Using "runas.exe" with automatic password

I'm trying to get a program to run as system login with administrative
privileges without giving the user at the computer admin privileges. Putting
a "runas" statement in the logon script that gives the program in question
administrative privileges. However...

....I can't seem to find a way to add the proper administrative password in
the runas.exe syntax. When the script is run, it prompts the user for the
password for the administrative account it is attempting to run as.
Obviously, we do not want our users to know the administrative passwords. We
need runas to automatically enter the administrative username and password
credentials so that the program will run with admin privileges
transparently, not prompting the user.

Any ideas on this?

Thanks in advance.

Marc

Hi Marc,

For security reasons runas does not allow you to e.g. script in a password.
If user has a right to run e.g. batch file containing runas then he/she
would be able to see the password.

I don't know what program you are using that is requiring users to be local
administrators. The main question is, what is programs doing that it would
require a local admin permissions? In some cases they only require
additional permissions on hard drive (e.g. in %windir% or some other folder)
or registry. You could try tools like FileMon and RegMon from
www.sysinternals.com (these are free tools) to figure out what is program
trying to do... You could then give users these rights without them being
local administrators.

I hope this helps.

--
Mike
Microsoft MVP - Windows Security

"Marc Hoffman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:BE549B02.7FE1%(E-Mail Removed) m...
> I'm trying to get a program to run as system login with administrative
> privileges without giving the user at the computer admin privileges.
> Putting
> a "runas" statement in the logon script that gives the program in question
> administrative privileges. However...
>
> ...I can't seem to find a way to add the proper administrative password in
> the runas.exe syntax. When the script is run, it prompts the user for the
> password for the administrative account it is attempting to run as.
> Obviously, we do not want our users to know the administrative passwords.
> We
> need runas to automatically enter the administrative username and password
> credentials so that the program will run with admin privileges
> transparently, not prompting the user.
>
> Any ideas on this?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Marc
>

"Miha Pihler [MVP]" <mihap-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Hi Marc,
>
> For security reasons runas does not allow you to e.g. script in a password.
> If user has a right to run e.g. batch file containing runas then he/she
> would be able to see the password.

> > ...I can't seem to find a way to add the proper administrative password in
> > the runas.exe syntax. When the script is run, it prompts the user for the
> > password for the administrative account it is attempting to run as.
>

hi Marc,
try comandlinetool runasspc on:
robotronic.de/runasspc.html
Password is read from a cryptfile. Program is english, help in german
but runasspc is very simple to use.

> --
> Mike
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Security
> ..
> > I'm trying to get a program to run as system login with administrative
> > privileges without giving the user at the computer admin privileges.

> > need runas to automatically enter the administrative username and password
> > credentials so that the program will run with admin privileges
> > transparently, not prompting the user.
> >
> > Any ideas on this?
> >

Hi Mike,
try runasspc. It is very simple and secure tool. The password is
hidden in a cryptfile. You could find it on:

www.robotronic.de/runasspc.html

the help is in german but the tool is english