How to open Elevated Command Prompt

Learn how to open elevated command prompt on your Windows system.

Why do we need elevated command prompt?

Starting from Vista, Windows has two modes for running command prompt – Elevated and normal. Normal command prompt does not allow to run commands that require admin privileges, so elevated command prompt is required. For example, you want to add a new user account to your system, this requires admin previliges, so even if you are admin, you would not be able to add a user from a command window opened in the normal way.

Below are different methods for opening an elevated command prompt.

How to open elevated command prompt?

There are two ways to open elevated command window. These are explained below.

Click on the Start button in the taskbar. Type ‘cmd’ in the search box. In the results, you will see cmd application. Right click on it, and select the option Run as administrator .

User Account Control will prompt Do you want to allow the program to make changes to your computer? Click on Yes and elevated administrator command prompt window will be opened.

The alternative way is to search for cmd in the start menu search button as mentioned above. Press Ctrl – Shift and click on the cmd application.

this process did not work for vista

This works on all Windows editions – Windows 7, 10 and Vista too.

Thanks for your help. I could open elevated command prompt and apply some secure options

so how would you create an administrative account though prompt command if your doing it though a user that isnt under administrative privileges is there any way around putting or be asked for administrators password on windows vista ofcourse

I accidentally deleted my admin account and I’m trying to follow the instructions above, as well as the runas command (to which I get the error 1327: Logon failure: user account restriction. Possible reasons are blank passwords not allowed, logon hour restrictions, or a policy restriction has been enforced.)
When I try to “run as administrator,” I am not given the option to select “continue,” thus I cannot open a command prompt with elevated privileges. The window that opens looks like it has a Norton Anti-Virus shield and says “User Account Control.” It says to enter the Admin password- but there is no area to put it in, and the only available option is “cancel.”
Help?

Srini
best thing for you to do is get windows 7 disk set your bios to boot from CD run the process like you was going to do a install the disk should detect you have os installed and offer to repair it click yet then go to command prompt from there you can add a new admin user to the domain e.g net localgroup administrators sini add /
another option you can upgrade another account to admin type net user he push enter pick to see what accounts are on the PC you mite even find your old account just deactivated in cmd

Hi dear ..
Is there any method that I can see all computers conected in local network ?
I writed ” net view ” but this show me little computers conected , I want to see all computers in the company ..
Please help …

Administrator Command prompt is still denied access to stopping wuauserv

Access still denied.

Got a Command line version?

windows update stop

How to add admin Grp to User profile. I cannot open in CMD in Admin mode.

Thank so much for this advise.

How about windows XP.
Cant find any videos or so

Elevated command prompt was introduced from Windows Vista. This did not exist in XP and previous editions.

This does not work for windows 10. Sorry. I did exactly as described and “System Error 5 Access Denied” still appears.

Why does microsoft do everything in its power to screw its customers over?

It doesn’t work it still ask me for my password which is what I’m trying to change

Hi, it seems the original microsoft account I used when setting up my new laptop late last year no longer has administrator permissions. I have been trying to find a solution and it all comes back to this:
_________________________________________________________
** User Account Control will prompt “Do you want to allow the program to make changes to your computer?” Click on Yes and elevated administrator command prompt window will be opened.
_________________________________________________________
The above instruction will not work for me because when the box opens up asking “Do you want to allow the program to make changes to your computer” there is not option for ‘yes’, only ‘no’. So all I can do is select no and I’m back to the same problem.

I can’t make changes to my antivirus or any other programs, even though my account should be an administrator account.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you

I am NOT able to reset my forgotten Administrator password using my regular user account. It keeps asking me Administrator password otherwise it says “System error 5 has occurred – Access is denied”.
I am NOT able to open “Elevated Command Prompt” because it will have a “Password” space to be enter” and I CANNOT continue after this message pop-up “Do you want to allow the program to make changes to your computer? I CANNOT Click on “Yes” since there is a “PASSWORD space” I have to enter before clicking “Yes”.
Thanks,
Danh

Tried the elevated command window. Still says System Error 5 Access Denied.

