Best way to know if a user has administrative privileges from a VBScript

Question

I need to check whether the user executing the script has administrative privileges on the machine.

I have specified the user executing the script because the script

Answer 1

Ive tried Tim C's solution on a Windows 7 box on my company network where I do actually have admin rights. But it shows my user as not having admin rights.

Instead I used a hackier method, as calling "defrag" in the cmd prompt requires admin access. While it works, be wary that XP and 7 (and possibly future versions of Windows) differ in the return code. There may be more consistent choices than defrag, but it works for now.

Function isAdmin
    Dim shell
    set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    isAdmin = false
    errlvl = shell.Run("%comspec% /c defrag /?>nul 2>nul", 0, True)
    if errlvl = 0 OR errlvl = 2 Then '0 on Win 7, 2 on XP
        isAdmin = true
    End If
End Function

Answer 2

Yet another quick n dirty method. Returns <> 0 If IsNotAdmin

Function IsNotAdmin()
    With CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
        IsNotAdmin = .Run("%comspec% /c OPENFILES > nul", 0, True)
    End With
End Function

Answer 3

What about checking for "\\computername\Admin$\system32"?

function IsLoggedInAsAdmin()
    isAdmin = false
    set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    computername = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%computername%")
    strAdmin = "\\" & computername & "\Admin$\System32"

    isAdmin = false

    set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    if fso.FolderExists(strAdmin) then
        isAdmin = true
    end if

    IsLoggedInAsAdmin = isAdmin
end function

Answer 4

I know this thread is very old and marked answered but the answer isn't really giving what the OP asked about.

For anyone else searching and finding this page, here is an alternative that does report based on rights not group membership so Runas Administrator shows admin rights as True.

Option Explicit 

msgbox isAdmin(), vbOkonly, "Am I an admin?"

Private Function IsAdmin()
    On Error Resume Next
    CreateObject("WScript.Shell").RegRead("HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-19\Environment\TEMP")
    if Err.number = 0 Then 
        IsAdmin = True
    else
        IsAdmin = False
    end if
    Err.Clear
    On Error goto 0
End Function

Answer 5

Using "localhost" instead of the real hostname increases the script runtime about 10x!
My final code is:

' get_admin_status.vbs
Option Explicit

Dim oGroup:   Set oGroup   = GetObject("WinNT://localhost/Administrators,group")
Dim oNetwork: Set oNetwork = CreateObject("Wscript.Network")

Dim sSearchPattern: sSearchPattern = "WinNT://" & oNetwork.UserDomain & "/" & oNetwork.UserName

Dim sMember
For Each sMember In oGroup.Members
  If sMember.adsPath = sSearchPattern Then
    ' Found...
    Call WScript.Quit(0)
  End If
Next

' Not found...
Call WScript.Quit(1)

This script returns exit code 0 if the current user is a local admin.
Usage: cscript.exe get_admin_status.vbs

Answer 6

By doing this you break scenarios where the user has the required privs for your script but does not belong to Administrators. Instead of checking for group membership, check for the specific abilities you require.