Windows 7: Trying to Understand Some Definations

I'm new here and in reading through the forums, I've come across some terms that I'm not sure I understand correctly. I have Windows 7 RC installed on my laptop, with me as the only user under an administrator account.

Are references to "run as administrator" different than just running them under my account?

What is an "elevated command prompt"? From what I've read, it appears to be a command prompt with additional privileges. Is this correct?

Would either of these be similar to a "root" account in the unix/linux world?



Thanks,

Kent

Run as Administrator is just running the program with alot of computer priveliges...and then a elevated command prompt gives you more acess to the computer and is opened when a normal comand prompt is right clicked and run as administrator.

and yes it is similar to ROOT

Thanks for the prompt replies. Positive Rep for both.

Since your account is in the local administrator group, this is no different than if you were to run the application yourself with out the 'run as administrator'

However, if you were not an admin, this is the way to elevate your privileges.


This is somewhat different than Linux because even if you are an administrator, you still need elevated access (by supplying a sudo, or another command to elevate your access).

sudo is very similar to 'run as'

Actually, all the answers you've received so far, while not exactly wrong, aren't exactly right either. they lack information and context.

"Run as administrator" is not the same thing as running it as your account which is in the administrator group. By default, Windows runs even administrators with a lower set of privileges than an actual administrator.

"running as administrator" means running it with elevated privileges. You do this by right clicking on it and choosing from the menu "Run as administrator" and then you will get (depending on the app) a UAC prompt to confirm the action.

An elevated command prompt is a command prompt that you have right clicked on and chosen "run as administrator". This allows programs run from that command prompt to have full administrative rights. If you don't do this, then any programs you run will only have a subset of rights.

You need to an elevated command prompt to, for example, release and renew your DHCP address.

Finally, no. An administrator is not exactly like "root" in Unix. It's similar, but in Unix, root can do anything without regard to permissions. In Windows, even the Administrator must honor permissions (though an administrator typically has the ability to change permissions so they can circumvent them).