How to open Device Manager as admin?

Question

My company has made our Win10 users to be "standard users" (without admin rights). However, there is a possibility to run a program using admin rights with some "auto elevation" (Avecto Defendpoint?) system. What I would normally do is "right click" -> "Run as administrator", but that option is not available with Device Manager. I am able to run Powershell as admin, for example (with Right click -> Run as Administrator).

How would I open the Device Manager with Admin rights?

What have I tried and which does not work

Right clicking "Device Manager" in start menu -> "Run as Administrator" (there is no such option)
Running with Win+R -> devmgmt.msc. (It starts with standard user rights)

Try [SuRun](https://sourceforge.net/projects/surun/) and be done with it ;) ... typically when you want to run something as admin you need to prefix the command with `runas`. In case of the device manager you'd start the `devmgmt.msc` MMC snap-in and presumably via `mmc.exe` ... which in turn could be prefixed with `runas`. — 0xC0000022L, Jun 02 '20 at 10:11
There is not really a need to run Device Manager as Admin. The components inside (to update, change, install) need admin rights. Why do standard users need Device Manager? We do not see this at our clients. — John, Jun 02 '20 at 10:55
@0xC0000022L Well that's an interesting option, actually. Only thing is that I would want to read the source and compile the software myself before using it, so if there is an option without 3rd party packages, it would be better. — Niko Föhr, Jun 02 '20 at 10:59
@John Well there are certain situations I might need run Device Manager as Admin. Currently, I need to test a USB device with two different drivers, and for removing/reinstalling drivers I need admin rights. Maybe the question then is why I am a standard user, lol. — Niko Föhr, Jun 02 '20 at 11:01
You need Admin credentials to do the installs you want. No way around that. — John, Jun 02 '20 at 11:18
Why can’t you install the drivers normally with your Administrator account? Starting Device Manager won’t prevent the need for Administrator access. You will still receive a UAC prompt, even if you find a way, to elevate Device Manager. — Ramhound, Jun 02 '20 at 11:22
@np8 yep, the code is straightforward, but you need a good grasp of NT security concepts. Oh and it builds pretty much out of the box although I admittedly went ahead and built my own projects with premake4 as well as projects to build via the WDK. — 0xC0000022L, Jun 02 '20 at 11:37
@Ramhound untrue. Please check out SuRun and you'll see that with a little help from a privileged helper (i.e. a Windows service) you can indeed achieve this. Besides, as Mark Russinovich pointed out UAC is not a security feature and never was meant to be, so no harm in cutting it out of all this. — 0xC0000022L, Jun 02 '20 at 11:38
I personally was already aware of that program. I also know elevation of a process doesn’t necessarily prevent a UAC prompt. It’s also unnecessary, to talk down to me, like I am not knowledgeable about Windows. — Ramhound, Jun 02 '20 at 11:41
Microsoft has become so ****** to remove the right click option and every pro feature. Each day they make switching to another OS more and more likely. This is pure PITA! — thewhiteambit, Apr 28 '22 at 00:50

Niko Föhr · Answer 1 · 2020-06-02T15:16:16.567

21

Found a satisfying solution. Just start up Device Manager normally (without admin rights), and then press "Change Settings" -button in the General tab:

This will open up the Properties window again but with Admin rights (at least, with the Defendpoint Auto-Elevation).

It is also possible to open the Device Manager with admin rights from a Powershell with admin rights with

start "C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc"

edited Jun 02 '20 at 15:16

answered Jun 02 '20 at 11:07

Niko Föhr

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No problem to open Device Manager. The issue comes with driver install and uninstall – John Jun 02 '20 at 11:19
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Why the downvote? This works as intended. Got my drivers uninstalled without any problems. – Niko Föhr Jun 02 '20 at 12:28
@np8 - This does not actually launch Device Manager with elevated rights. – Ramhound Jun 02 '20 at 13:22
1

It does. Note that I ran it from Powershell *with admin rights*. When launching Powershell with admin rights, I get a UAC prompt (or similar). – Niko Föhr Jun 02 '20 at 13:29

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 04 '21 at 03:57

11

Step 1: Run Command Prompt as administrator

Step 2: Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter

answered Mar 04 '21 at 03:57

jumping_monkey

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score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 01 '22 at 15:35

4

Open Win+R, type devmgmt.msc

Now do not click OK, but use ctrl+shift+enter

This will start it as administrator.

edited Apr 01 '22 at 15:35

MiG

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answered Apr 01 '22 at 13:21

Gio Italy

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I tried it on my Windows 10 machine and it still worked. – LWChris Jul 29 '22 at 12:15

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 17 '21 at 11:35

2

Here's another solution:

You can start the Computer Management (compmgmt) as administrator the usual way. In there you have a node to open the device manager as pane inside the computer management window.

answered Mar 17 '21 at 11:35

LWChris

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score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 14 '21 at 16:38

Old thread, but thought I'd give me two-pennies worth.

Right-click an empty space on the desktop
New > Shortcut
In the Create Shortcut Wizard, type "devmgmt.msc" > click "Next"
Name it "Device Manager" > click "Finish"
A shortcut will appear on your desktop
Right-click the shortcut and select "Run as Administrator"

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 02 '23 at 11:00

2

Press Win to open the "Start menu", type devmgmt.msc into the search box ("Type here to search"), press Right arrow followed by Down arrow to highlight "Run as administrator", press Enter to execute.

answered Feb 02 '23 at 11:00

epp

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A little easier might be, after typing `devmgmt.msc`, to simply press `ctrl`+`shift`+`enter` to start it as administrator. – G-Wiz May 15 '23 at 18:27

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 02 '20 at 11:53

0

you can open devmgmt.msc from cmd with admin rights
or you can open task manager>file tab > new task > check the "run with administrative previllages" option and open devmgmt.msc

answered Jun 02 '20 at 11:53

Douae Lhrx

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The Task manager -> "New task" does not seem to have an option to run anything with admin rights. – Niko Föhr Jun 02 '20 at 12:30
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It's simpler to open an admin command line window and type "devmgt.msc" from there. – Jun 02 '20 at 16:11
@Didier yes you're right.. that's actually why i put it as the first option – Douae Lhrx Jun 02 '20 at 16:19
if you don't see that option in new task then try to just open the device manager as normal user, and when you try to edit something you'll be asked for admin password – Douae Lhrx Jun 02 '20 at 16:22
Sorry, I must have missed it! That's usually how we do it when we remote assist users with driver issues and the like. – Jun 02 '20 at 16:22

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 02 '21 at 12:51

Run CMD as Elevated

If your company windows allows you to run some programs as elevated, try this:

Type CMD on the windows search
Right-click the command prompt and click Open File Location
On the folder that opens, right click the Command Prompt shorcut and click Run Elevated

This isn't admin, but it gives you some rights, such as opening the device manager to try to update some drivers. I haven't fully explored the possibilities.

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 12 '22 at 15:42

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You can also launch MMC as admin, then add device manager to MMC as a snap-in. Additionally you can save that console as an msc file and then re-access device manager as admin anytime you open that saved console file.

answered Aug 12 '22 at 15:42

Jonathon

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score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Mar 25 '23 at 04:06

The section below is a script snippet to run this script elevated

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
}

start "C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc"

How to open Device Manager as admin?

What have I tried and which does not work

10 Answers10

Run CMD as Elevated