The Command Prompt window is locked when you run certain tools in Windows Vista

When you have User Account Control (UAC) functionality enabled in Windows Vista, and then you try to start certain tools at a command prompt, you experience the following behavior:

• The User Account Control dialog box appears.
• When you click Continue in the User Account Control dialog box, the tool runs. However you cannot type any more commands at the command prompt until you exit the tool.

For example, you experience this behavior when you start the following tools:

• Registry Editor
• Services.msc

This behavior is by design.

To work around this behavior, use administrator rights to open the Command Prompt window. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start
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   , type cmd in the search box, and then press ENTER.
2. In the results list, right-click cmd, and then click Run as administrator.
3. At the command prompt, type regedit.exe, and then press ENTER. Registry Editor is started, and you do not receive a UAC prompt.
4. At the command prompt, run the other tool.

Note We recommend that you follow the steps that are described in this workaround. We do not recommend that you disable User Account Control.

After you click Continue in the User Account Control dialog box, the Command Prompt window runs by using elevated rights for the first tool. The Command Prompt window is now locked so that other tools cannot bypass the UAC mechanism. Therefore you cannot type any more commands at the command prompt until you exit the tool.