How to run File Explorer with admin rights on Windows 10

Feb 8, 2019
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Apps can run with regular user privileges, or they can run with admin rights. When an app needs to run with admin rights, it’s usually because it needs to make a significant change to the system. This may be something big like editing the Windows registry, or something small like saving a file to a certain protected location. With apps, it’s pretty obvious that they use different types of privileges depending on what they need to do but the File Explorer also follows the same rules. By default, it always runs with normal user rights. If you need to run File Explorer with admin rights, you will have to launch it from the Explorer.exe file.

File Explorer with admin rights

In order to run File Explorer with admin rights, you need to open a File Explorer window and navigate to the following location;

Here, look for explorer.exe and right-click it. From the context menu, select Run as administrator and File Explorer will launch with admin rights.

You can also run File Explorer with admin rights from the Task Manager. Open the Task Manager and go to File>Run New Task.

In the Create new task box, enter explorer.exe and check the ‘Create this task with administrative privileges’ option. Click Ok, and a new File Explorer window will open with admin rights.

Remember that File Explorer can run several instances of itself. When you run it with admin rights, you run one instance of the app with those rights. All other instances that were already running with normal privileges will not be elevated to admin rights.

Running File Explorer with admin rights will allow you to access certain restricted directories on your system however, it will not magically unlock every single directory. Some folders on your system are owned by TrustedInstaller and if TrustedInstaller prevents you from accessing a folder, you will not be able to do so even if you’re running File Explorer with admin rights.

It’s rare that you’ll ever need to run File Explorer with admin rights. The app is used to find other apps or files on your system and normally, it’s those apps or files that you need to run with admin rights. An Explorer window with ordinary rights will work just as well as one with admin rights. That said, for those rare occasions when you do need to run File Explorer with admin rights, you can.

It goes without saying that if you’re doing this from a normal user account, you will be prompted to enter the admin username and password.

Is it impossible to run file explorer as administrator under Windows 10?

After install Windows 10, it seems that I lost the ability to run explorer.exe as administrator with a user in administrator group.

For example, start command prompt under administrator mode and subst a drive. The substed drive is not visible within the file explorer since it is run not as administrator.

I was able to run explorer.exe from task manager with the option «create with privileges» checked and then I can see all the drives in explorer. But now this is not working anymore.

I knew there are other options to workaround it, but just want to make sure that if it is now totally impossible under Windows 10?

Any comment is appreciated.

Replies (5) 

Can you be more specific?

You can run Explorer as admin in a couple of ways. You can set a short cut to run as Admin, etc

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Thanks for the suggsetion, ZigZag. I have updated my question with the detail of my question workflow.

Your solution cannot work. If you are interested on what I have tried, you can refer to this.

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Here’s how I did this.

1. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the .\Windows folder
2. Search for «explorer.exe»
3. When found, right click and select «copy»
4. On the desktop right click and select «Paste shortcut»
5. Close the Windows Explorer window
6. Right click the shortcut and select «Advanced. «
7. On Advanced Properties, check the box «Run as administrator»
8. Click OK
9. Click OK

You will now have a shortcut on your desktop that will run Windows Explorer as Administrator.

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When I run that ADVANCED option as described the Run as administrator choice is grayed out (not available to choose) and the box is unchecked. The same is true for the Run in separate memory space option but that on is checked already. I am the only user on my system which is a standalone, not-networked device. I’m pretty certain the HOMEGROUP icon is in my tree but I don’t use HOMEGROUP.

This system is up to date as of today 14Feb2017 and the updates include all microsoft product like my Office Student Suite.

Previous help screen tell me I have to check that Run as administrator box, which I cannot do because it is grey out.

I’ve paced back and forth between the two help sheet and cannot find any hints or tips to overcome the grey out Run as Administrator limitation.

