Retrieve SID of current user

[RobDog888]

I need to read and write to the current logged in users
HKEY_USERS\SID#\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\ hive, but if a
system has more than one user that has logged on there will be
more than one set of registry sid keys. How can I get the sid from
the current username? I can get the username, but I need to be
able to map it to the sid#.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[RobDog888]

Bump???

[Shawn N]

What OS? I don't have any SID on XP.

[RobDog888]

2000 Pro SP4 & another system with XP SP1.
On your XP there is no sid under the HKEY_USER?

Its on mine.

[Shawn N]

K - I'm going off the thought that you have the API-Guide installed so look at the example for advapi32.dll's LookupAccountName function.

[Shawn N]

Another link that might help you out.

[RobDog888]

Thanks for the link, but I am getting the SID now and it doesn't
match the registry SID. Looks like there is some alogrithim used on it.

Private Sub Form_Load()
 
    Const ADS_SID_HEXSTRING = 1
    Const ADS_SID_WINNT_PATH = 5
    Const ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MODIFY_USER_ATT = &H2
    Const ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MAIL_SEND_AS = &H8
    Const ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MAIL_RECEIVE_AS = &H10
 
    Dim sid As New ADsSID
    Dim sec As New ADsSecurity
    Dim oSID As Variant
    Dim sSID As String
    
    ' Gettting a security descriptor
    Dim x As IADs
    Dim y As IADs
    Dim sd As IADsSecurityDescriptor
    Dim acl As IADsAccessControlList
    
    Set x = GetObject("LDAP://DC=mydomain, DC=com")
    Set sd = x.Get("ntSecurityDescriptor")
     
    Debug.Print "sd.Control: " & sd.Control
    Debug.Print "sd.Group: " & sd.Group
    Debug.Print "sd.Owner: " & sd.Owner
    Debug.Print "sd.Revision: " & sd.Revision
    Debug.Print "sd.DaclDefaulted: " & sd.DaclDefaulted
    Debug.Print "sd.SaclDefaulted: " & sd.SaclDefaulted
    
    Set acl = sd.DiscretionaryAcl
    Debug.Print "acl.AceCount: " & acl.AceCount
    Debug.Print "acl.AclRevision: " & acl.AclRevision
    
    Set sacl = sd.SystemAcl
 
    Set y = GetObject("WinNT://myserver/me,user")
    oSID = y.Get("objectSID")
    For i = LBound(oSID) To UBound(oSID)
        sSID = sSID & CStr(oSID(i)) & ", "
    Next
    Debug.Print "sSID: " & Mid$(sSID, 1, InStrRev(sSID, ",") - 1)
    
    sid.SetAs ADS_SID_WINNT_PATH, "WinNT://myserver/me,user"
    sidHex = sid.GetAs(ADS_SID_HEXSTRING)
    Debug.Print "sidHex: " & sidHex
 
    'Results like...
    'sd.Control: 35888
    'sd.Group: BUILTIN\Administrators
    'sd.Owner: BUILTIN\Administrators
    'sd.Revision: 1
    'sd.DaclDefaulted: False
    'sd.SaclDefaulted: False
    'acl.AceCount: 21
    'acl.AclRevision: 4
    'sSID: 1, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 21, 0, 0, 0, 110, 57...
    'sidHex: 0105000000000005150000006E3900729...    
    'Registry SID = "S-1-5-21-1912617...-...
 
End Sub

How can query the registry key if the sid does not look same?

[RobDog888]

*Bump*

[Shawn N]

What are these types defined?

Dim sid As New ADsSID
Dim sec As New ADsSecurity
Dim sd As IADsSecurityDescriptor
Dim acl As IADsAccessControlList

[RobDog888]

They are reference: "ADsSecurity 2.5 Type Library" (ADsSecurity.dll)

I got it from the SDK download from M$.

The IADsSecurityDescriptor and IADsAccessControlList are not
defined, but I have added references to Active DS Type Library,
Active DS IIS Extension DLL, Active DS IIS Namespace Provider.
They are the same references that an example vb project has
from the sdk.

[Imanta]

Robdog,

Can you post a sample of the code you used to get this to work? I have been looking everywhere...

Thanks.

[RobDog888]

Never got it to work. Try downloading the SDK from M$.

[Imanta]

Can you at least share a good way to get the current logged in user's name? I am using the following:

Public Declare Function getUserName Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "GetUserNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long
Public Const MAX_BUFFER_LENGTH = 100

Dim strBufferString As String
Dim lngResult As Long

strBufferString = String(MAX_BUFFER_LENGTH, "X")

lngResult = getUserName(strBufferString, MAX_BUFFER_LENGTH)

getLoggedUserName = Mid(strBufferString, 1, MAX_BUFFER_LENGTH)

But sometimes get some nasty trailing data after the name and was wondering if there was something a bit more "elegant".

Thanks again.

[RobDog888]

Place in module then call from anywhere in your program.

Option Explicit
 
Private Declare Function GetUserName Lib "advapi32.dll"  Alias "GetUserNameA" _
(ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long
 
Public Function CurrentUser() As String
'*********************************************************
'* Function to get the current logged on user in windows *
'*********************************************************
    Dim strBuff As String * 512
    Dim x As Long
    
    CurrentUser = ""
    x = GetUserName(strBuff, Len(strBuff) - 1)
    If x > 0 Then
        x = InStr(strBuff, vbNullChar)
        If x > 0 Then
            CurrentUser = UCase(Left$(strBuff, x - 1))
        End If
    End If
 
End Function

[Imanta]

Thanks for the clean code. I had one other question on this top and hoped you might be able to help. My application is actually running as an NT Service and when I call GetUserName it always returns SYSTEM as that is the current account in the mind of my app. Is there any way to figure what actual user is using the machine when my service is running in a different context?

[RobDog888]

Initially I would have to say no. Since the service is running under
the system account. The system is running the program. It would
be hard to determine which user is logged on because there is no
link between the service and a particular user.