How can I auto-elevate my batch file, so that it requests from UAC administrator rights if required?

Question

I want my batch file to only run elevated. If not elevated, provide an option for the user to relaunch batch as elevated.

I\'m writing a batch file to set a system v

Answer 1

Matt has a great answer, but it strips away any arguments passed to the script. Here is my modification that keeps arguments. I also incorporated Stephen's fix for the working directory problem in Windows 8.

@ECHO OFF
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

::net file to test privileges, 1>NUL redirects output, 2>NUL redirects errors
NET FILE 1>NUL 2>NUL
if '%errorlevel%' == '0' ( goto START ) else ( goto getPrivileges ) 

:getPrivileges
if '%1'=='ELEV' ( goto START )

set "batchPath=%~f0"
set "batchArgs=ELEV"

::Add quotes to the batch path, if needed
set "script=%0"
set script=%script:"=%
IF '%0'=='!script!' ( GOTO PathQuotesDone )
    set "batchPath=""%batchPath%"""
:PathQuotesDone

::Add quotes to the arguments, if needed.
:ArgLoop
IF '%1'=='' ( GOTO EndArgLoop ) else ( GOTO AddArg )
    :AddArg
    set "arg=%1"
    set arg=%arg:"=%
    IF '%1'=='!arg!' ( GOTO NoQuotes )
        set "batchArgs=%batchArgs% "%1""
        GOTO QuotesDone
        :NoQuotes
        set "batchArgs=%batchArgs% %1"
    :QuotesDone
    shift
    GOTO ArgLoop
:EndArgLoop

::Create and run the vb script to elevate the batch file
ECHO Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%temp%\OEgetPrivileges.vbs"
ECHO UAC.ShellExecute "cmd", "/c ""!batchPath! !batchArgs!""", "", "runas", 1 >> "%temp%\OEgetPrivileges.vbs"
"%temp%\OEgetPrivileges.vbs" 
exit /B

:START
::Remove the elevation tag and set the correct working directory
IF '%1'=='ELEV' ( shift /1 )
cd /d %~dp0

::Do your adminy thing here...