Many scripts require admin permissions, but remembering to right click and select “Run as Administrator” can be a pain. Fortunately, both batch and PowerShell scripts can written so that they’ll prompt for admin permissions if not run as an administrator. This won’t get around not having administrator permissions, but will save you a couple clicks every run by jumping straight to the UAC prompt.
Neither of these scripts are mine, but I’m documenting them here for my own quick and frequent reference.
CMD / Batch scripts:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: Elevate.cmd - Version 4 :: Automatically check & get admin rights :: see "https://stackoverflow.com/a/12264592/1016343" for description :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: @echo off CLS ECHO. ECHO ============================= ECHO Running Admin shell ECHO ============================= :init setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion set cmdInvoke=1 set winSysFolder=System32 set "batchPath=%~0" for %%k in (%0) do set batchName=%%~nk set "vbsGetPrivileges=%temp%\OEgetPriv_%batchName%.vbs" setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion :checkPrivileges NET FILE 1>NUL 2>NUL if '%errorlevel%' == '0' ( goto gotPrivileges ) else ( goto getPrivileges ) :getPrivileges if '%1'=='ELEV' (echo ELEV & shift /1 & goto gotPrivileges) ECHO. ECHO ************************************** ECHO Invoking UAC for Privilege Escalation ECHO ************************************** ECHO Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%vbsGetPrivileges%" ECHO args = "ELEV " >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%" ECHO For Each strArg in WScript.Arguments >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%" ECHO args = args ^& strArg ^& " " >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%" ECHO Next >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%" if '%cmdInvoke%'=='1' goto InvokeCmd ECHO UAC.ShellExecute "!batchPath!", args, "", "runas", 1 >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%" goto ExecElevation :InvokeCmd ECHO args = "/c """ + "!batchPath!" + """ " + args >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%" ECHO UAC.ShellExecute "%SystemRoot%\%winSysFolder%\cmd.exe", args, "", "runas", 1 >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%" :ExecElevation "%SystemRoot%\%winSysFolder%\WScript.exe" "%vbsGetPrivileges%" %* exit /B :gotPrivileges setlocal & cd /d %~dp0 if '%1'=='ELEV' (del "%vbsGetPrivileges%" 1>nul 2>nul & shift /1) :::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::START :::::::::::::::::::::::::::: REM Run shell as admin (example) - put here code as you like ECHO %batchName% Arguments: P1=%1 P2=%2 P3=%3 P4=%4 P5=%5 P6=%6 P7=%7 P8=%8 P9=%9 REM put remaining commands here cmd /k
PowerShell:
Fortunately this one’s a lot shorter:
If (-NOT ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] "Administrator")) { $arguments = "& '" + $myinvocation.mycommand.definition + "'" Start-Process powershell -Verb runAs -ArgumentList $arguments Break }