RunAs problems

time to read 2 min | 203 words

I don't run as administrator on my computer, and I make extensive use of the runas command, I usually have command promt running as admin when I'm working, for all those things that I don't have permissions to do.

However, recently I noticed some very annoying problem, I can't run GUI programs as another user. The problem is not just with the administrator accound, but with any GUI program whatsoever. Command prompt works fine, but trying to load a GUI program get me to the first screen, and then the application hangs, I get the sand clock cursor, and no response from the UI. Clicking on the application result in "Not Responding" added to the title text.

Leaving the application alone doesn't seem to work either. Switching users works, and I can use run as on GUI programs properly as administrator running as normal user.

I tested this on applications such as calc, notepad, explorer, etc. I think that I'm going to log off and on and see it will help.

I got a bunch of updates from Windows Update recently, maybe this is it?