Comments on: Running .msc files with runas

By: NandusICT

NandusICT — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:22:35 +0000

I was looking for the parameter to connect to the services on a remote computer. I tried some things and found the solution. If you want to directly connect to the services of a remote computer use (mmc.exe) services.msc /computer=”computername”

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:04:32 +0000

Joe, your example didn\’t work for me until I added a backslash + quote before the final quote. i.e,

runas /savecred /user:domain\user “c:\windows\system32\mmc.exe \”C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\adminconsole.msc\”"

Hope this helps.

By: joeSydneyAu

joeSydneyAu — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:49:30 +0000

beetlejelly, your example did not work for me.

instead try similar to the following:
%windir%\system32\runas.exe /u:dec\admin-oliveij “mmc \”C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN\SQL Server Enterprise Manager.MSC”

No need for triple backslashes.

By: beetlejelly

beetlejelly — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:57:19 +0000

Mel,
make it look like this, and it will work.

runas /user:name@domain.com \"mmc \\\"C:\\Program Files\\Update Services\\administrationsnapin\\wsus.msc”\\\"

By: eternicode

eternicode — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:44:30 +0000

Mel, to use spaces in the path, you need to escape them. It’s been a while since I used the windows command line, but I think putting a backslash (\) before the spaces should escape them, making them interpreted as part of the path.

By: Mel

Mel — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:06:00 +0000

How about if you are trying to use ‘runas’ with the WSUS 3 snap-in which has spaces in the path?

The path to the snap-in is “C:\Program Files\Update Services\administrationsnapin\wsus.msc”. I have tried “mmc C:\Program Files\Update Services\administrationsnapin\wsus.msc” but it does not like the space after the word ‘Program’. I have tried substituting %ProgramFiles% but there is still a space after ‘Update’.

Any ideas?

By: eternicode

eternicode — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:37:00 +0000

Sure thing. You have to use quotes around the command (including its parameters), because the command+parameters is itself a string parameter to the runas command. The runas usage message says:

RUNAS [ [/noprofile | /profile] [/env] [/netonly] ] /user: program

if the quotes are excluded, then the program to run and its parameters (all separated by spaces) would be seen as separate parameters to the runas command. Therefore, you have to enclose the whole thing in quotes in order to pass the whole thing as one parameter.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Do you know why you need the quotes around the command? I understand how to do it but no idea why i need the quotes. If you know why id be greatful