Is there any API to get the currently logged in user's name and password in Windows?
Thank you in advance.
Getting user name/password of the logged in user in Windows
mfcvisual c++winapi
mfcvisual c++winapi
Is there any API to get the currently logged in user's name and password in Windows?
Thank you in advance.
Best Answer
Password: No, this is not retained for security reasons - it's used, then discarded. You could retrieve the encrypted password for this user from the registry, given sufficient privileges, then decrypt it using something like rainbow tables, but that's extremely resource intensive and time consuming using current methods. Much better to prompt the user.
Alternatively, if you want to implement some sort of 'single signon' system as Novell does, you should do it via either a GINA (pre-Vista) or a Credential Provider (Vista), which will result in your code being given the username and password at login, the only time at which the password is available.
For username, getting the current username (the one who is running your code) is easy: the GetUserName function in AdvApi32.dll does exactly this for you.
If you're running as a service, you need to remember there is no one "logged in user": there are several at any time, such as LocalSystem, NetworkService, SYSTEM and other accounts, in addition to any actual people. This article provides some sample code and documentation for doing that.