Using runas to perform administrative tasks

If you need to perform administrative tasks without logging off and back on as another user, Windows includes the runas command.

This useful command starts a program using different user credentials. For example, to open a command prompt as a domain administrator:

runas /user:DOMAIN\Admin cmd

Windows prompts for the password and starts a new command shell using the specified account. You can also launch administrative tools in the same way. For instance:

runas /user:DOMAIN\Admin mmc
runas /user:DOMAIN\Admin compmgmt.msc
runas /user:DOMAIN\Admin dsa.msc

This is useful when your day-to-day account does not have administrative privileges. The command works too, if some of your servers are not domain joined. In this case, use the command like this:

runas /user:SERVER01\Administrator cmd

This is great for Active Directory administration, server management, and troubleshooting tasks, for example.