Unable to open an elevated Windows Explorer window
Hello, In Windows Vista, it was possible to run an elevated Windows Explorer window. To do so, enable the "Launch folder windows in a separate process" check box, log off, and then log back on. After that, you can right-click the Windows Explorer shortcut and choose "Run as administrator." This no longer works in Windows 7. It is a legitimate need to occasionally run Windows Explorer elevated; for example, to register or unregister WSC (Windows script component files) or to run Windows scripts elevated. Can anyone comment on this limitation and whether it is a flaw or by design? Thanks! Bill Stewart
February 1st, 2010 2:19pm

It appears to work for me (I can right-click Windows Explorer in the Start menu and choose 'Run as Admin'. It prompts for confirmation, but then when I test it to see if I can, for example, create a folder in the System32 directory, it still prompts for confirmation again. I'd be interested in an answer as well.
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February 2nd, 2010 12:19am

What happens if you run Explorer from an elevated command prompt? FWIW right clicking on Explorer and using Run as administrator works for me. What can't you do?Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
February 2nd, 2010 2:01am

FWIW right clicking on Explorer and using Run as administrator works for me. Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience I doubt this. The process starts, but not with elevated rights (High IL). It only has medium IL. Windows 7 uses a DCOM mechnism to start Explorer (explorer.exe /factory,{GUID}) and this desn't allow you to start the explorer elevated. André"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
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February 2nd, 2010 10:27am

What happens if you run Explorer from an elevated command prompt? FWIW right clicking on Explorer and using Run as administrator works for me. What can't you do? Hi, Please carefully re-read my original post :) It works in Vista with "Launch folder windows in a separate process", but it does not work in Windows 7. There are legitimate reasons why I occasionally need to work from an elevated Windows Explorer window. Two examples come to mind: Registering or unregistering a WSC (Windows script component file); executing a Windows script elevated by double-clicking on it (for example, a .vbs or .js file). Regards, Bill
February 2nd, 2010 10:40am

It appears to work for me (I can right-click Windows Explorer in the Start menu and choose 'Run as Admin'. It prompts for confirmation, but then when I test it to see if I can, for example, create a folder in the System32 directory, it still prompts for confirmation again. That's because 'Run as administrator' for Explorer doesn't actually run it as administrator. Install the PrivBar DLL and you'll see what I mean.This appears to be broken in Windows 7. Bill
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February 2nd, 2010 10:42am

I know exactly what you mean, I don't want to run explorer as "Administrator" but as my Domain Admin Account, and in XP I usually opened a command prompt with elevated privileges via a runas script to do just that (among other administrative tasks). However, when doing so in Windows 7, I get an access denied when trying to launch explorer.exe from the elevated command prompt. Not to mention when trying to run explorer.exe diretly using "run as different user". When turning off UAC, launching explorer.exe from a privileged command prompt or using "run as different user" just spawns a new explorer window from my non-priv account despite having the "Run as a separate process" flag set for both users. Although I really enjoy Windows 7, this has been a bit frustrating and I'm forced to perform file managment on remote servers using RDP Connetions. The only thing I have found that comes close to the XP LUA functionality is turning off UAC and and launching a 3rd party file management such as A43. However, I believe that is a less than desired solution; Perhaps someone has a good alternative?Paul
February 24th, 2010 6:13pm

You're right. I finally had some time to play with this. I've been volunteering for the 2010 Olympics. I can't find any way to get Windows 7 to run an elevated Windows Explorer. Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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February 27th, 2010 1:38pm

I am currently using Explorer++ to work around this limitation. But I would still like to hear an official answer regarding this problem. Bill
March 9th, 2010 5:12pm

As I already told you Windows 7 Explorer uses a DCOM based start methode which prevents you from running windows explorer elevated."A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
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March 9th, 2010 6:24pm

As I already told you Windows 7 Explorer uses a DCOM based start methode which prevents you from running windows explorer elevated. Reference? Bill
April 8th, 2010 11:42am

My own research. I found a way to disable this limitation. I'm testing it currently. I was able to bypass the mechanism to elevate the Explorer. As you can see the explorer is started from the DCOM service. By default it denies every attempt to start exporer elevated. But as you can see here it can be done: As you can see, there a 2 explorer instances. 1 with normal user rights (medium IL on the right. PID 2748) and 1 explorer with admin rights (high IL on the left side of the picture). Maybe I'll poist a Guide how to enable this. best regardsAndré"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
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April 9th, 2010 10:03am

Hi André, Could you now tell us more about about did you get this? TIA
April 14th, 2010 4:10am

I would still like to get an explanation from Microsoft regarding this problem and whether there are any plans to fix it. Bill
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May 28th, 2010 6:38pm

from Microsoft regarding this problem and whether there are any plans to fix it. This is no problem and nothing needs to be fixed. This is by design. The explorer has a component which blocks every request to elevate the Explorer and I simply turned off that feature and now I'm able to elevate the Explorer again."A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
May 29th, 2010 10:35am

