Windows batch file starting directory when 'run as admin'

Question

I have a batch file which is in a directory and must be run from there as well because it updates files within this directory.
This works perfectly fine, except when the user runs the batch file as administrator (required on Vista). Then the starting directory is C:\Windows\System32.

Is there any way to still be able to know from which directory the batch file was run?
I dont want the user to enter the directory manually.

Answer 1

Try to access the batch files path like this:

echo %~dp0

For more information see the following quote from the command for /? that describes how the above command works:

You can now use the following optional syntax:

    %~I         - expands %I removing any surrounding quotes (")
    %~fI        - expands %I to a fully qualified path name
    %~dI        - expands %I to a drive letter only
    %~pI        - expands %I to a path only
    %~nI        - expands %I to a file name only
    %~xI        - expands %I to a file extension only
    %~sI        - expanded path contains short names only
    %~aI        - expands %I to file attributes of file
    %~tI        - expands %I to date/time of file
    %~zI        - expands %I to size of file
    %~$PATH:I   - searches the directories listed in the PATH
                   environment variable and expands %I to the
                   fully qualified name of the first one found.
                   If the environment variable name is not
                   defined or the file is not found by the
                   search, then this modifier expands to the
                   empty string

The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:

    %~dpI       - expands %I to a drive letter and path only
    %~nxI       - expands %I to a file name and extension only
    %~fsI       - expands %I to a full path name with short names only
    %~dp$PATH:I - searches the directories listed in the PATH
                   environment variable for %I and expands to the
                   drive letter and path of the first one found.
    %~ftzaI     - expands %I to a DIR like output line

Answer 2

Better than cd is pushd which will

• change drive letter if starting from D:\...
• assign a drive letter if on a UNC network path

So pushd %~dp0 is good.

Good practice is then to call popd when done.

Answer 3

This should solve your problem by setting the working directory for the batch file back to the current directory:

Include these two lines at the top of your .bat script:

@setlocal enableextensions
@cd /d "%~dp0"

Found at: http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/119828/Running-a-bat-file-as-administrator-Correcting-cur

Answer 4

To fix this problem, include these two lines at the top of your .bat script:

@setlocal enableextensions
@cd /d "%~dp0"

Answer 5

I use:

cd %0..

at the beginning of the batch file to change directory to the directory where the batch file was started in.

-Mathew

Answer 6

@setlocal enableextensions

@cd /d "%~dp0"

Answer 7

You can CD directly from the file name by adding the parent (not tested in windows 8.x, but has worked "forever" as far as I can remember).

CD %FILENAME%\..

and CD will change drives as well using /D, which is shown above but not explicitly mentioned so might be missed. CD /D %FILENAME%\..

(FOR /? IF /? SET /? CALL /? GOTO /? all provide highly useful reading if you use cmd.exe, I reread them once in a while.)

Answer 8

A working solution here:

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/79849-run-administrator-changes-default-directory.html

FOR /F %%I IN ("%0") DO SET BATDIR=%%~dpI

ECHO The batch file is located in directory %BATDIR%