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With Vista’s User Account Control (enabled by default), there are times that you’ll need to do things, and not have rights to do them. If you are comfortable with command line utilities, a possible option is to run a command line with Administrator rights.
Normally, to start a command line, you would click on Start, type cmd and press Enter. This would open a command line window that looks like this:
Opening a command line with administrator rights is similar. Click on Start, type cmd, but this time, don’t press Enter, instead, press CTRL+SHIFT+Enter. You’ll be prompted to approve the action, and will then see a window that looks like this:
Note the Administrator: label that appears at the beginning of the window title as a reminder that it is running as Administrator.
This tip was spotted at jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2006/12/early_vista_tip_2.html.
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Comments
30 Tips for Getting More (or Less) Out of Windows Vista | ITsVISTA
Jan 31, 2007 at 9:39 am
[...] Run the Vista Command Line as Administrator [...]
chuck
Mar 8, 2007 at 5:41 pm
vista what a waste of money very unhappy can`t even install printer was told where I bought pc to get rid of vista will never use vista again
Joe
Mar 8, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Doesn’t really belong on this page, but since you’re here, why couldn’t you install your printer? Did it not have a Vista compatible driver? Most issues are solvable, but old hardware that doesn’t have compatible drivers would be one that isn’t. It’s never been said that owning Vista is cheap!
Shawn
Mar 9, 2007 at 5:50 pm
first, i just received my new laptop with vista business preloaded and i have been busy trying to work out all the bugs…so thanks for the site.
second, this doesn’t seem to work for me…still keeps opening as ‘user’. any ideas?
Joe
Mar 9, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Welcome to the party. Do you get the UAC prompt when you try, or does the command window immediately open as a normal user?
Shawn
Mar 9, 2007 at 7:25 pm
thanks!
It immediately opens up as normal user.
Joe
Mar 9, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Hmmm. Seems to me either UAC is deactivated, and perhaps you already have admin rights so it doesn’t show ‘administrator’ in the title bar (doesn’t seem likely, but I never tried it so I can’t be certain), or the keyboard combination isn’t being seen. I would try different combinations of the left and right versions of the CTRL and ALT keys just in case one isn’t working right. If that doesn’t do it, type ‘cmd’ in the search box. When it appears in the program list, right-click it and choose ‘run as administrator’ just to see if that work correctly.
Shawn
Mar 9, 2007 at 8:59 pm
odd, I have tried every key combination that I can think of with no success but running cmd as administrator brings it up like it should be.
I can work with that.
Emilio
Mar 15, 2007 at 8:49 pm
I think you are trying to press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER in the “run” dialog. You have to do that in the “search” dialog at the bottom of the start menu. It works good.
Joe
Mar 15, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Good point Emilio, must be in the ‘Search’ box, not the run box!
buddie
Mar 16, 2007 at 3:03 am
is there a way to gain admin rights once you’re inside the command box? my user is an admin, i don’t know how to level up my privilege.
Joe
Mar 16, 2007 at 8:06 am
So far the only ways I’ve seen to get those elevated privileges are by granting them to the command prompt before it opens. I haven’t seen any kind of command line that would allow it to elevate itself. If their was, it would surely involve the entering of credentials.
Emilio
Mar 16, 2007 at 8:20 am
You can try with runas (write runas /? in command window for help), but I couldn’t make it.
Jesse
Apr 7, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Joe,
Is there a way to make programs that Windows Defender blocks on startup to run normally? I have a couple programs that are blocked from running on the start-up of my laptop that is blocked by Windows Defender.
Thanks for the help,
Jesse
John Piercy
Jun 12, 2007 at 3:59 pm
My gf wiped vista and installed Fedora 7 due to having some weird problems. She complained that she couldn’t play movies or anything. I’m considering doing the same. Anyone else used Fedora? I’m new to Fedora but she makes it look easy enough so… I found this page searching for a permissions problem on vista. Now I see that I need to run this command in a command line as administrator. Thanks!
Alan Spicer
Jun 28, 2007 at 9:44 pm
This article is confusing. It says just to Click Start and Type “cmd”. Well that’s great, you can’t do that. Anyone would assum that you mean to do that in the run box. Doesn’t seem to work there. Doesn’t seem to work in Search either.
However, you can click Start, Programs, Accessories. Then right click Command Prompt and left click “Run as administrator”. There you go the correct results you are talking about. Probably easier for most users to figure out as well. Probably this is also the easiest way to run anything as Administrator. Although there probably aren’t many things that users should run as Administrator.
Alan Spicer
Jun 28, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Also I’m looking for shortcut commands to type in the RUN box. It’d be nice if there was one to open the “Manage Network Connections”. I’m always in there.
Anyway you know like “services.msc”, mstsc, and stuff like that.
Joe
Jun 28, 2007 at 10:02 pm
It sounds as if you are running Windows XP. This tip, as the title implies (and as are all other tips on this site), is for Windows Vista. The only other way to get the behavior you describe would be if you are using Vista, but have changed to use the ‘Classic’ Start menu, which would be an exception that few would do. If that is the case, the method you describe would likely work, though it’s not as easy as using the search box.
Typing “Sharing” in the Search box will get you to the Network and Sharing Center, which is one click away from the ‘Manage Network Connections’ screen, but I don’t see anything that you can type to get you directly there.
Alan Spicer
Jun 29, 2007 at 12:40 am
Running Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, 2000 server, 2003 server, Fedora Core.
I was in Vista Enterprise in MS Virtual when I wrote that. I have to admit I did have the ‘Classic’ Start menu on. Wow that’s kind of lame that they dump you right into a search box with your cursor in the box, right away in the Start Menu.
Just finished reading Neal Stephensons’ In the Beginning was the Command Line, that someone else suggested might be an interesting read. Maybe I’m just still stuck on that read, or maybe he and I are about the same age (plus or minus a year) … but that Search Box thing almost makes me want to call it a Macintosh’ism.
What I hated most about Vista (first impressions) is I had to dig all over the place to find stuff. The Classic Mode eases that a little bit.
So I stand corrected because of the Classic Mode I was in.
P.S. still looking for a list of commands for the run box or command prompt that brings up many of the programs, utilities, control panels, etc. in Vista. Some I noticed are the same as in XP.
Alan Spicer -
http://telecom.dyndns.biz/
Gill
Dec 17, 2007 at 10:42 am
Fedora is awesome. GUI looks just like windows and programs aren’t that hard to install.
Fedora is lot more powerful and robust than Windows. You can use shell prompt to get the most out of Fedora.
Only thing you need to worry about Fedora is obtaining drivers for some hardware. Desktop computers don’t seem to have any issues, notebook computers may have issues, but you can always find drivers from google search.
Maud
Jan 6, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I’m a Vista user who recently downloaded a program that keeps telling me it requires administrator priveleges to run. However, I am the only user on the computer and I am an administrator. Help?
Joe
Jan 13, 2008 at 1:01 pm
@Maud: You might try right clicking the the programs executable and choosing ‘Properties’. Check the ‘Run as Administrator’ box and hit OK. Does that fix it?
Dee Conant
Jan 16, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I go to wildbunchradio.com and try to get into the chat room on sundays 11-1pm and vista will nt bring it up. What do I hve to do? I do not understand the add on chat and tried it, but were do I copy/paste it too?
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