How to Open an Elevated Command Prompt

Open Command Prompt as an administrator in Windows 10, 8, 7, & Vista

Some commands available in Windows require that you run them from an elevated Command Prompt. Basically, this means running the Command Prompt program (cmd.exe) with administrator-level privileges.

When Do You Need an Elevated Command Prompt?

You’ll know if you need to run a particular command from within an elevated Command Prompt because it’ll clearly tell you that in an error message after running the command.

For example, when you try to execute the sfc command from a normal Command Prompt window, you’ll get the «You must be an administrator running a console session in order to use the sfc utility» message.

Try the chkdsk command and you’ll get an «Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges or the disk may be locked by another process. You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode and make sure the disk is unlocked» error.

Other commands give other messages, but regardless of how the message is phrased, or what Command Prompt command we’re talking about, the solution is simple: open an elevated Command Prompt and execute the command again.

Time Required: Opening an elevated Command Prompt will take most of you under a minute from start to finish. Once you know how to do it, you’ll be even faster the next time.

The specific steps involved in opening an elevated Command Prompt differ somewhat depending on your operating system. The first tutorial works for Windows 10 and Windows 8, and the second for Windows 7 and Windows Vista. See What Version of Windows Do I Have? if you’re not sure.

How to Open an Elevated Command Prompt in Windows 10 or Windows 8

The following process only works for Windows 10 and Windows 8, which is unfortunate since it’s super-simple and works for elevating other programs as well, not just Command Prompt.

If you’re using a keyboard with Windows 10 or Windows 8, you can open an elevated Command Prompt quickly from the Power User Menu. Just use the WIN+X keyboard shortcut and then select Command Prompt (Admin). Choose Yes on any User Account Control messages that might appear.

Depending on your settings and Windows configuration, Command Prompt may be replaced by Windows Powershell.

Open Task Manager. The quickest way, assuming you’re using a keyboard, is via CTRL+SHIFT+ESC but there are several other methods outlined in that link. One easy way is to type the app name into Cortana’s search field.

Go to File > Run new task.

Don’t see the File menu? You may first have to select More details at the bottom of the Task Manager window to show a more advanced view of the program, including the File menu.

In the Create new task window you see now, type the following in the Open text field:

cmd

. but don’t do anything else just yet!

Check the Create this task with administrative privileges. box.

Don’t see this box? That means that your Windows account is a standard account, not an administrator account. Your account must have administrator privileges to be able to open an elevated Command Prompt this way. Follow the Windows 7/Vista method below, or try the tip just below these instructions.

Choose OK and then follow any User Account Control requirements that might appear next.

An elevated Command Prompt window will now appear, allowing unrestricted access to executing commands.

Feel free to close Task Manager. It does not need to remain open to use Command Prompt.

If you’re using a keyboard with Windows 10 or Windows 8, you can open an elevated Command Prompt quickly from the Power User Menu. Just use the WIN+X keyboard shortcut and then select Command Prompt (Admin). Choose Yes on any User Account Control messages that might appear.

How to Open an Elevated Command Prompt in Windows 7 or Vista

Locate the Command Prompt shortcut, usually in the Accessories folder in the Start Menu.

If you’re having trouble finding it, see How to Open Command Prompt (the non-elevated kind). But first, there’s an intermediate step you need to take.

Right-click it and choose Run as administrator.

Accept any User Account Control messages or warnings.

An elevated Command Prompt window should appear, allowing access to commands that require administrative level privileges.

More About Elevated Command Prompts

Don’t let all the discussion above convince you that you should, or need to, run Command Prompt as an administrator for most commands. For almost all Command Prompt commands, no matter what version of Windows, it’s perfectly okay to execute them from a standard Command Prompt window.

