Windows Tools, Help & Guides

New to using the command prompt? Check out the Windows Command Prompt Beginner’s Guide

Many guides on this site require you to run commands on the command prompt. This guide is written to show you how to open the command prompt. Specifically, in this guide, you’ll learn:

• How to open a command prompt in Windows.
• How to run the command prompt as an Administrator.

How to Open a Command Prompt in Windows

To open a command prompt in Windows, press Winkey+R (or click Start > Run), type cmd and press Enter.

How to Run the Command Prompt as an Administrator

Some guides require you to run elevated commands. This means you’ll need to run the commands as an administrator.

Windows Vista/7

There are two ways to run the command prompt as an administrator:

The first way is done by clicking the Start button, typing cmd, right clicking cmd.exe, and clicking Run as Administrator:

If prompted by UAC, click Yes. If you are not logged in as an administrator, you will need to authenticate.

The second way is to disable User Account Control (not recommended.) Now, when you run the command prompt, you will see the following text: This task will be created with administrative privileges.

Windows XP

If you are using an administrator account in Windows XP (like the ones pictured below), there is no need to run the command prompt as an administrator:

If you are not logged in to an administrator’s account, click Start > All Programs > Accessories, right click Command Prompt and click Run as…

Type in the Administrators account username and password and click OK.

You are now running the command prompt with elevated privileges.

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