If you are upgrading or have bought a new computer with Windows 8.1 the following ways maybe helpful:
A. Opening Command Prompt as administrator from Start screen.
- When you are in the Start screen, type Command Prompt to see Command Prompt in the search result.
- Do a right-click on the Command Prompt entry and then click Run as administrator option to open elevated Command Prompt.
B. Switch To Start Screen. (Use this method if you prefer to open admin Command Prompt from desktop.)
The power user menu or the Win+X menu that appears when you right-click on the Start button on the Windows 8.1 taskbar shows Windows PowerShell and Windows PowerShell (admin) options with default settings.
If you prefer to use Command Prompt over PowerShell, you can configure Windows 8.1 to display Command Prompt and Command Prompt (admin) options in the power user menu by following given below steps:
- Right-click on the empty space of taskbar and then click Properties to open Taskbar and Navigation Properties dialog.
- Switch to the Navigation tab and check the option titled Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the lower-left corner of press Windows key + X to replace Windows PowerShell option in the power user menu with Command Prompt.
- From now on, you can simply right-click on the Start button, click Command Prompt (admin) and then click on the Yes button when you see the UAC prompt to run Command Prompt as administrator.
Additional ways to access administrator command prompt in Windows 8.1 including the methods described above can be found here.
I need it to delete some leftover folders and files from the upgrade, I can't in the regular explorer. – Charles – 2012-10-31T21:49:47.957
@Charles: just run it as administrator? – houbysoft – 2012-10-31T21:57:46.247
Another option is to hold ctrl while pressing enter when launching the Command Prompt (or any application) – ernie – 2012-10-31T23:34:59.947
@xandy yes, ctrl-shift - sorry about the confusion. – ernie – 2012-11-01T00:16:13.240
Thanks, Win+X+A surely will become my favorite method, but for I wonder: Is there a way to run anyhing as administrator in "Run" command promt? For example, Win+R opens the Run window, and we usually type
cmd
. What can be done similarly but to run cmd as admin? THANKS! – Metafaniel – 2014-02-20T16:29:56.220