This is no problem and nothing needs to be fixed. This is by design. The explorer has a component which blocks every request to elevate the Explorer and I simply turned off that feature and now I'm able to elevate the Explorer again. Great! How? Bill
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June 6th, 2010 12:14am

Since Andre.Ziegler hinted at this, I spent some time investigating it, and it seems like you can make elevated explorer windows work by renaming the following registry entry: HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\RunAs to HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\_RunAs BTW: You will likely have to go in as an administrator and take ownership of that registry key before you can modify it, as by default, only TrustedInstaller can modify it. This will stop the mechanism that launches explorer.exe from always launching it as the current interactive user. I know I've been looking for this for a long time in Win7, glad that I finally found out how to do it.
June 20th, 2010 5:42pm

Yes, that's it ;)"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
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June 20th, 2010 6:08pm

Hi guys, thanks a lot for this tip! I was looking for a solution to be able to start Windows Explorer as admin, by time. In my WinXP land usually use LUA approach and (when neccesary) run WExplorer or IExplorer as admin with the context menu option "Run As". I'm very happy to have found a chance! But just a question: this tip may cause security issues or instability problems? tia. m :)
June 23rd, 2010 2:13pm

Since Andre.Ziegler hinted at this, I spent some time investigating it, and it seems like you can make elevated explorer windows work by renaming the following registry entry: HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\RunAs to HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\_RunAs BTW: You will likely have to go in as an administrator and take ownership of that registry key before you can modify it, as by default, only TrustedInstaller can modify it. This will stop the mechanism that launches explorer.exe from always launching it as the current interactive user. I know I've This been looking for this for a long time in Win7, glad that I finally found out how to do it. I tried to rename other 'String Values' with this method and seems to work for other purposes. e.g. to make visible "Open command window here" on folders context menu, i renamed "Extended" S.Value as "_Extended " at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd Sorry for my OT...med
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June 23rd, 2010 4:21pm

Since Andre.Ziegler hinted at this, I spent some time investigating it, and it seems like you can make elevated explorer windows work by renaming the following registry entry: HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\RunAs to HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\_RunAs BTW: You will likely have to go in as an administrator and take ownership of that registry key before you can modify it, as by default, only TrustedInstaller can modify it. This will stop the mechanism that launches explorer.exe from always launching it as the current interactive user. I know I've been looking for this for a long time in Win7, glad that I finally found out how to do it. I followed these instructions but I am still not able to run explorer as admin by right-clicking explorer.exe or cmd.exe and using 'Runas administrator'. They still open as the logged in user. I have also enabled 'Launch folder windows in a separate process' in the folder options for the administrator account (as worked in XP), but that seems to make no difference. I have 2 small shortcut/link files that worked perfectly on XP, allowing me to do admin stuff at users' computers while they are logged in. They contain the following commands: %windir%\system32\runas.exe /env /user:%computername%\administrator cmd.exe and %windir%\system32\runas.exe /env /user:%computername%\administrator explorer.exe On Windows 7, launching the cmd.exe command works (it's process shows as the admin's username) and I can launch regedit from that command prompt and it shows as running as the admin account. However, the explorer.exe command does not. Instead, I get the following error: Server execution failed. I have tried it with UAC enabled and disabled, but the result is the same. Any ideas? tia Mel
July 15th, 2010 5:09am

For me it works. I' using this way since April, when I found this way."A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
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July 15th, 2010 8:54am

Just fyi, I am testing using the 'Professional N Upgrade' version of Windows 7 (only installable with pre-existing OS). Don't know if that makes any difference or not.
July 15th, 2010 10:49am

I don't think this makes a difference. All Editions use the same Explorer.exe. What have you done? Deleted the RunAs key or renamed it?"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/
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July 15th, 2010 6:03pm

I used Guy.Incognito's Reg hacks above and it is working great for me, thanks!. melf67, I typically just use Shift + Right Click + "Run as Different User" to open an explorer window so I had not noticed the problem you described. However, I do run a similar LUA script called makemeadmin.cmd to open a command prompt as my domain admin account. (I believe credit is due to Aaron Margosis for it)... C:\WINDOWS\system32\runas.exe /savecred /user:DOMAINNAME\%username%2 "cmd.exe /k cd c:\ && color 0e && title ***** Admin console ***** && CLS" (The "2" at the end of the username equates to our domain admin accounts which is the same as our regular username plus the "2". From there, I just type "explorer" and I do get an explorer window with my "username2" credentials while logged on to the computer as "username". I prefer the Command Prompt Window because I like to drag shortcuts, msc files, etc into it to run them with elevated privs. So... looking at your runas script for explorer, I noticed you use the /env variable which is supposed to "use current environment instead of user's". Try dropping the /env script and see what happens, worked for me. I like to use the savecred switch though, I know its a bit of a security hole (and supposedly unsupported on Winodws 7 but it seems to work). However, I type my password a gazzilion times a day and the risk vs benefit seems worthwhile in time saving. By the way, try the makemeadmin script from Aaron Margosis' blog, its a great way to momentarily elevate a user's privs when you need to install software on a customer's machine and within their profile.
July 16th, 2010 12:23am

