Runas Error: Unable to Acquire Password

Question

I'm trying to start visual studio 2010 from command prompt using 'RUNAS' so that I can run it as a different user. I ran the following command:

runas /profile /user:myPCName/SomeUserName "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"

My problem is that the commandprompt says "Enter the password for myPCName/SomeUserName:" but I cannot enter the password. I just get the error "RUNAS ERROR: Unable to acquire user password"

I googled this for a while and the only answer I found was that I cannot see the password entered, but it is entered anyways, and that I must be typing the wrong password. I'm certain I'm not typing the wrong password.

score 23 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 14 '13 at 00:06

23

Actually, I had the same problem with W7 Enterprise (connected to a domain, switching to a locally defined admin user) without UAC elevation with the command:

runas /user:.\admin cmd.exe

It did prompt me for the password.

It also worked when I changed it explicitly to:

runas /user:%COMPUTERNAME%\admin cmd.exe

edited Apr 14 '13 at 00:06

Jesse

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answered Apr 13 '13 at 23:44

Eelco L.

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Also worked if don't specify "domain". runas /user:admin cmd.exe – Alexey Gusarov Dec 22 '15 at 08:29
Had the same issue using .\admin, also works to use localhost\admin. – Robin Zimmerman Apr 14 '20 at 23:22

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered May 18 '10 at 18:33

9

There are so many things your forgot to document:

what is your logon provider? Are you attached to a domain?
are your running this from a UAC elevated command prompt?
what does the real user name look like? Is it a system account?
does the user account actually exist on your machine?
can you logout and logon as that user from your machine?
does that also work when you disconnect from the network?
do you actually type this command or is it called from a .bat or script?
"cannot enter the password", you can't type it or it doesn't like what you typed?

Serverfault.com is a good place to ask about user authentication.

answered May 18 '10 at 18:33

Hans Passant

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Wow, you are right that I need to document all of that. I will document it and then post the question on serverfault.com. Thanks! – John Fischer May 18 '10 at 20:03
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I am SO stupid! While I was doing the testing you recommended, I noticed that my syntax was incorrect. I used a "/" in the username instead of a "\" between the domain and username. – John Fischer May 18 '10 at 21:10
John's tip solved this for me. So easy to use the wrong slash since the command's flags use /, while the domain\user specification needs \. Thanks. – charlie arehart Sep 30 '16 at 12:45

score 7 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 22 '19 at 00:54

7

I just had this issue.

runas /username:domain/user cmd failed

but

runas /username:domain\user cmd worked.

So give your slashes a check.

edited Jul 22 '19 at 00:54

jkdev

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answered Jul 22 '19 at 00:12

Douganater

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Runas Error: Unable to Acquire Password

3 Answers3