BTW I'm on Windows 8 Pro.

Well, that was fun.  Now if I can figure out how to delete a post...

jerrypettit
I notice when running as an Administrator I couldn't drag audio files from the desktop (or a folder thereon) into Sonar.  Not a big deal, maybe, but I went back to running as a Commoner again...

Interesting. Thanks for posting this.

The whole Windows / user permissions / Administrator rights thing is a bit of a confusing mess.  For example, I was told by Sonic Core that I need to run the audio card software as Administrator, so I did so and Windows would always ask, "Do you wish to allow this program to change your computer blah" and I'd say yes (of course) and all was well.  Then I ran it as myself and all was still well.  Now when I run it as Administrator,  Windows doesn't even ask me "Do you wish to allow this program to change your computer blah" any more.  Along similarly confusing lines, it used to be that switching between myself and Administrator when running X2 caused X2 to do its "Personalising your user settings blah" thing every time.  Now I can run it as either and it no longer does this.
 
So, in summary, I'm going to make a coffee...
 
*glug*

I think what's happening here is that as you're not logging out and back in again as Administrator, the application is running as yourself as Administrator because doubtless you have Administrator rights which is why there's a difference, or no difference, or bananas, between running an application as yourself who has Administrator rights and running it as Administrator as yourself who has the Administrator rights.
 
*glug*
 
Bananas!

On my studio box I only use the adminstrator account, thus I am always running as admin 

There is a difference between running in an administrator account and "Run As Administrator".
http://answers.microsoft....4f4d-b59e-4dd29d442ff1

Hello Micknet,
Please look over the following two articles that will explain User Account Control in Windows 7. They desribe the difference between the accounts.
In Windows 7, even logged on with an Administrator account you will need to elevate your privilege when doing some administrative tasks.
The account that you create as a administrator is not a true administrator account. It is a standard user account with administrator privileges.
There is a hidden built in Administrator account. <---What I use

scook
There is a difference between running in an administrator account and "Run As Administrator".http://answers.microsoft....4f4d-b59e-4dd29d442ff1

This is why I thought I might have misunderstood the explanation in the manual. So, does the manual mean that any level of user can now run Sonar but he still DOES need to run it as administrator? (i.e. right-click the icon and select Run As Administrator or enable the option on the Security tab of Property)

Yes, I run with an Administrator account and UAC off and I never have any of the problems mentioned in this thread. But if you're online with your DAW PC, then make sure you have a firewall and some kind of protection software because turning the aforementioned features off will give any program access to any location on your PC.
 
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
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All you have to do is right click the Sonar shortcut, select Properties, click on Compatibility tab and select Run this program as an administrator in the Privilege Level section and then you never have to think about it again.