So before I get out the light fluid and torches to send this thing to Hades can anyone offer me the correct workaround. I am told I need to run File Explorer as administrator in order to correct a problem with document and setting that are claimed to be part of a problem set which is causing my Excel 2007 to corrupt my 2003 files. (The opened twice quiet well but as I saved and re-saved and saved backjup that data corrupted each time I’ve go a twelve sheet wide collection of lists and table upon which functions are to operate on their respective range names (The range names are easily within the 255 character length and are mostly full column reference i.e. =(Sumif(newpartsreceived,$A:$4, newpartsinbins)) expecting Excel to check newpartrsreceied for the cells with the value in stored in $A$$, and then sum the values in newpartsinbins I wrote this as a =SUMIFS( as well and get the VALUE# ERROR IN THE CELL WITH THAT FORMULA.

what go me headed down this path was a Microsoft Community help sheet that was helping to deal with a constant, chronic, unrelenting excel 2007 startup crash every time I tried to opened a 2003 compatible

So now, here I am, nearly blind from working the screen for twelve hours and I am now I’m at the point in that procedural steps that tell me to open the advanced properties in the after opening the Shortcut tab in File Explorer Properties. Like I said I cannot put a check mark in the Run as administrator because it is grey out (as in not available to chose) I’m stuck in this tiny closet of the digital maze. ANY IDEAS?What I am missing? What is the idiot checks I need to reexamine?

Please help! It’s not a small project as it will interrelate with two separate workbooks once it[s running cherry. I really need to revover the last workable worksheet I had at 9am today (Tues, Feb 14 2017)

Running windows explorer as administrator

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There is no Run as Administrator for File Explorer. I had an extra drive that only had Admininstrators full control as premissons. You can not get there with File explorer. You can do a command prompt as an admin and go there but you can’t use File Explorer.(realy don’t feel like going back to DOS 1.0 for copies and moves) Also turn UAC to the lowest setting changes nothing.

Eric (Trying to be truly Wise by leaning form the mistakes of others, my success rate says I need to work harder at that.)

Answers

I have tested this work around. After turning UAC off you then make the reg change. You get a reboot message and after reboot your good to go. Did not even have to look up how NTFS permissons worked.(That NT 3.51 book was dusty on my shelf)

Eric (Trying to be truly Wise by leaning form the mistakes of others, my success rate says I need to work harder at that.)

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I imagine he knows how NTFS works. I find this problem annoying as well.

With Windows 7 after you disabled UAC, windows explorer runs as administrator, provided you are indeed an administrator.

Starting with Windows 8, even after disabling UAC, explorer still runs under standard user context, as if you haven’t disabled UAC. This leads to annoyances when browsing directories where your account or the users account isn’t directly granted permissions. Basically you have to either modify the NTFS permissions and add yourself, or open an admin command prompt and do what you intended to do.

Even if you execute explorer.exe from the admin command prompt window, explorer still runs as an non-admin user.

It’d be great if we could find a way around this.

Please check the Guy.Incognito’s reply in the following post. You can try it on Windows 8.

TechNet Community Support

Really. I think you need to re read my posting. UAC works different under Windows 8 /server 2012.

Eric (Trying to be truly Wise by leaning form the mistakes of others, my success rate says I need to work harder at that.)

I have tested this work around. After turning UAC off you then make the reg change. You get a reboot message and after reboot your good to go. Did not even have to look up how NTFS permissons worked.(That NT 3.51 book was dusty on my shelf)

Eric (Trying to be truly Wise by leaning form the mistakes of others, my success rate says I need to work harder at that.)

Good to hear. I Like what Microsoft is doing with the least privliges to combat Malware,Viruses and Admin Oops. But the change with UAC is an issue. I don’t like turing UAC off.(it stops those admin mistakes) If there was just a way to run File Explorer eleviated sometimes or as a Different User.

The first hint we had of this was when I wrote a script to set a MAC key and authenticate it for window 8(We did not have a Windows 8 KMS key yet). Our test boxes were not on the domain and when to a network share(uses Domain privliges) and tried to run the script as an Admin it failed. I discovered with Server 2012 it ran the Admin User privileges,since the Local Admin had no access to the share, mapped with a domain account it failed to even run(Access Denied. Under Server 2008 r2 and before it would have worked.

Eric (Trying to be truly Wise by leaning form the mistakes of others, my success rate says I need to work harder at that.)

How to run apps as administrator on Windows 10

Source: Windows Central

On Windows 10, the ability to run an app as administrator is an essential skill that every user should know because, by design, apps operate in user mode to prevent potential unwanted system changes that may negatively affect the experience. However, sometimes, some trusted programs may require elevated permissions to work as intended, and knowing the steps to run them with appropriate permissions will come in handy.