OK. Wierd. It didn't work yesterday, so I gave up, shutdown the computer and went home. Today, it works using any method (shift+right-click on explorer.exe, running explorer.exe from an admin command line, launching an 'admin' runas script, etc). I know what you're thinking...but I did reboot yesterday (several times) after changing the registry, and it still wasn't working. @Andre: I renamed to _RunAs @Paul: I have dropped the /env switch. And many thanks for the link to Aaron Margosis' blog. PrivBar fixes the problem of the 'BackBitmapShell' reg hack not working in Windows 7. Well happy now!! Much appreciated. Mel
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July 16th, 2010 8:59am

It seems as though this might also lead us to being able to open a 32 bit explorer.exe on x64 Win7?
August 23rd, 2010 1:50am

This in combination with http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc300361 also makes it work in Windows Vista. I have installed it on both Windows 7 and Windows Vista and it works great!
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February 21st, 2011 5:04am

Since Andre.Ziegler hinted at this, I spent some time investigating it, and it seems like you can make elevated explorer windows work by renaming the following registry entry: HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\RunAs to HK_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}\_RunAs BTW: You will likely have to go in as an administrator and take ownership of that registry key before you can modify it, as by default, only TrustedInstaller can modify it. This will stop the mechanism that launches explorer.exe from always launching it as the current interactive user. I know I've been looking for this for a long time in Win7, glad that I finally found out how to do it. Be aware! This workaround could not be revoked. After taking the ownership away from TrustedInstaller, there is no way (at least I know of) to bring the ownership back to it. Renaming the key from "_RunAs" to "RunAs" doesn't bring back the default behavior. Even worse. EVERY restricted user will be able to run Explorer.exe as administrator without entering any password. [Edit] the explorer.exe started this way doesn't have elevated privileges, though. [/Edit] I strongly recommend not to use this procedure until there is a way to reliably revoke the default behavior! If anybody is aware of how to restore the default, please post it here. Thank you very much in advance. Solution: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/159360-trustedinstaller-restore-owner.html here it is, how to get back TrustedInstaller as owner of the mentioned key. THE OWNERSHIP itself is the only reason why explorer will or will not start as runas. It has absolutely nothing to do with renaming the "runas"-key to "_runas".
March 25th, 2011 11:54am

Sure, simple rename the key back or run the DCOM config MMC Snapin and set the options of the Elevated-Unelevated Explorer Factory "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" Want to install RSAT on Windows 7 Sp1? Check my HowTo: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=150221
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March 25th, 2011 4:01pm

I tried the way what you mentioned abouve.now it able to run but it dosent open the explorer but when i look at the task manager it showes its running . What i need to do exactly now.I am using Win 7 Entrprise A curve that can set lot of things i.e SMILE
April 6th, 2011 10:59am

If i explictly call explorer separate then this worksA curve that can set lot of things i.e SMILE
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April 6th, 2011 11:48am

Many thanks to Guy.Incognito and Andre.Ziegler for this. Glad to see it's not impossible. I can finally add "Open as administrator" to the context menu of a folder to open it temporarily as admin. Taking registry key ownership and admin permissions is annoying. subinacl FTW. Can any one now find how to start the 32-bit Explorer on 64-bit Windows 7 as that has also been disabled by MS compared to Vista.
December 23rd, 2011 4:38am

Hello, Here is a tool that allows running an elevated explorer instance on Windows 7. I've also added a tool that'll run a 32bit Explorer instance on 64bit Windows 7. The tool requires .NET Framework 3.5 which is included with Windows 7. Feel free to use ILSpy or similar decompiler to see how it works. ExplorerLoader.zip
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August 14th, 2012 12:05pm

Here is the solution for Windows 7. No system modifications are required. You just need to use the "Elevated Task Manager". It has a bonus "run as Admin" feature that the regular Task Manager does not have. , Access method 1 Point at a Taskbar blank area -> right-click -> Start Task Manager -> Processes tab -> Show processes for All Users -> UAC elevation prompt, Yes Access method 2 Start -> Search box -> type Taskmgr -> Wait for it to be found -> when Taskmgr icon appears, right-click, Run as Administrator -> UAC elevation prompt, Yes. , To run an elevated Explorer: Task Manager window, Go to Processes tab. Find Explorer.exe, right-click, and choose End Process Tree. (This elevation trick doesn't work if Explorer.exe is already running.) Also close any other Explorer.exe.Desktop goes blank, task bar disappears! Nevermind.Task manager window, go to File, New Task (Run).., Type "Explorer", check box below that says "Create this task with administrator privileges", RunOh, the desktop and task bar hasreappeared... , You now have an elevated Explorer shell. You will not get any further UAC prompts.There is no notification or different "look" to the desktop that indicates Explorer is running elevated.You have full access to the entire local hard drive regardless of prior UAC restrictions, until you logoff or reboot.Any programs run with this Elevated Explorer are also automatically elevated without UAC prompting. , To manually go back to the restricted Explorer, End the Explorer process again in Task Manager, then run Explorer from the Task Manager, but don't select "create task with admin privileges". - Dale Mahalko
September 1st, 2012 8:32am

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