Run explorer.exe as Administrator user within Windows 7

Question

I have the Windows 7 operating system, and I have administrator user credentials stored (known in advance).

I know we can run a program or .exe using "Runas" verb and launch a process, but my question is specific to explorer.exe. I am trying to run "runas /user: "control.exe printers" it launches successfully after giving a password to the prompt, but when I am checking within TaskManager it is running under my regular user with which I have logged on.

I have noticed this is only with explorer.exe. Other programs are working fine as expected with runas.

What is the catch here with Windows 7? Or how do I run explorer.exe or control.exe with printers?

Answer 1

Running explorer.exe as a user different from the one that is already logged in using "runas" command is disabled in Windows 7. But there is a workaround for this:

1. Start -> Run -> regedit
2. Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}
3. Right click on the registry key and click Permissions...
4. Give Full Control permissions to the user logged in.
5. Start -> Run -> dcomcnfg.exe -> Expand DCOM Config
6. Right click and select properties of "Elevated-Unelevated Explorer Factory", click the Identity tab and select "The launching user"

After doing this explorer.exe will launch as the user specified in the RunAs.exe command!

Answer 2

This one works for Windows 7, 8.0 and 8.1

• Start Registry as an administrative user.
• Navigate / find ID HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{CDCBCFCA-3CDC-436f-A4E2-0E02075250C2}
• Take ownership of the node and assign full rights of the registry node.
• Rename node RunAs to _RunAs.
• Close Regedit.

Now go to C:\Windows\Explorer.exe and create a shortcut to desktop (use Send To).

Right click and run as Administrator. This should open Windows Explorer as a different user.

Answer 3

Windows Explorer likes to open new windows in the same process as the shell aka taskbar.

You could try:

explorer.exe /separate,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\::{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}\::{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

This should open "Computer\ControlPanel\Printers" in a new process...

Answer 4

Try Below Code :

runas /user:DOMAIN\username "control /name Microsoft.DevicesAndPrinters”