4 Ways to Run the Command Prompt as an Administrator in Windows

This wikiHow will show you how to open the Windows Command Prompt as an administrator. The methods in this article work for both Windows 10 and Windows 11, though some are specific to Windows 10 only. This can be done easily if you’re logged in to a user account that has administrator privileges. Running the Command Prompt as an administrator gives you access to more commands and permissions.

Quick Steps

Type "cmd" in the taskbar search bar.
Right-click "Command Prompt" in the Start menu that pops up.
Click Run as administrator.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

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Consumer electronics expert Ken Colburn says that opening Command Prompt, which is a command line interface on your computer, is as simple as just typing "cmd" into your search bar.^{[1]
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Ken Colburn
Consumer Electronics Expert

Expert Interview}
It’s the option in the results list with a black terminal window icon.

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Click Run as administrator. This is the top option in the right-click menu.^{[2]
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- Click Yes when prompted, "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to this device?"

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Run (Windows 10 and Above)

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This will open the Run dialog box, where you can enter simple commands.
" However, don't click OK or press ↵ Enter just yet.
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Press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+↵ Enter. You'll want to hold down each button as you click it. So, press and hold Ctrl, then press and hold ⇧ Shift, then finally, press and hold ↵ Enter. Once you've held down all three keys at once, you can release them.
- This will make Run open Command Prompt as an administrator.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Run (Windows 8.1 and Below)

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This will open the Run dialog box, where you can enter simple commands.
Once you do so, press ↵ Enter to run the command.
You'll be prompted to enter your password once CMD opens. You'll need to type in the administrator password to continue; if you're the only user on your computer, you should be the admin by default.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Power User Menu (Windows 10 and Below)

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It's in the bottom-left corner of the screen, in the taskbar. Alternatively, you can press ⊞ Win+X to open this menu.
Alternatively, if you pressed ⊞ Win+X to open the Power User menu, you can press A to choose the Command Prompt (Admin) option (you'll see the word Admin has the A underlined, which means you can press that key to select that option). You can't press A to select this option if you right-clicked on the Windows icon.

Community Q&A

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Question

Is there a command to activate admin cmd while already in normal cmd?

Arrogance

Top Answerer

You can launch a new elevated Command Prompt window with "powerShell -Command Start-Process cmd -verb RunAs". You cannot launch a new elevated prompt in the same window.

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Question

When I click manage account on my admin account, it says manage another account and change password. What is going on?

Community Answer

Press the Windows key (Image titled Windowsstart.png) + S at the same time. This opens Windows search.

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Question

How do I undo run as administrator?

Liam Townsley

Community Answer

Restart your command prompt and it will no longer be an administrator terminal.

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Tips

You can type help to see a list of various commands and what they do.

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You can type /? after a command to see the help information about that command.

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For more Command Prompt tips, check out how to change a computer password in the Command Prompt and chat over LAN using the Command Prompt.

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Warnings

Be cautious when running commands in the Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do permanent damage to your computer if you run the wrong command.

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Avoid running any random command you find on the internet. Some people will troll others by saying that you should run a command to fix a problem, but the command will actually damage your computer.
- Some commands that you should avoid running are "del", "rd", or "format", unless you know what you are doing. This list is not exhaustive, however, and other commands can still be dangerous.
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