'Run As...' doesn't correctly create user environment

Question

My C# application crashes under some circumstances when run with a non-admin user.

I'm experiencing a problem with Windows Server 2003 and I'm trying to find more information about it. It may be a problem on other Windows OS's.

It seems that if I create a non-admin user, and then run my application under this user with the 'Run as...' command, the users environment doesn't get set up correctly, and the TEMP environment variable points at C:\Windows\Temp instead of the users having their own Temp folder in the Documents and Settings profile. The user doesn't have permissions to this folder, so the application crashes with the .Net JIT compiler tries to write/read to this folder.

If I log on as this user, the situation is still wrong. I don't get the Environment being prepared thingy you normally get when logging on a new user, and my app still won't run without crashing during startup. Infact I've realized the user can't run calc.exe or other programs in the Windows folder. It appears that their environment is permanently messed up and I guess the only way forward is to delete their profile.

If I create a non-admin user, and log on as them before doing a 'Run as..', they're environment gets set up ok, and my application works.

I can't find any information on this problem or notes on whether Microsoft acknowledge it. Have you experienced this, or do you know where I can look to find more about it?

Answer 1

Consider using runas with a profile for the user if you are not.

C:\temp>runas RUNAS USAGE:

RUNAS [ [/noprofile | /profile] [/env] [/netonly] ]
        /user: program

RUNAS [ [/noprofile | /profile] [/env] [/netonly] ]
        /smartcard [/user:] program

/noprofile specifies that the user's profile should not be loaded. This causes the application to load more quickly, but can cause some applications to malfunction.
/profile specifies that the user's profile should be loaded. This is the default. /env to use current environment instead of user's. /netonly use if the credentials specified are for remote access only. /savecred to use credentials previously saved by the user. This option is not available on Windows XP Home Edition and will be ignored. /smartcard use if the credentials are to be supplied from a smartcard. /user should be in form USER@DOMAIN or DOMAIN\USER
program command line for EXE. See below for examples

Examples:

runas /noprofile /user:mymachine\administrator cmd runas /profile /env /user:mydomain\admin "mmc %windir%\system32\dsa.msc" runas /env /user:[email protected] "notepad \"my file.txt\""

NOTE: Enter user's password only when prompted. NOTE: USER@DOMAIN is not compatible with /netonly. NOTE: /profile is not compatible with /netonly.