Cannot upgrade because it doesn't self-elevate

[heaths]

Bug report

For the past 6 months or so, whenever a new Docker Desktop comes out for Windows 11, I can't upgrade because the upgrade has to be elevated. Why aren't you, the installer, doing that? It's easy. I worked on the WiX toolset and a number of other high-profile installers and you don't even need to make it that complicated: run ShellExecuteEx with the verb set to runas. It's not a trick and doesn't bypass UAC or anything: it's actually documented.

Instead, I always have to copy the command line you say failed because it has to be elevated, open an elevated shell, paste in the command, run it myself, then manual start Docker Desktop again. That's a terrible UX. Every other installer self-elevates.

Platform

Windows

Version information

Client:
 Version:           29.3.0
 API version:       1.54
 Go version:        go1.25.7
 Git commit:        5927d80
 Built:             Thu Mar  5 15:28:02 2026
 OS/Arch:           windows/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.66.0 (222299)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.3.0
  API version:      1.54 (minimum version 1.40)
  Go version:       go1.25.7
  Git commit:       83bca51
  Built:            Thu Mar  5 14:26:43 2026
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.2.1
  GitCommit:        dea7da592f5d1d2b7755e3a161be07f43fad8f75
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.4
  GitCommit:        v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0
Client:
 Version:    29.3.0
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  agent: Docker AI Agent Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.32.4
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-agent.exe
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.20.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-ai.exe
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.32.1-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v5.1.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.47
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-debug.exe
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.3.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-desktop.exe
  dhi: CLI for managing Docker Hardened Images (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.1
    Path:     C:\Users\heaths\.docker\cli-plugins\docker-dhi.exe
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.exe
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-init.exe
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.40.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-mcp.exe
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.1.5
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-model.exe
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.73
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-offload.exe
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.24
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-pass.exe
  sandbox: Docker Sandbox (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.12.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sandbox.exe
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sbom.exe
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.20.2
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe

Server:
 Containers: 0
  Running: 0
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 0
 Images: 2
 Server Version: 29.3.0
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Discovered Devices:
  cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 nvidia runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: dea7da592f5d1d2b7755e3a161be07f43fad8f75
 runc version: v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 12
 Total Memory: 15.38GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 66f29c81-7f9b-497a-8f9f-6821b2558eac
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=npipe://\\.\pipe\docker_cli
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  127.0.0.0/8
  ::1/128
 Live Restore Enabled: false
 Firewall Backend: iptables

Diagnostics ID

No response