How do you run a command as an administrator from the Windows command line?

Question

I have a small script that performs the build and install process on Windows for a Bazaar repository I\'m managing. I\'m trying to run the script with elevated, administrati

Answer 1

Press the start button. In the search box type "cmd", then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter

Answer 2

A batch/WSH hybrid is able to call ShellExecute to display the UAC elevation dialog...

@if (1==1) @if(1==0) @ELSE
@echo off&SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS
>nul 2>&1 "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\cacls.exe" "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config\system"||(
    cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0"
    @goto :EOF
)
echo.Performing admin tasks...
REM call foo.exe
@goto :EOF
@end @ELSE
ShA=new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application")
ShA.ShellExecute("cmd.exe","/c \""+WScript.ScriptFullName+"\"","","runas",5);
@end

Answer 3

I would set up a shortcut, either to CMD or to the thing you want to run, then set the properties of the shortcut to require admin, and then run the shortcut from your batch file. I haven't tested to confirm it will respect the properties, but I think it's more elegant and doesn't require activating the Administrator account.

Also if you do it as a scheduled task (which can be set up from code) there is an option to run it elevated there.

Answer 4

Simple pipe trick, ||, with some .vbs used at top of your batch. It will exit regular and restart as administrator.

@AT>NUL||echo set shell=CreateObject("Shell.Application"):shell.ShellExecute "%~dpnx0",,"%CD%", "runas", 1:set shell=nothing>%~n0.vbs&start %~n0.vbs /realtime& timeout 1 /NOBREAK>nul& del /Q %~n0.vbs&cls&exit

It also del /Q the temp.vbs when it's done using it.

Answer 5

Browse to C:\windows\System32 and right click on cmd.exe and run as Administrator. Worked for me on Windows 7.

If you are trying to run a script with elevated privileges you could do the same for the script file or use the scheduler's run as a different user option to run the script.

Answer 6

:: ------- Self-elevating.bat --------------------------------------
@whoami /groups | find "S-1-16-12288" > nul && goto :admin
set "ELEVATE_CMDLINE=cd /d "%~dp0" & call "%~f0" %*"
findstr "^:::" "%~sf0">temp.vbs
cscript //nologo temp.vbs & del temp.vbs & exit /b

::: Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
::: Set objWshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
::: Set objWshProcessEnv = objWshShell.Environment("PROCESS")
::: strCommandLine = Trim(objWshProcessEnv("ELEVATE_CMDLINE"))
::: objShell.ShellExecute "cmd", "/c " & strCommandLine, "", "runas"
:admin -------------------------------------------------------------

@echo off
echo Running as elevated user.
echo Script file : %~f0
echo Arguments   : %*
echo Working dir : %cd%
echo.
:: administrator commands here
:: e.g., run shell as admin
cmd /k

For a demo: self-elevating.bat "path with spaces" arg2 3 4 "another long argument"

And this is another version that does not require creating a temp file.

<!-- : --- Self-Elevating Batch Script ---------------------------
@whoami /groups | find "S-1-16-12288" > nul && goto :admin
set "ELEVATE_CMDLINE=cd /d "%~dp0" & call "%~f0" %*"
cscript //nologo "%~f0?.wsf" //job:Elevate & exit /b

-->
<job id="Elevate"><script language="VBScript">
  Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
  Set objWshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  Set objWshProcessEnv = objWshShell.Environment("PROCESS")
  strCommandLine = Trim(objWshProcessEnv("ELEVATE_CMDLINE"))
  objShell.ShellExecute "cmd", "/c " & strCommandLine, "", "runas"
</script></job>
:admin -----------------------------------------------------------

@echo off
echo Running as elevated user.
echo Script file : %~f0
echo Arguments   : %*
echo Working dir : %cd%
echo.
:: administrator commands here
:: e.g., run shell as admin
cmd /k