You must use ShellExecute. ShellExecute is the only API that knows how to launch Consent.exe in order to elevate. Sample (.NET) Source Code In C#, the way you call ShellExecute is to use Process.Start along with UseShellExecute = true: private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { //Public domain; no attribution required. ProcessStartInfo info = new … Read more
You can programmatically set the “Run this program as an administrator” flag (the option you find in the Compatibility tab of an EXE’s properties), by setting a simple registry key. You need to create a string value (REG_SZ) under one of these keys (if you want the setting to be per user or per machine, … Read more
The runas command does not allow a password on its command line. This is by design (and also the reason you cannot pipe a password to it as input). Raymond Chen says it nicely: The RunAs program demands that you type the password manually. Why doesn’t it accept a password on the command line? This … Read more
When you log on Windows creates an access token. This identifies you, the groups you are a member of and your privileges. And note that whether a user is an administrator or not is determined by whether the user is a member of the Administrators group. Without UAC, when you run a program it gets … Read more
You can open a new powershell window under a specified user credential like this: start powershell -credential “”
Use PsExec.exe from SysInternals, running from an elevated command prompt. e.g. this will open a new command prompt running as NETWORK SERVICE: psexec -i -u “nt authority\network service” cmd.exe this will run it as LOCAL SYSTEM: psexec -i -s cmd.exe You can verify these by running whoami from the cmd prompt. See also: http://forum.sysinternals.com/how-to-start-cmdexe-as-network-service_topic15797.html Interactive … Read more