How do you get credentials (NetworkCredential) of currently logged in user ?

Question

Hi,

I'm writing some code to utilise a 3rd party component, and I need to supply an object which implements ICredentials when I start to use it.

If I write the following...

var credential = new NetworkCredential("MyUsername", "MyPassword");

...and pass "credential", it's fine. But I would like to pass the credentials of the current user (it's a Windows service, so runs as a specified user).

I have tried both of the following, but neither appear to work (or return anything):

NetworkCredential credential = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
NetworkCredential credential = CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials;

Can anyone suggest how to acquire an approriate object, which represents the credentials of the username that the service is running under ?

Thanks, Ross

Answer 1

You need to do impersonation, for example:

    System.Security.Principal.WindowsImpersonationContext impersonationContext;
impersonationContext = 
    ((System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity)User.Identity).Impersonate();

//Insert your code that runs under the security context of the authenticating user here.

impersonationContext.Undo();

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306158

Or you can use web.config:

<identity impersonate="true" />

Answer 2

have you tried WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent()?

you could also look at this example... http://www.codeproject.com/KB/vb/Windows_Service.aspx

Answer 3

I have the same problem with a WCF client scenario, see this thread http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3166150/how-do-i-tell-a-wcf-client-proxy-class-to-use-windows-authentication-and-the-wind