Running Modern UI/Metro Apps as Administrator in Windows 8

Question

I noticed that on Windows 8's Start screen, I could right click a Windows legacy program (A program which runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7), and I could run it as Administrator.

However, whenever I clicked on a Windows 8 Modern UI or a Metro app, I didn't have that option.

So here are my questions:-

1. Why can't I run the Modern UI apps as an Administrator?
2. Does it make any difference as far as security is concerned?

Answer 1

If you kill explorer.exe process and run it as administrator, here is the error message that Windows will give you:

An administrator access is only required in Windows when an app wants to access system files and folders.

Windows Store apps are sandboxed where they can't get access to system files or raw file system access. Windows Store apps can only access the libraries and removable media by itself and if it wants to access any other file, the user has to select it through a file-open-picker to give the app permission to do it.

Answer 2

good question, and this further highlights the confusion between 'legacy' apps and 'Windows 8 Store' apps.

Windows 8 Store apps run under the current user only, and have no need to run as an administrator as, a bit like on an iPad, they run in their own 'sandbox' / environment, separate from the rest of the entire system.