What’s the closest Windows equivalent to Linux sudo?

On Windows 11 version 24H2 and later, Windows includes a built-in sudo feature under the advanced system settings. It can elevate individual commands, although the behavior and security model aren’t exactly the same as Linux sudo. This built-in feature isn’t available on Windows 10.

PowerShell remoting and alternate credentials are useful when administering other Windows machines, but they aren’t a perfect local sudo equivalent. A command run with different credentials may still have its own session, environment, and elevation behavior, so tools such as gsudo are generally more convenient for one-off local commands.

The older built-in options are runas.exe and PowerShell’s Start-Process with the RunAs verb. For example, you can launch an elevated PowerShell with `Start-Process powershell -Verb RunAs`. The drawback is that this usually opens a new elevated process rather than transparently elevating the command already running in your shell.

For Windows 10, gsudo is probably the closest match. It lets you run individual commands or programs with administrator privileges from PowerShell or Command Prompt. Depending on how you chain commands, you may need to authenticate more than once unless you configure its credential caching behavior.

If most of your work is Linux-style administration, Windows Subsystem for Linux may be a good compromise. You can use a Linux shell and familiar sudo-based tools while still accessing Windows files and applications. It won’t elevate native Windows commands in exactly the same way, but it works well for Linux-oriented workflows.