Accessing Directory with password

[TripleB]

Hello all,

I am writing some kind of a backup program to be used in a techinical service department of a store. the idea is to scan a harddisk for possible backups and so on. Now most of it offers no problem except the fact if the directory is protected with a password, meaning that a user account is coupled to the directories. I know how to by pass this manualy but i would like to do this through code, so that the user of the backup program doesnt need to know how to do this. so this in a few words. how to change the owner of a directory/ directories....

any help would be appreciated

ps language being used is c#

thx in advance

 

[Joe Mamma]

would this be exe run as a scheduled task?

 

[TripleB]

No but let me explain....

would this be exe run as a scheduled task?

No, it would be used in a store that repares pcs does formats and so on, the idea is that you connect the harddisk to a pc where the application is installed on then you start a scan, and automaticly copy or copy some files manualy, but as i said in my main post if the user directory is protected with a password then you arent able to acces these files, so that is what i need to bypass through code....


Greetz

 

[Derek Stone]

You have three choices:

• Launch the process with the same credentials that are included in the file/directory ACL.
• Launch a new thread within the process with the same credentials that are included in the file/directory ACL.
• Create a new user account for the backup application and assign it to all the files/directories it requires access to.

 

[TripleB]

Hey Derek,

thx for your reply,

I have to admit youve lost me a bit... the only solution that i understand a bit is the last one with the account, this is what i would do manualy just reassign all the files to an other account. But how can i do this through code...
for the other solutions can you give me a direction where i can find info about setting credentials in a process and about ACL,

thx

Greetz

You have three choices:

• Launch the process with the same credentials that are included in the file/directory ACL.
• Launch a new thread within the process with the same credentials that are included in the file/directory ACL.
• Create a new user account for the backup application and assign it to all the files/directories it requires access to.

 

[Derek Stone]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconrole-basedsecurity.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/e...ThreadingThreadClassCurrentPrincipalTopic.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/e...curityPrincipalWindowsPrincipalClassTopic.asp

 

[Arch4ngel]

hummm... near hacking but not yet

Your problem seems a little bit... "invasive" if you know what I mean. You enter a computer and take ownership of everything and you copy everything. If you can copy... youll probably have the right to delete or alter files.

First of all... remember that you cant bypass Microsoft Windows NTFS security policy. If you want to do what you want to do... youll have to already have an Administrator account on this computer so that you can scan everything. By "Administrator account" I mean an account in the Administrators group.

This could be done on machine that you have installed yourself for clients. But this could NOT be done to self installed client machine.

Understand what I want to say ? have a good day dude

 

[Joe Mamma]

this poses an interesting question. . .

I physically move a disk drive from one computer to another. . .
Does the new computer administrator have all rights to the moved disk?

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

On windows the answer is no, not right away; but he does have the ability to go and grant himself those rights.

 

[TripleB]

invasive or not In my situation not...

Hello all,
Arch4Angel: I know it seems invasive but everything I would do with that application (and currently doing manualy) happens with the conscent of the customer, .... I work in a computer store that repares pcs does formats etc...
for example customer brings in pc windows doesnt boot anymore no way of repairing the windows... Customer wants windows to be reinstalled and wants backups to be taken but his account is secured with a password, so now I grant my self acces to his account by changing the owner of the files and directories. So manualy this poses no problem, but it in this application I would like to automate it.

I am going to read the links Derek provided me maybe. If it is possible to supply the user account name + password to make the copy work would also be an option because I have acces to it if I ask the client for it so...

Greetz

and thx for your replies

 

[TripleB]

impersonate

Hey all,

I have found an example of microsoft:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...cipalWindowsIdentityClassImpersonateTopic.asp

this works as it should but the problem I am facing is that I fysicaly attach the hard disk to another pc (our pc) and acces those directories witch are linked to an user account, as far as I know this isnt possible because the windows on our pc doesnt know the excistence of that user account correct? now the question is: Can I acces that user account from our windows. I have the user account name and pasword if that helps.

the easiest way would be if i could change the owner of that account to our user account (which i do manualy now) but i dont know where to look for this to implement this...

thx in advance

 

[Arch4ngel]

Yes... I think windows can do that by the "System" account (which is a system one). I dont know however if windows can do those kind of trick without "System" access.

 

[TripleB]

Yes... I think windows can do that by the "System" account (which is a system one). I dont know however if windows can do those kind of trick without "System" access.

Ok, I have allready considered that, I even tried it, but the function to impersonate a user needs a password, and the System account doesnt have one or am i mistaking? Or is there another way to act as the system account?


Thx in advance

Greetz

 

[bri189a]

I havent seen anybody ask this question. How are you doing it manually now? (detailed)...sorry if I missed it.

 

[TripleB]

I havent seen anybody ask this question. How are you doing it manually now? (detailed)...sorry if I missed it.

How you would do it manualy step by step:

first you have te make sure you can acces the security tab in the properties dialog(xp pro: turn of simple file sharing, xp home: boot in save mode)

there you choose advanced, there you choose owner, then you can choose wich user to transfer the ownership to, you can choose between the administrators group and the user account you are logged on with, there you choose your account, and make sure you select the replace owner of subcontainers and objects then you confirm this let windows do its work changing the permissions. And you have granted yourself access to the other accounts files....

now my problem is that I want this to be automated, so that I can let the app backup all the nessesary files without interaction of the user... If there is a way to do this in means of imersonating the system and or supplying the accounts username and password this would be fine for me as this is no problem but the way I have mentioned above only can impersonate excisting users in that environment, and the accounts files are assigned to an unknown user which is identified just by an SID (can I use this in any way??)

OK this is a lot I know,... but hopefully it clarifies (how do you spell this :-\ ) the problem a bit

THX in advance

Greetz