[Solved] Why can't I drag audio from Explorer into Sonar? (X3e)

rogeriodec
I would not say this is [Solved], because we are at an impasse:

1. Run X3e as administrator does not allow Drag & Drop audio files from Windows Explorer.
2. Run X3e as NOT administrator does not allow some external VST plugins to work.

The solution would be to allow Drag & Drop even with Sonar as an administrator mode.

 

rogeriodec
I would not say this is [Solved], because we are at an impasse:
Run X3e as administrator does not allow Drag & Drop audio files from Windows Explorer.
Run X3e as NOT administrator does not allow some external VST plugins to work.
The solution would be to allow Drag & Drop even with Sonar as an administrator mode.

 
This is not a Sonar issue, it is a question of Windows not allowing a process with a lower security level to pass control to a process of higher security level. Allowing such behavior is dangerous since malware could then elevate its control over a process running as administrator, thus defeating the protection designed into UAC. When you drag and drop you are using Windows Explorer (WE) which is always started at the level of the logged in user. When you run a program as administrator, you are running it with privileges not even granted to a user who is logged in as a member of the Administrators Group. The grown up way of dealing with this intelligent Windows limitation is to use Sonar's File>Open dialog or the Sonar Media Browser to open the file.
 
It is possible to open Windows Explorer using "run as administrator" and files will drag from that particular window to a program with elevated privileges, but any new window spawned from that elevated window will not retain elevated privileges-so a search result window popping up from a search initiated within an elevated WE window will not work. You can also install another file explorer utility and start that with "run as administrator." I have been able to drag and drop from FreeCommander XE started "run as administrator," to elevated programs, but frankly only as an exercise. I almost never drag and drop anything to a program, and only occasionally move files that way.
 
Finally it is possible to stop the Windows Explorer process and restart it with administrator privileges, but that is just plain crazy, and unless you are running only a single account member of the administrators group (already a bad idea from a security standpoint) is likely to cause consternation.