Is there any way to run file explorer as administrator under Windows 10

37

9

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

The reason I want to do that is, in our team's development environment, we are using a C# exe to do some environment configuration which will start command prompt under administrator mode and subst a drive. As a result those substed drives are not visible within the file explorer since it is run not as administrator. That will be kind of inconvenience and sometimes make mistakes.

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 this workflow, but just want to make sure that if it is now totally impossible under Windows 10?

Any comment is appreciated.

shinji

Posted 2016-04-02T11:02:06.620

Reputation: 373

4Have you tried searching for explorer.exe with the start menu and right-clicking and selecting Run as Administrator? – InterLinked – 2016-04-02T11:10:32.960

Please format your question why do you need to run it administrator what's the issue when it's not running as admin add? – SeanClt – 2016-04-02T11:20:33.870

1@InterLinked, thanks for the suggestion. However, in Win 10, there is no "Run as Administrator" option in context menu for explorer.exe after found it with you way. Go to the C:\Windows and then "run as" doesn't work. Actually, I think if current explorer is still running, "run as" should not work. But if I quit explorer, both ways should not available as well. – shinji – 2016-04-02T11:34:10.290

@SeanClt I have formatted my question per your suggestion. Thanks for the reminder. – shinji – 2016-04-02T11:35:32.360

If UAC is completely disabled, does your problem still occur? – InterLinked – 2016-04-02T11:36:10.353

@InterLinked, I have changed UAC to never notify. Is that what you mean completely disabled? – shinji – 2016-04-02T11:38:34.940

Yes, And if you launch other programs they are automatically elevated, right? – InterLinked – 2016-04-02T11:41:02.893

With UAC disabled, I still need get a program run under administrator mode by using "run as administrator". I think it is still because my explorer.exe under standard mode. – shinji – 2016-04-02T11:53:47.143

As my reputation is too low, here is my answer as a comment: Use Everything from voidtools.com to locate the file (usually C:\Windows\SysWOW64\explorer.exe) and right-click on it => here you can choose to run it as administrator. – Gorgsenegger – 2018-04-14T19:09:25.410

Answers

12

I discovered a way to run Explorer as admin some time ago:

  • start regedit.exe and go to the following key. You should be able to copy/paste this string into the regedit address bar:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}

  • make a right click on Permissions and set your user as owner (click on advanced button to be able to take ownership) of the key and give your current user writing permissions.

enter image description here

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or use the 3rd party tool RegOwnershipEx to get full control of the key:

  • Next, delete or rename the value RunAs.

Now the Elevated-Unelevated Explorer Factory (which causes that the Run As admin is ignored) is disabled and you can start the Explorer with admin rights.

enter image description here

magicandre1981

Posted 2016-04-02T11:02:06.620

Reputation: 86 560

1This doesn't work either. I cannot save the permission changes even after run regedit with elevated mode. – shinji – 2016-04-03T04:21:43.687

Oooops, I cannot save the permission changes even after enabled and log in as the hidden administrator account. – shinji – 2016-04-03T04:42:01.653

you have to take ownership of the key. I tested it on Build 14295 and it still works fine. – magicandre1981 – 2016-04-03T16:03:27.300

Thank you. this finally worked! BTW, may you share if there will be any issue with this change in reg? – shinji – 2016-04-04T10:54:19.827

I sometimes had 4-5 Explorer.exe instances running even if I close all Explorer windows. – magicandre1981 – 2016-04-04T15:44:47.207

@magicandre1981 Disabling the "Launch Folder Windows in a separate process" option might help – Ben Philipp – 2016-12-05T11:50:12.350

I can't get it to work with this either. I'm perfectly able to edit the registry, but neither elevated cmd nor task manager can launch Explorer elevated, it always shows up as limited. Any ideas on what might be causing this? – Ben Philipp – 2016-12-05T11:52:02.550

@user282284 it works fine for me. just tested it in official 1607 – magicandre1981 – 2016-12-05T17:00:09.140

For me, just changing "RunAs" did it. – wolfram77 – 2016-12-07T18:20:44.123

In Windows 10 when I right click the CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2 node and select permissions, add myself to security and give myself full control, when I click OK, I get a dialog that says "Unable to save permission changes on {CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}. Access is denied. – Ron C – 2017-09-06T15:20:16.983

1@RonC first select your account as owner (important) of the key, next change the permissions. – magicandre1981 – 2017-09-06T15:28:17.827

@magicandre1981 thanks. I see your partial screenshot about changing the owner, but I can't figure out in the UI how to get to that place with the link to change the owner. – Ron C – 2017-09-06T15:32:08.960

@RonC click on the advanced button or use this tool to take ownership of keys

– magicandre1981 – 2017-09-06T15:42:24.813

@magicandre1981 That solved my issue. – Ron C – 2017-09-06T16:06:06.093

36

For small things like browsing a folder that cannot be browsed without elevated explorer I start elevated notepad and then in the file open dialog I can browse all directories. With right click I can do quite a bit. (It's a fast solution that mostly does the trick.)

rony

Posted 2016-04-02T11:02:06.620

Reputation: 361

+1 - but this trick is not useful when I want to copy paste multiple files. Because notepad let me select only 1 file at a time, which I can move anywhere. Any trick for moving multiple files? (through such elevated running program) – Tahir Akram – 2017-07-12T12:56:44.433

5@TahirAkram Just run any programs that allow selecting multiple files. For example, Windows Media Player. – raymai97 – 2017-12-17T04:45:58.077

1@raymai97 and rony, thank you both! Sheer genius! – cxw – 2018-01-25T14:39:10.540

that is so nice. worked with Notepad++ - was able to paste in 2 files. – Jay Cummins – 2018-06-06T20:02:45.277

3

Start command line as Administrator.

Type these commands:

taskkill /im explorer.exe
explorer.exe

jung

Posted 2016-04-02T11:02:06.620

Reputation: 39

4doesnt work in windows 10 – Henrique de Sousa – 2017-04-25T15:51:57.633

4This has the (potentially unwanted) side effect of replacing the running shell instance of Explorer with one running as Admin...which requires a log out/log in to rectify. – I say Reinstate Monica – 2017-09-15T00:24:48.557

1Won't it kill exploerer sessions for ALL users? – Salman A – 2018-04-24T09:24:29.550

Asked: 2016-04-02T11:02:06.620

Viewed: 78 275 times

Active: 2019-06-20T20:10:28.467