Whatever your reason it might be, Windows 10 includes several methods to quickly start an app with elevated privileges using the Start menu, File Explorer, Command Prompt, and more.

But remember that this is only true for traditional desktop (Win32) programs since apps available through the Microsoft Store can’t run elevated.

In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the different ways to launch an app with administrator privileges to complete an elevated task.

How to run app as administrator using Stat menu

Using the Start menu, you have at least two quick ways to start an application as an administrator.

Start context menu

To run a program as administrator from the Start menu context menu, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Right-click the app (anywhere on the menu).

Select the More submenu, and click the Run as administrator option.

Source: Windows Central

Start menu keyboard shortcut

To start an app with admin right using the keyboard shortcut, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Use the Ctrl + Shift keyboard, and click the app from the list.
3. (Optional) Select app using the arrows keys.
4. Use the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keyboard shortcut.

How to run app as administrator using Search

If you use the search experience, you also have two ways to run apps with administrative permissions.

Search result menu

To open an app as an administrator from the search box, use these steps:

Open Start.

Quick tip: You can also open search directly from the taskbar (if available), or use the Windows key + S keyboard shortcut.

Click the Run as administrator option from the right side. (Sometimes, the option is hidden until you click the down-arrow button.)

Source: Windows Central

(Optional) Right-click the app and select the Run as administrator option.

Source: Windows Central

Search keyboard shortcut

To run a program from search with a keyboard shortcut, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for the app.
3. Use the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keyboard shortcut.

How to run app as administrator using desktop

On Windows 10, you can also start apps elevated from the desktop or taskbar.

Desktop context menu

To start an app with elevated privileges from the desktop, use these steps:

Use the Windows key + D keyboard shortcut to view the desktop.

Right-click app, and select the Run as administrator option.

Source: Windows Central

Taskbar context menu

To run apps elevated from the taskbar, use these steps:

1. Right-click the app in the taskbar.
2. Right-click the app name.

Select the Run as administrator option.

Source: Windows Central

How to run app as administrator using Run

To start a program as an admin user from the Run command, use these steps:

Open Start.

Search for Run and click the top result to open the app.

Quick tip: You can also open the Run command using the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut.

Type the name of the app. For example, explorer.exe.

Source: Windows Central

Use the Ctrl + Shift keyboard shortcut and click the OK button.

How to run app as administrator using Task Manager

To launch an app as an administrator from Task Manager, use these steps:

Open Start.

Search for Task Manager and click the top result to open the app.

Quick tip: Other alternative ways to open the experience include, right-clicking the taskbar and selecting the Task Manager option. Using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut, and using the Ctrl + Alt + Delete shortcut and clicking the Task Manager option.

Select the Run new task option.

Source: Windows Central

Check the Create this task with administrator privileges.

Source: Windows Central

How to run app as administrator using File Explorer

File Explorer includes at least two ways to launch apps as an administrator user.

Context menu

To open app elevated with File Explorer, use these steps:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the folder with the executable file.

Right-click the app and select the Run as administrator option.

Source: Windows Central

Ribbon menu

To run a program as an administrator with the ribbon menu, use these steps:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the folder with the executable file.
3. Select the app.
4. Click the Application Tools tab.

Click the Run as administrator button.

Source: Windows Central

Quick note: If you click the arrow button, then you can select to launch the app as admin or as a different user.

How to run app as administrator using Command Prompt

To run an app elevated from Command Prompt, use these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Command Prompt and click the top result to open the console.

Type the following command to run an app with administrator privileges and press Enter:

`runas /user:»COMPUTER-NAME\ADMIN-USER» «C:\PATH\TO\PROGRAM.EXE»

In the command, make sure to update the syntax with your computer name and administrator user and with the correct path of the program.

For example, this command start PowerShell 7 with administrator privileges:

runas /user:»office-pc\user@email.com» «C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe»

Source: Windows Central

Confirm the password and press Enter.

If you want to run an app always as an administrator, you can use these steps.

More Windows 10 resources

For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

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