Is SeDebugPrivilege() api function the same as System.Diagnostics.Process.EnterDebugMode?

Question

What the title says. Are they the same? I've noticed that the first does have arguments and such, but are they going to give the same end result?

Answer 1

Yes. At least according to the documentation which states:

"Puts a Process component in state to interact with operating system processes that run in a special mode by enabling the native property SeDebugPrivilege on the current thread."

Answer 2

For clarity, SeDebugPrivilege is not an API function, it's a privilege constant.

Also, the fact that Process.EnterDebugMode enables the privilege on the thread does not necessarily mean that the privilege will be useful -- privileges first need to be present in the user token (this is configured per user or group, which privileges they have) and then they can be enabled/disabled.

So, you need to make sure that the user running the process has the privilege in the first place. See Local Security Settings (Start -> Run... -> secpol.msc) under Local Policies/User Rights Assignment to find out and change who has what privilege.