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In Windows Explorer, I often do CTRL+L c m d ENTER to quickly launch a cmd.exe shell with the working directory being the current Explorer folder. It's a handy and quick 1-second shortcut. (I don't use Powershell, I prefer cmd.exe)

But then, the cmd.exe which is started is not admin, even though my current Windows user is Administrator.

Example: mklink .... gives You do not have sufficient privilege to perform this operation (see also: Why can't I make a symbolic link (mklink) even when I'm an administrator)

How to launch an (administrator) cmd.exe from a Windows Explorer window, with the current working directory = the current folder in Explorer?

Notes:

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  • Just an FYI, most cmd programs are accessible in PowerShell the same way they are in cmd, and for the handful that aren't, execute via cmd /c <program> Commented Feb 4, 2025 at 16:43

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Put this as a.vbs into one of the front entries of %PATH% and do CTRL+L a . v b s ENTER wherever you are.

Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set wshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
currentDir = wshShell.CurrentDirectory
objShell.ShellExecute "cmd.exe", "/K chdir /D " & currentDir, "", "runas", 1

This is faster than powershell and independent of execution policies. By using .vbs no intermediate window is shown. Confirm the opening UAC by ← ENTER

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