To be able to open an elevated Command Prompt window, either a) your Windows user account must already have administrator privileges, or b) you must know the password to another account on the computer that has administrator privileges. Most home computer user’s accounts are set up as administrator accounts, so this isn’t usually a concern.

How to Tell if You Have Administrator Privileges

There’s a very easy way to tell if the Command Prompt window you’ve opened is elevated or not: it’s elevated if the window title says Administrator; it’s not elevated if the window title just says Command Prompt.

An elevated Command Prompt window opens to the system32 folder. A non-elevated Command Prompt window instead opens to the user’s folder: C:\Users\[username].

If you plan on frequently using an elevated Command Prompt then you should consider creating a new shortcut to Command Prompt that automatically starts the program with administrator-level access. See How to Create an Elevated Command Prompt Shortcut if you need help.

In Windows XP, users have Administrator privileges by default. When you open a Command Prompt in XP it will be elevated unless you have another type of profile.

How to Open Elevated or Admin Command Prompt in Windows?

Command Prompt is one of the most used tools in Windows. For tasks requiring administrator privileges, we need to start Command Prompt as administrator (“elevated”). This article describes different ways to open an elevated or administrator Command Prompt window.

How to Open Elevated or Admin Command Prompt

From the Win-X menu in Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

Press Win + X key, or right-click the Start button. Click Command Prompt (Admin)

Note: Recent versions of Windows 10 replace Command Prompt with PowerShell in the Win + X menu. To get Command Prompt back in the menu, see the article Get back “Open command window here” context menu option in Windows 10

Using Ctrl + Shift + Enter in Windows 10

1. Right-click Start, and click Run.
2. Type cmd.exe in the Run dialog
3. Press Ctrl + Shift and Enter .

This launches a Command Prompt window as administrator.

Using Start Search – Windows 10 and earlier

1. Click Start, type cmd.exe
2. When the search results are shown, right-click the cmd.exe entry and choose Run as administrator.

Alternately, select the cmd.exe in the search results using the UP/DOWN arrow and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter on the keyboard. Ctrl + Shift + Enter runs the program as administrator.

Using Task Manager – New task

1. Right-click on the taskbar and click Task Manager. Or, press Ctrl + Shift and Esc
2. In Task Manager, click the File menu and click Run new task
3. Type cmd.exe in the text box.
4. Enable Create this task with administrative privileges

Task Manager method offers an advantage. In Windows 10, as Task Manager runs as administrator by default, it doesn’t show you the UAC prompt when you launch a program using it from an administrator account.

Run as administrator using Shortcut Properties

Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. You can even pin the Command Prompt shortcut to the taskbar for easy reach.

Or you can create a new desktop shortcut to cmd.exe. Right-click on the shortcut and choose Run as administrator. To run the shortcut as an administrator by default:

1. Right-click the Command Prompt shortcut you created on the Desktop
2. Click Properties
3. In the Shortcut tab, click Advanced.
4. Enable the checkbox for Run as administrator
5. Click OK and OK.

Now, every time when you double-click the shortcut Command Prompt window will open elevated.

If you’re a frequent user of the Command Prompt, you can Pin it to the Start menu or Taskbar.

Run as Administrator via the folder and desktop right-click menu

To add the Open Command Window Here (Administrator) option to the right-click menu for folders and the Desktop, use the following .reg file:

To add the entry to This PC (Computer) context menu, use the following REG file:

Note that the .reg files above replace the runas command in the registry if one was added manually earlier. For example, if you’ve added something like “Take Ownership” to the right-click menu for folders, it will be replaced by Command Prompt (Administrator).

How to Use .reg Files

Make a .reg file out of the above contents, and double-click the .reg file and apply the settings to the registry.

You can now open an elevated Command Prompt from the context menu of a folder, This PC or on the Desktop. It adds an Open Command Prompt here (Administrator) option in the context menu for folders and This PC (Computer) and the Desktop. Here are the screenshots: