PowerShell script to run an exe using the Local System Account

Question

I am facing an issue with some installation using the Local System Account.

I stumbled upon the following post : Is it possible to execute a custom action in WiX that is a managed .EXE file?

The first comment explains my situation accurately - "One other thing to note is that deferred actions run under the context of the system account, so if the exe requires access to a profile for any reason, this will cause it to fail. I had this very issue when trying to generate a certificate as part of my install."

The solution that was suggested was to spawn PowerShell using -RunAs switch and run a script to call the exe.

I have no knowledge of PowerShell. So I need help coming up this script.

Maybe you can use the built-in [RUNAS](http://ss64.com/nt/runas.html) utility? — wOxxOm, Sep 29 '15 at 11:32
If you are looking to run something as System then you should look at using PSExec with the -s switch. — boeprox, Sep 29 '15 at 13:18
I cannot use the RunAs utitily because I want to execute it using the System account only. Any other pointers? — Nitin Kumar Mangalam, Sep 30 '15 at 02:38

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 29 '15 at 14:26

0

If you want to run something as the local system account, the only way I know is to use psexec -s. There are some very complicated ways to do it through permanent WMI event consumers but that's way overkill.

answered Sep 29 '15 at 14:26

Adam Bertram

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I have tried using that. But my problem is that the exe accesses the profile while installing the certificates, which fails. Check out the link to the question I have posted in my question. Could you suggest me what to do? – Nitin Kumar Mangalam Sep 29 '15 at 18:19

PowerShell script to run an exe using the Local System Account

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