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2290

answers:

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In the past, I've used the runas commandline to launch another instance if IE on a secondary account for testing, since our in-house web-app application uses windows authentication to identify a user. With the new multi-process model if IE8, this doesn't seem to work. Has anyone seen a workaround for it?

A: 

Try using an 'InPrivate' session.

Antony
I had tried that, but it doesn't actually help in this case. While InPrivate provides a sort of 'execution sandbox', it is not a completely isolated process, and as such, IE won't launch a second process under a different set of credentials.
ProKiner
So in the past when you used Run As, IE used that user as credentials for trusted authentication? But you are seeing that because IE8 creates tabs as some sort of child process that it ignores the Run As credentials? Is the KB linked from this SO question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/554341/ any help?
Antony
(Sorry, been away a few weeks) The KB references running on Vista/Server 2008, but I am running on XP SP3.
ProKiner
A: 

Some interesting details to add: viewing the Event Viewer Security log, it shows that a new process for IE gets created, but immediately exits. That would lead me to believe that IE is internally checking something to see that there is already a running instance of the iexplore.exe process, and shuts itself down.

ProKiner
+3  A: 

See this: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2009/05/06/session-cookies-sessionstorage-and-ie8.aspx for info on session merging.

As an aside: RunAs is currently broken with IE8 on XP, but works on Vista. The IE team is aware/investigating this issue.

EricLaw -MSFT-
Great, thanks... I should have tried it at home on my Vista machine to diagnose it further, but I usually end up leaving those sorts of work thoughts at the office. (And yet, here I am on SO on a Sunday morning when the sun is shining. Either this site is really great, or I've really got more serious issues to deal with.)Is there a MS Connect link for this problem or any way of tracking the status of a fix? We'll be using XP at work until some time after Win7 RTMs.
ProKiner
I don't think there's a CONNECT link for this one, but if your company has a support contract with MS, you can call in and let them know that you're interested in this one.
EricLaw -MSFT-
Well, it works now. See my post below.
ProKiner
Indeed, this was fixed in the "Patch Tuesday" update on 10/6/2009.
EricLaw -MSFT-
A: 

I hate it when this happens, but it appears to be working now. I checked which IE8 updates are installed on my machine, and the only one is MS09-034. I don't see any reference to RunAs on XP, but it works now. Hmph. Oh well... glad it is "fixed".

ProKiner