The runas command in Windows 7 8 and now Windows 10 allows the unprivileged user to execute a command as a superuser. This is rather like the sudo command for Linux and UNIX. In the example below, I am executing a command on the computer BLUFOR as the user Dobbo. I am running notepad as an example.
C:\Users\mike>runas /user:BLUFOR\Dobbo notepad Enter the password for BLUFOR\Dobbo: Attempting to start notepad as user "BLUFOR\Dobbo" ... |
You may also open a Powershell window as the administrator.
C:\Users\mike>runas /user:BLUFOR\Dobbo powershell Enter the password for BLUFOR\Dobbo: Attempting to start powershell as user "BLUFOR\Dobbo" ... |
This is the help for the runas command. This shows the many command line parameters that may be applied to this command.
C:\Users\mike>runas /? RUNAS USAGE: RUNAS [ [/noprofile | /profile] [/env] [/savecred | /netonly] ] /user:<UserName> program RUNAS [ [/noprofile | /profile] [/env] [/savecred] ] /smartcard [/user:<UserName>] program RUNAS /trustlevel:<TrustLevel> program /noprofile specifies that the user's profile should not be loaded. This causes the application to load more quickly, but can cause some applications to malfunction. /profile specifies that the user's profile should be loaded. This is the default. /env to use current environment instead of user's. /netonly use if the credentials specified are for remote access only. /savecred to use credentials previously saved by the user. /smartcard use if the credentials are to be supplied from a smartcard. /user <UserName> should be in form USER@DOMAIN or DOMAIN\USER /showtrustlevels displays the trust levels that can be used as arguments to /trustlevel. /trustlevel <Level> should be one of levels enumerated in /showtrustlevels. program command line for EXE. See below for examples Examples: > runas /noprofile /user:mymachine\administrator cmd > runas /profile /env /user:mydomain\admin "mmc %windir%\system32\dsa.msc" > runas /env /user:[email protected] "notepad \"my file.txt\"" NOTE: Enter user's password only when prompted. NOTE: /profile is not compatible with /netonly. NOTE: /savecred is not compatible with /smartcard. |
I cannot run the dir command with the runas command. But this is very useful for running various commands as the administrator. Much more information on this command here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/library/cc771525.aspx.