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I have a Windows service that I can run either as a service or in a console. The program requires administrator access. When running in a console "as Administrator", the program works fine. When running as a service under the SYSTEM account, the program doesn't respond properly.

What is the difference between "As Administrator" and SYSTEM? Why would SYSTEM be more restricted? How can I ensure that SYSTEM has the same privileges?

EEAA
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esteuart
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  • This likely depends on the way the application interacts with system, not on privileges. Note that SYSTEM account is in many ways limited (like with user interface interaction, to point the most obvious). Please help us by enhancing your question with as much information as possible. – Michał Sacharewicz Jan 14 '14 at 16:45
  • Useful additional information might include: software name, software functionality, software's actual response ("does not respond properly" is vague) and configuration details. It would also be useful to know the context - what do you want to achieve by using the software in the way you used it. – Michał Sacharewicz Jan 14 '14 at 16:48
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    The SYSTEM account is going to have minimal privileges to any network services. – Zoredache Jan 14 '14 at 17:16
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    @Zoredache more precisely, the SYSTEM account will inherit the machine account's privileges and group memberships if the machine is a domain member, or use "anonymous" when connecting to remote RPC and SMB services if it is not. – the-wabbit Jan 15 '14 at 20:18

1 Answers1

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It turned out to be a program specific issue. When it is running in Console mode, it starts up the processes differently than when it starts as a Service. There are no permission issues.

To answer the questions, both "As Administrator" and SYSTEM are running as a member of the Administrators group. Any difference in privileges are specific to the settings of the users themselves. When a process is running as a service under the SYSTEM account, the process is running with full privileges.

esteuart
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