normal user accounts by modifying the startup scheduled task to "Run whether user is logged in or not". HWiNFO simply refuses to start in the background as it did before the Windows update. I need it running at all times no matter the privileges of the user logged in, as it continually monitors my watercooling system and triggers alarms when necessary, etc. Any ideas?

[Martin]

You should not use the "Run whether user is logged in or not" option to start HWiNFO. HWiNFO is a GUI application and thus requires a user (any user) to be logged in.

[Undesirable]

You should not use the "Run whether user is logged in or not" option to start HWiNFO. HWiNFO is a GUI application and thus requires a user (any user) to be logged in.

From my experience, I have not been able to get HWiNFO to launch without administrative privileges under normal user accounts and my only workaround previously was to run it in the background using the aforementioned Task Scheduler option. It didn't seem to matter that it was a GUI application, as it used the INI variables and was able to monitor everything I had previously set in the background without issue. Unfortunately now, with the Windows Anniversary update, this workaround no longer works.

Perhaps there is another way to launch HWiNFO under normal user accounts without having to enter an admin password? I can understand why the portable version might need admin privileges every time, but not the installation version.

[Martin]

Even if the HWiNFO installer installs the kernel driver once, there are still some other functions in the program that require Administrative rights. Accessing hardware directly requires such privileges, which is a basic security restriction of operating systems.

[Undesirable]

Even if the HWiNFO installer installs the kernel driver once, there are still some other functions in the program that require Administrative rights. Accessing hardware directly requires such privileges, which is a basic security restriction of operating systems.

I see what you mean. I thought perhaps because certain other applications that used drivers such as VeraCrypt were able to run under normal user accounts, then HWiNFO would also be able to, but I suppose VeraCrypt doesn't monitor hardware.

Strange thing is, HWiNFO starts in the background correctly if I manually run the scheduled task.

Edit: Managed to start the application up in the foreground on both admin and normal accounts. I simply had to create a second scheduled task that is triggered when the normal user logs in and choose "run only when user is logged in" and "run with the highest privileges". No password is asked for in either case and the icon is visible in the system tray (which is a novelty for me). I couldn't have asked for more. Success!

[Martin]

That's actually the same what HWiNFO does when you enable the "Auto Start" option

[Undesirable]

I did some more testing after I realised that HWiNFO wasn't monitoring certain sensors correctly on normal accounts. I deleted all scheduled tasks and started again. When logged in as an admin, it creates the scheduled task correctly when I check the box to "Auto Start", all sensors are available as expected and they are correctly passed to Aqua Computer's AquaSuite 2016-4 as software sensors. This Scheduled task only works for the admin account it is enabled on. It doesn't enable HWiNFO to start up on normal accounts without further intervention.

However, when I check the "Auto Start" box in HWiNFO under a normal account and press OK, no scheduled task is created at all, hence I have to create the scheduled task manually for it to start up. Additionally, the sensors that I need to be passed to AquaSuite 2016-4, including CPU Max Core Temp, GPU Core + VRM Temps, are not available upon booting the system and logging straight into the normal account. If I log into the admin account and HWiNFO is launched, log out, and then back into the normal account, the required sensors are then passed correctly from HWiNFO to AquaSuite.

All this testing was done under Windows 10 "Anniversary Edition".