how to run a powershell script as administrator

Question

On my Windows 7 Desktop, I have script.ps1, which needs admin privileges (it starts a service). I want to click on this script and run it with admin privileges.

What's the easiest way to accomplish this?

Answer 1

Here is one way of doing it, with the help of an additional icon on your desktop. I guess you could move the script someone else if you wanted to only have a single icon on your desktop.

1. Create a shortcut to your Powershell script on your desktop
2. Right-click the shortcut and click Properties
3. Click the Shortcut tab
4. Click Advanced
5. Select Run as Administrator

You can now run the script elevated by simple double-clicking the new shortcut on your desktop.

Answer 2

On UAC-enabled systems, to make sure a script is running with full admin privileges, add this code at the beginning of your script:

param([switch]$Elevated)

function Test-Admin {
    $currentUser = New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal $([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent())
    $currentUser.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltinRole]::Administrator)
}

if ((Test-Admin) -eq $false)  {
    if ($elevated) {
        # tried to elevate, did not work, aborting
    } else {
        Start-Process powershell.exe -Verb RunAs -ArgumentList ('-noprofile -noexit -file "{0}" -elevated' -f ($myinvocation.MyCommand.Definition))
    }
    exit
}

'running with full privileges'

Now, when running your script, it will call itself again and attempt to elevate privileges before running. The -elevated switch prevents it from repeating if something fails.

You may remove the -noexit switch if the terminal should automatically close when the script finishes.

Answer 3

if you are in the same powershell you could do this:

Start-Process powershell -verb runas -ArgumentList "-file fullpathofthescript"

Answer 4

Since it's sitting onto your desktop, I'd say the most effortless way to get this done is dragging it onto the elevation gadget.

Otherwise you could make a separate script using the elevate command on your ps1 script.

Or, you could apply elevate just to the service-starting bit.

Answer 5

In addition to MDMoore313's answer above:

If we want to execute the commands in the same working directory as we are currently in, we have to add a few things:

#### START ELEVATE TO ADMIN #####
param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [switch]$shouldAssumeToBeElevated,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [String]$workingDirOverride
)

# If parameter is not set, we are propably in non-admin execution. We set it to the current working directory so that
#  the working directory of the elevated execution of this script is the current working directory
if(-not($PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('workingDirOverride')))
{
    $workingDirOverride = (Get-Location).Path
}

function Test-Admin {
    $currentUser = New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal $([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent())
    $currentUser.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltinRole]::Administrator)
}

# If we are in a non-admin execution. Execute this script as admin
if ((Test-Admin) -eq $false)  {
    if ($shouldAssumeToBeElevated) {
        Write-Output "Elevating did not work :("

    } else {
        #                                                         vvvvv add `-noexit` here for better debugging vvvvv 
        Start-Process powershell.exe -Verb RunAs -ArgumentList ('-noprofile -file "{0}" -shouldAssumeToBeElevated -workingDirOverride "{1}"' -f ($myinvocation.MyCommand.Definition, "$workingDirOverride"))
    }
    exit
}

Set-Location "$workingDirOverride"
##### END ELEVATE TO ADMIN #####

# Add actual commands to be executed in elevated mode here:
Write-Output "I get executed in an admin PowerShell"

Answer 6

PowerShell ISE lives at %windir%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell_ISE.exe. You can right-click that and select "Run as administrator" and run the script from in there.

You can also find it under the Windows Logo > All Programs > Accessories > Windows PowerShell and do the same thing with those shortcuts.

Answer 7

If you want an option to launch a Powershell script as adminstrator, directly from the Explorer context-menu, see section 2 of my answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/57033941/2441655

Answer 8

sudo

Why does it have to take 30+ lines of code to do what 4 characters do?

So here, write a .bat file to invoke your script, in it use the:

Start-Process powershell.exe -Verb RunAs

Answer 9

The previous answers only tells you if the script is running from an admin. If starting the same script with elevated privileges, the user is still not admin.

A parameter which can be used to determine this is the following :

if (($myinvocation.UnboundArguments.Contains("-elevated")) -or ($testadmin -eq $true)) {
   #Good to go with Admin rights

} else {
    #Start with elevated privs

}

I've not been able to find a parameter that detects the Powershell environment has been started with Admin privileges.

Answer 10

Add this to the beginning of the script:

$currentUser = New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal $([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent())
$testadmin = $currentUser.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltinRole]::Administrator)
if ($testadmin -eq $false) {
Start-Process powershell.exe -Verb RunAs -ArgumentList ('-noprofile -noexit -file "{0}" -elevated' -f ($myinvocation.MyCommand.Definition))
exit $LASTEXITCODE
}