Specifying the current directory for an admin-level command prompt in Vista

April 7, 2008, 09:43 AM —  ITworld — 

Vista takes some getting used to, doesn't it? Especially User Account Control (UAC) and the effects it has on doing things like running simple tasks. For example, if you open an ordinary command prompt by typing cmd in the Start Search box above The Pearl and then clicking cmd in the search results, the current directory used in the command prompt window that opens is your own user profile directory, for example C:\Users\Bob for a user named Bob.

If you try and open an admin-level command prompt however by typing cmd in the Start Search box above The Pearl, right-clicking on cmd in the search results, and selecting Run As Administrator, the command window that opens has C:\Windows\System32 as its current directory.

But what if you want to open an admin-level command prompt at a different directory? Yes I know you could just cd to that directory starting from C:\Windows\System32, but users who work from the command line are always looking for ways of doing things using fewer steps. Anyway, here's what you can do: Let's say you frequently need to open an admin-level command prompt with C:\Users as the current directory. To do this, create a new shortcut on your desktop called "CMD to Users" and have it run the following command:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k "cd C:\Users"

Once you've done this, you can right-click on this shortcut, select Run As Administrator, enter admin credentials at the UAC consent prompt, and a command window opens with C:\Users as its current directory. You can even specify that the current directory is on a different drive by using the /d switch with the cd command like this:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k "cd /d D:\Tools"

Just make sure that you right-click on the shortcut and select Run As Administrator, and don't just double-click the shortcut. If you double-click the shortcut, you'll get a command-line window open at C:\Users that has "CMD in Users" in its title bar. But if you right-click on the shortcut and select Run As Administrator, you'll get a command-line window open at C:\Users that has "Administrator: CMD in Users" in its title bar. Be careful to note the difference.

ITworld

I like it!
Post a comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Resources
White Paper

Symantec Backup Exec 12 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8 deliver industry leading Windows data protection and system recovery. Download this whitepaper to find out the top reasons to upgrade and how to get continuous data protection and complete system recovery.

Webcast

Data and system loss — from a hard drive failure, malicious attack, natural disaster, or simple human error — can happen anytime. Don’t leave your business vulnerable. Make sure you have a secure recovery strategy in place. Symantec's latest backup and system recovery technology can efficiently restore critical applications, individual emails and documents and even restore your entire system in minutes in the event of a loss.

White Paper

Businesses face a growing challenge to ensure that the IT environment is properly protected. Backup Exec 12 integrates with other applications in the Symantec family of products, to complement your current data protection strategy, keep your data securely backed up and make it recoverable when you need it most.

Free stuff

Enterprise 2.0 Implementation
By Aaron C. Newman, Jeremy Thomas
Published by McGraw-Hill
Learn more!

Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services
By Zach Seils, Joel Christner
Published by Cisco Press
Learn more!

Featured Sponsor

AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.

In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.

On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.

More Resources