Directory Services

Service Logon Accounts

A service, like any process, has a primary security identity that determines the granted access rights and privileges for local and network resources. This security identity, or security context, also determines the potential the service has for damaging local and network resources.

The security context for a Microsoft Win32 service is determined by the logon account that is used to start the service. This section discusses programming issues and best practices relating to the service logon account used by Win32 services, with a focus on directory-enabled services. This section includes the following topics: