RUNAS /user

I am trying to remotely manage some computers, but I don;t want to logoff the current user. Anyways I want to run the appwiz.cpl from command line but we have a GPO that blocks it for standard users. When I run appwiz.cpl from CMD, I get the sec. policy message as I should. But when I do a

runas /user:me@work.com "appwiz.cpl" it asks for my password and then I get a message stating:

Attempting to start appwiz.cpl as user "me@work.com" ...
RUNAS ERROR: Unable to run - appwiz.cpl
193: appwiz.cpl is not a valid Win32 application.

Does anyone know how to get around this or run appwiz from an administrative token on CMD?

I can navigate to c:\windows\sys32\appwiz right click and runas, but no command line. why?

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Comments

BeaverC32

Try:
runas /user:COMPUTERNAME\Administrator "control appwiz.cpl"

Netstudent

I tried that minus the "control" keyword. That worked, thanks beav!

blargoe

If you have the icon in control panel, you can shift-rt click and get Run As in the menu

Netstudent

Our GPO security policy gives users a very limited amount of control panel tools. They do not appear as icons.

shednik

BeaverC32 wrote:

Try:
runas /user:COMPUTERNAME\Administrator "control appwiz.cpl"

So why would the local admin account work but not a domain account with sufficient rights...i've run into this same issue as well before...just curious

sprkymrk

shednik wrote:

BeaverC32 wrote:

Try:
runas /user:COMPUTERNAME\Administrator "control appwiz.cpl"

So why would the local admin account work but not a domain account with sufficient rights...i've run into this same issue as well before...just curious

I've seen this before too, and many times it's because RunAs is expecting to run an executable file. If you were to try RunAs with a domain account to run an executable, like cmd or mmc, it should work. Starting a *.cpl file by specifying "control" first works because you are calling "c:\windows\system32\control.exe" first, then that runs the *.cpl file. Ditto if you try to run a *.vbs with RunAs, it can fail. But if you specify:

RunAs /user:domain\username cscript filename.vbs

it will most often work.

At least the above has been true in many cases I have seen, so take it FWIW. I can't tell if NetStudent did or did not successfully use it with the "control" keyword. At first I thought he meant that it worked minus the word "control", but then I wondered if he meant he had already tried it as a local admin w/o the word "control" unsuccessfully, but when he used "control" it worked. See my test below:

C:\>runas /user:administrator appwiz.cpl
Enter the password for administrator:
Attempting to start appwiz.cpl as user "ComputerName\Administrator" ...
RUNAS ERROR: Unable to run - appwiz.cpl
193: appwiz.cpl is not a valid Win32 application.

Then when I used "control" first -

C:\>runas /user:administrator "control appwiz.cpl"
Enter the password for chief:
Attempting to start control appwiz.cpl as user "ComputerName\Administrator" ...

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>

And voila, it worked.

Netstudent

but then I wondered if he meant he had already tried it as a local admin w/o the word "control" unsuccessfully, but when he used "control" it worked. See my test below:

exactly..

BUt it did work with a domain admin account as well. Loading the Control console before appwiz was the trick.

Ahriakin

Or use RunAs to launch cmd.exe as an admin., everything you do from this command prompt (incl. launched GUI tools) inherits the admin. privileges and permissions.

Netstudent

hmmm...good idea! Never thought about that.

BeaverC32

Glad it worked out for ya!