Share via

Opening Windows PowerShell as an administrator.

Tim Guyton 0 Reputation points
2026-03-02T23:59:50.2966667+00:00

How do I Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

4 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Lucus-V 7,735 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-03-16T18:37:38.76+00:00

    Hi Tim Guyton,
    Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. I'm happy to help.

    There're several ways to open PowerShell as Administrator. Please pick the one that most convenient for you:

    • Press the Windows key to open Start Menu > search for PowerShell > on the right section choose Run as administrator.
    • Press the combination Windows + X > select PowerShell (Admin) or Terminal (Admin).
    • Press the combination Windows + R > type powershell > press the combination Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
    • PowerShell shortcut:
      • Create new shortcut.
      • Type the location of the item: powershell
      • Type a name for this shortcut: anything you want, example: PowerShell (Admin).
      • Right-click on newly created shortcut > Properties.
      • Click Advanced... button.
      • Check Run as administrator.
      • OK > OK.
      • Run the shortcut anytime you want to open PowerShell as administrator.

    I hope that above information is helpful to you.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    Was this answer helpful?

    20+ people found this answer helpful.
  2. Sumit D - IA 169.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-03-03T00:53:23.65+00:00

    Hi Tim,

    Right-click the Start button and choose Windows Terminal(Admin). It opens Powershell as default.

    User's image

    I hope this information helps. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

    Otherwise, please take a moment to rate the answer. Wishing you good luck!

    Was this answer helpful?

    9 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments

  3. AI answer

    2026-03-02T23:59:59.1766667+00:00

    On Windows 11, Windows PowerShell can be opened as an administrator in several ways.

    Method 1 – From Start menu

    1. Open the Start menu.
    2. Type Windows PowerShell.
    3. In the results, right-click Windows PowerShell.
    4. Select Run as administrator.
    5. If prompted by User Account Control (UAC), approve the elevation.

    Method 2 – From an existing PowerShell/Command Prompt window

    1. Open a normal Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell window.
    2. Type PowerShell (or powershell.exe) and press Enter.
    3. To start an elevated session instead, close this window and use Method 1 to run it as administrator.

    How to confirm it is running as administrator When PowerShell is elevated, the window title bar shows Administrator: Windows PowerShell.

    For PowerShell ISE (if used):

    1. Open Start, type ISE.
    2. Right-click Windows PowerShell ISE.
    3. Select Run as administrator.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

    Was this answer helpful?

    8 people found this answer helpful.
  4. Deleted

    This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

    Comments have been turned off. Learn more

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.