Force cmd.exe prompt to run NOT as admin

Question

Related to my other question, I need to be able to run the command prompt NOT as an admin. Whenever I launch a command prompt, either from the Start Menu, or by double clicking the C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe file in File Explorer, it runs it with elevated permissions.

How can I run it so it just runs in the normal non-elevated mode? Cmd.exe isn't required to be ran as admin, and typically when you launch it, it doesn't run as admin, but for some reason it is defaulting to run as admin on this machine. This is on a Windows Server 2012 R2 server. My account I'm logged in with has admin privileges (but it's not the default built-in Administrator user account), and the only workaround I can think of is to run it as a different user that does not have admin priviledges, which would require me to first create a non-admin account on the server, which seems excessive. Is there an easier way?

Answer 1

Turn UAC back on. With that enabled, no program you start will automatically run as administrator.

Answer 2

I know this topic is > 4 yrs old but I had the same issue and it may help others. My company used software where I would only be able to launch cmd.exe as admin. I had other software (AHK) I could not launch as admin. AHK couldn't interact with cmd.exe in admin. I solved the problem by copying cmd.exe, then renaming it and updating my scripts.

Answer 3

The short term solution:

1. Find an icon to run the command prompt.
2. Shift right click -> "Run as a different user"
3. Then specify a non-admin user account.

The long term solution: Find 'RUNASADMIN' in your registry keys and delete any entries including cmd.exe