switch from admin to standard user using powershell

Question

switch from admin to standard user using powershell

Kuldeep Kaur 1

Hi! I am trying to map a network drive but cannot from admin mode. I tried it from user mode it works. So I need powershell to switch from admin to standard user. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

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Answer 1

Michael Taylor 60,161

You cannot do that. Once a process is created its "elevation status" is fixed. To use a different user or (un)elevate a process you have to spawn the new process. When spawning the new process you have to tell it the user account to use otherwise it'll run in the same context as the existing user.

Admins can have mapped network drives. Changing the elevation won't fix your problem. More likely your problem is one of process isolation in that you are trying to map drives in one process and access them in another. That isn't going to work unless both processes are being run under the same user account (and elevation).

Ideally you should just use UNC paths and forget mapped drives altogether. They generally aren't worth the trouble.

Kuldeep Kaur 1 Reputation point

2022-05-31T18:18:22+00:00

All I am trying to do is map a network drive, but it never appears in file explorer. It appears only when I run powershell as standard user. I would like to map a network drive for the computer. I am using this command: net use O: "\Servername" /persistent:yes
Thank you.
Michael Taylor 60,161 Reputation points

2022-05-31T18:24:50.327+00:00

And it never will - process isolation. When you are running File Explorer you're doing so as a standard (unelevated) user. If you elevate your process token (which Explorer isn't using) then that is only for the elevated session. If you were to elevate the process, map the drive and then have that session start Explorer then you'd see the mapping. But that is probably overkill.

Why exactly do you need to create a mapped drive in PS that you are then planning to use in a UI app like Explorer? If you need to map a drive for Explorer then use the UI for that and set it persisted (or do it via a logon script). If you are doing this in PS then you probably only need the mapping to persist for the life of the session so Explorer shouldn't matter.
Kuldeep Kaur 1 Reputation point

2022-05-31T18:34:16.777+00:00

Ok I will try with logon script. thank you!!!!
MotoX80 36,291 Reputation points

2022-05-31T22:58:26.123+00:00

Add the EnableLinkedConnections registry entry so that elevated drives are visible to standard user sessions.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/networking/mapped-drives-not-available-from-elevated-command#detail-to-configure-the-enablelinkedconnections-registry-entry

https://newbedev.com/what-does-registry-setting-enablelinkedconnections-do-on-a-technical-level

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switch from admin to standard user using powershell

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