If you are at a user's workstation and the user is not there but currently logged on with applications open, it is not a good idea to close them up due to the possibility of lost information or work that has not been saved. Instead, use the runas command. If you need access to a file share that is not accessible by the user, you can open explorer as an admin or user with the appropriate permissions. runas /user:%computername%\administrator "c:\winnt\explorer.exe" runas /user:domainname\username "c:\winnt\explorer.exe" You can also navigate to the explorer.exe file, right-click it while holding the Shift key, then choose runas. All processes spawned from this instance of explorer will run with the privledges of the user that you designated with the runas command. The runas command can also be implemented for the administation tools snap-ins.