One item people complain about Windows Vista is the need to run programs as an Administrator. Elevating your privileges is easy although it can confuse some people when it comes to the Vista command prompt or cmd.exe. This need happens when people run into installation problems or get the infamous internal error 2739. Fortunately, there are easy solutions.

Vista Command Prompt

For those of you who grew up with MS-DOS, the command prompt is an old friend. This is the way we ran programs and navigated before graphical interfaces and the mouse. Each version of Microsoft Windows has retained cmd.exe although we use it less.

Many people get to this program is by typing “cmd” in the Start Menu Search text box and pressing Enter.

Another quick way is to press Shift and right-click while on your desktop or in a folder. A menu appears with an option Open Command Window Here.

The problem is these methods don’t work if you need to run CMD as Administrator.

Running Command (cmd.exe) as Administrator

To run most programs as administrator you right-click the application and select “Run as administrator” from the menu. You can still do this for “Command Prompt” if you wish to navigate to the Accessories folder. An easier way is use search.

1. Type cmd in the Start Search textbox, but don’t press Enter.

2. Right-click cmd.exe from the Programs search results at the top.

3. Select Run as administrator from the menu.

4. Click the Continue button on the User Account Control dialog that appears.

A window will appear similar to the Command Prompt one above except the title bar will display Administrator Command Prompt rather than C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe.

Fixing Internal Error 2739

The only times I’ve had to use the command prompt as an administrator is when I’ve hit installation problems. Regardless of the software, it’s always been Error 2739. This isn’t always the easiest Windows error message to decipher. My most recent run in with this error was when I updated Google’s AdWords Editor.

Error 2739 occurs in other software programs that use jscript.dll or vbscript.dll during installation. I’ve seen references to this error message for Google Photos Screensaver, Skype and many Adobe products. Adobe also has a knowledgebase article on this problem.

The fix requires you to reregister one or more DLL files using regsvr32.exe. Don’t worry the process isn’t as intimidating as it sounds.

1. Run cmd.exe as Administrator using the procedure above.

2. In your dialog box that opens, make sure you’re at C:\Windows\System32> (Note: If you’re using Vista 64-bit, you should be at C:\Windows\SysWow64> )

3. Type regsvr32 jscript.dll after the > sign. There is a space between regsvr32 and jscript.dll.

4. Press Enter. You should get a message saying DLLRegisterServer in jscript.dll succeeded.

5. Repeat the process with vbscript.dll.

6. Type Exit to close the dialog.

My frustration with this error 2739 message isn’t so much that it happens, but that software vendors haven’t documented the solution. Instead, they put the burden back on the customer. Because I’m not a programmer, it’s hard for me to point fingers at any company or companies. Except for Adobe, I believe software companies have failed their customers and made them search for solutions instead of offering them.