How to remove 'Administrator:' from the command promt title

windows windows-vista command-line-interface windows-command-prompt

13,493

Solution 1

There are another two possibilities here:

Use the cmd.exe from Windows XP
Modify the MUI data for cmd.exe:

You’ll need to modify the MUI data file for cmd.exe. This file is called cmd.exe.mui, and is located in C:\Windows\System32\en-US on a standard 32-bit, United States installation. For other languages, the en-US will be different, and for 64-bit installations, you’ll need to modify both the version in System32 and in SysWOW64.

First off, take ownership of cmd.exe.mui. Right-click on the file, click Advanced on the security tab. On the Owner tab, click Edit, and select the Administrators account.

Now, give access to modify the file. Go back into the properties for the file, click Edit on the Security tab, click Add, and enter Administrators, then make sure they have the Full Control option set to Allow.

Using a hex editor, resource editor, or other editor of your choice, modify the string in the file from “Administrator: %0” to “ %0” (That’s two spaces before the %0, don’t forget the null character at the end).

Save the file

Run mcbuilder.exe (this could take some time to run)

Reboot the computer.

(from this thread - note, you can use a space, but it has to be something.)

Solution 2

runas /trustlevel:0x20000 "cmd /k title My Awesome Command Prompt"

Solution 3

While it has been proven not to solve the problem in this bug, not everyone knows you can use the title command and set the title to whatever you want it to be.

Solution 4

Run the command prompt as a standard user (ie be logged in as a standard user).

If needed, you can always use runas to run commands as any other user including whatever adminstrative users you have.

View more solutions

13,493

eli

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

eli over 1 year

In Windows Vista, is there a way to remove the word 'Administrator:' from the title of a command prompt window?

The 'title' command just updates the part after 'Administrator:', so that will not do.
Wesley almost 15 years

Woot! Didn't know about the "title" command. Thanks.
eli almost 15 years

Unfortunately, it does not remove the 'Administrator:' part. I updated the question.
eli almost 15 years

Because I use the title command to identify the different command prompts in my task bar, and there is not enough room in the taskbar button.
Unkwntech almost 15 years

Someone should write a tool to do this....
crb almost 15 years

You don't need to down-vote useful distractions. The correct answer will be marked accepted, but there is other useful stuff to be gleamed by other answers, you know...
Oskar Duveborn almost 15 years

It will still show Administrator: as far as I can tell because what it tries to show is that the prompt is elevated - not which user is running it.
eli almost 15 years

sorry man, somebody else voted you down. but I appreciate your effort, so I'll vote you up ;-)
eli almost 15 years

I choose the easy way and took a cmd.exe from XP. Thanks a lot!
torhu over 12 years

It seems to work with only a single space before "%0", too. I didn't try to remove the last space, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's possible.
Plynx over 11 years

On Windows 8 x64 I didn't have to run mcbuilder.exe. I found cmd.exe.mui in one of the SxS folders. Every string in there was UTF-16, so keep that in mind and remember the null bytes in your search.
Camilo Martin over 10 years

This is an excellent answer, but it's effing annoying to have to do this.
Camilo Martin over 10 years

This will just run it as non-admin, right?
Camilo Martin over 10 years

I just wanted to comment on how I did it: Edited the string with a hex editor, re-built the MUI(DLL)'s MD5 with CFF Explorer, and didn't have to run mcbuilder (Win7 x64). Plus, I could get away with no spaces at all.
brianmearns over 10 years

That's not actually true: it has the exact same problem. Apparently it's just some kind of shallow wrapper around the built in command window and uses the title that cmd provides to it.
Admin over 8 years

This still says administrator when I try it
Randy Mad-Dog about 5 years

For some reason Windows (10 Pro x64 1809) didn't allow me to change the original file, even after changing permissions. However I could rename it and place its patched copy in its place.
Randy Mad-Dog over 4 years

On Windows 10 1903, there is no cmd.exe.mui anymore. Where does this string come from now?
ElektroStudios over 3 years

For a Spanish O.S the hex data is: "41 00 64 00 6D 00 69 00 6E 00 69 00 73 00 74 00 72 00 61 00 64 00 6F 00 72 00 3A 00 20 00 25 00 30" ("A.d.m.i.n.i.s.t.r.a.d.o.r.:. .%.0")
ElektroStudios over 3 years

I published a new answer in this thread that automates everything via PowerShell. Enjoy!.