Cool Vista trick of the day - launch programs with elevated rights from the Search bar

A buddy of mine, Steve Wonders, pointed out a super cool trick that I didn't know about. This only works if you are using the non-classic Start Menu inside Vista.

If you need to run a program with elevated rights, type in the program name in the Search field of the Start Menu, like "cmd.exe", and then press [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[Enter]. Viola, the program launches with elevated rights, assuming you allow it to.

This little tricks makes UAC usable for me.

Posted by Aaron Tiensivu in Vista at 21:42 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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I like it because it lets me avoid the mouse completely. Tapping the Windows Key puts the focus on cursor in that Start Search box. Type 'cmd', Shift-Control-Enter, then tap left arrow to Continue instead of Cancel, press enter again, and you're running your Admin console. Anything launched from there also gets elevation - for instance, you can type 'Start services.msc' and it'll run without another prompt. I tend to leave this admin command window open in my session all day, for just such an emergency.

- Steve

#1 Steve Wonders on 2007-06-20 10:03 (Reply)

Nice tip. Thanks, Aaron.

#2 Kevin Severud (Homepage) on 2007-06-22 18:16 (Reply)

You can also do the same thing with CTRL+SHIFT+DOUBLE CLICK on an icon. Maybe it's on your desktop....or something.

#3 Justin on 2008-07-18 00:35 (Reply)

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