Why does 'Run as administrator' change (sometimes) batch file's current directory?

Question

I have a batch file that is in the same directory as the file I want to xcopy. But for some reason the file is not being found.

I thought that current d

Answer 1

For the sake of completeness and obscurity, I add another workaround, confirmed as working under Windows 8.1 and expected to work elsewhere, as it relies on documented functionality:

You can change the runas command definition keys
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\runas\command and
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\cmdfile\shell\runas\command into

%SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe /S /C "(for %%G in (%1) do cd /D "%%~dpG") & "%1"" %*

Which results in the bat or cmd file starting in its containing directory when started using the runas verb, respectively the "Run as Administrator" menu entry.

What the additions to the original command exactly do:

• cmd /S strips away first and last (double) quote in command string after /C
• for %%G in (%1) do enumerates its single entry, the %1 argument, making it available for expansion as %%G in the loop body; the letter is arbitrary but some may be "reserved"
• %%~dpG expands to the drive and path of %%G, the ~ tilde stripping away quotes if present, which is why we add them back explicitly
• cd /D changes both the drive and directory to its argument, and finally
• & runs the second command "%1" %* regardless of success of the first one.

You can use pushd which will even support UNC paths, but a stray popd would land any script in the system32 directory, not a behavior I would be fond of.

It should be possible to do this for the exefile entry as well, but frankly, I'd rather live with the inconsistency than to attempt this on my system, as any error there could break a lot.

Enjoy defeating the security mechanics of your operating system :)