WINDOWS PROCESS

consent.exe: Consent UI for administrative applications

Q: Is consent.exe safe, or could it be a virus?

The genuine file is in C:\Windows\System32 and is signed by Microsoft Windows. A program can borrow a familiar name, so check where your copy runs from and who signed it with the commands in “Check it yourself”. A file with this name anywhere else, or with another signer, deserves a closer look.

The User Account Control (UAC) prompt. The file describes itself as the consent UI for administrative applications. Microsoft's UAC documentation calls the prompt an administrator sees the consent prompt, shown when a task needs the administrator's full access token, and says it is displayed on the secure desktop by default.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Process	consent.exe
Display name	Consent UI for administrative applications
File	C:\Windows\System32\consent.exe
Signed by	Microsoft Windows
Verdict	Leave it alone

Paths, signer and service account observed on Windows 11 build 26300 on 11 November 2026. Run the commands below to check your own PC.

Should you touch it?

Leave it alone

It runs only while a UAC prompt is on screen: on the PC used for this page, with no prompt open, no copy was running. There is nothing to end or disable, and the prompt it shows is what stands between a program and administrator rights.

What PC Tweaker does with it

PC Tweaker's priority rules refuse programs in the Windows folder and security software, so the app never changes this process's priority, and no control in the catalogue stops or edits it.

Check it yourself

01
See where it runs from
Protected processes hide their path from a normal window; run PowerShell as administrator to see it.
```
Get-Process consent -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Id, Path
```
PowerShell
02
Check who signed the file
Expect Status: Valid and a certificate issued to Microsoft Windows. A file with this name anywhere else, or with another signer, deserves a closer look.
```
Get-AuthenticodeSignature "C:\Windows\System32\consent.exe" | Format-List Status, SignerCertificate
```
PowerShell

Common questions

Is consent.exe safe, or could it be a virus?

The genuine file is in C:\Windows\System32 and is signed by Microsoft Windows. A program can borrow a familiar name, so check where your copy runs from and who signed it with the commands in “Check it yourself”. A file with this name anywhere else, or with another signer, deserves a closer look.

Can I end consent.exe?

Leave it alone. It runs only while a UAC prompt is on screen: on the PC used for this page, with no prompt open, no copy was running. There is nothing to end or disable, and the prompt it shows is what stands between a program and administrator rights.

Why can't I paste a password into the UAC prompt?

By design. Microsoft documents that pasting the clipboard into a secure input box is intentionally blocked: the prompt is shown on the secure desktop so that other programs cannot read what you type, and a password on the clipboard has already left that protection. The same article records an old Windows 10 bug in which Consent.exe crashed on a paste, fixed by the cumulative update of 23 April 2018.

How does a UAC prompt get started?

Through the Application Information service (Appinfo). Microsoft describes the chain: a program asks to run with administrator rights, ShellExecute calls the Application Information service to perform the task with the elevation prompt, and the service creates the new process with the administrator's full access token once you approve.