Library code snippets

Start a Process as a Different User

By Peter Rekdal Sunde, published on 09 May 2006
Peter Rekdal Sunde

To use this code please create a new module or add it to your existing project.

Function ConvertToSecureString(ByVal str As String)
        Dim password As New SecureString
        For Each c As Char In str.ToCharArray
            password.AppendChar(c)
        Next
        Return password
End Function
Sub Main()
       dim username as string = "Administrator"
       dim password as SecureString = ConvertToSecureString("my password")
       dim domain as string = Nothing
       dim filename as string = "notepad.exe" ' %SYSTEMROOT%\system32
        Try
            System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(filename,username, password, domain)
        Catch ex As Win32Exception
            MessageBox.Show("Wrong username or password.", _
		"Error logging in as administrator", MessageBoxButtons.OK, _
		 MessageBoxIcon.Error)
        End Try
End Sub
AddThis

Related tags

.net, security

Comments

  1. stixoffire
    25 Mar 2007 at 12:39

    You said over the net , I am wondering - since one "should" not be able to start a process from a web browser - could they ??

  2. James Moore
    01 Sep 2006 at 21:59

    Purely out of interest is there any reason why a modified version of this code couldn't be used to crack the administrators password? For example technically every time you catch the error from an incorrect attempt you could increment the password (brute force style) and then try again in a big loop. the second you're sucessful you'd know the admin password. Might try this in a bit...is there any reason it wouldn't work? If it worked it'd allow anyone who can log into the system as an level user to break administrator access. And while it's all local and data doesnt go over the net, the cracking speed would in theory be phenominal

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