Powershell Service Account Password Change Logon Failure

Question

i am trying to use a powershell script that allows me to change the user account and password a specific service runs under.

$account="domain\account"
$password="password"

$svc=gwmi win32_service -filter "name='MyService'"
$svc.change($null,$null,$null,$null,$null,$false,$account,$password,$null,$null,$null)

I could check that the account was changed but when i tried to run the service from the Service.msc GUI it fails with a logon failure.

If I use to start the service from the script itself i get the following error.

$svc.StartService()



__GENUS          : 2
__CLASS          : __PARAMETERS
__SUPERCLASS     :
__DYNASTY        : __PARAMETERS
__RELPATH        :
__PROPERTY_COUNT : 1
__DERIVATION     : {}
__SERVER         :
__NAMESPACE      :
__PATH           :
ReturnValue      : 0
PSComputerName   :

__GENUS          : 2
__CLASS          : __PARAMETERS
__SUPERCLASS     :
__DYNASTY        : __PARAMETERS
__RELPATH        :
__PROPERTY_COUNT : 1
__DERIVATION     : {}
__SERVER         :
__NAMESPACE      :
__PATH           :
ReturnValue      : 15
PSComputerName   :

According to microsoft it is a logon error : Return Value 15.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384901%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

I have verified the password a millions time and when I copy and paste the password using the GUI it just works.

May be i am missing something in my script. (SecurityPolicy is unrestricted on this machine)

Answer 1

You need to set the SeServiceLogonRight privilege on the user before setting the service account.

Set-Privileges $account "SeServiceLogonRight"
$svc=gwmi win32_service -filter "name='MyService'"
$svc.change($null,$null,$null,$null,$null,$false,$account,$password,$null,$null,$null)

An example of the Set-Privileges function which uses LSA:

function Set-Privileges
{
    param(    
        $username,
        $Privilege
    )

# C# code from http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/4863/LSA-Functions-Privileges-and-Impersonation
    $Source = @"
    using System;
    using System.Text;
    using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

    namespace Privileges {
        public class LsaUtility {

            // Import the LSA functions

            [DllImport("advapi32.dll", PreserveSig=true)]
            private static extern UInt32 LsaOpenPolicy(
                ref LSA_UNICODE_STRING SystemName,
                ref LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES ObjectAttributes,
                Int32 DesiredAccess,
                out IntPtr PolicyHandle
            );

            [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError=true, PreserveSig=true)]
            private static extern int LsaAddAccountRights(
                IntPtr PolicyHandle,
                IntPtr AccountSid,
                LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] UserRights,
                int CountOfRights);

            [DllImport("advapi32")]
            public static extern void FreeSid(IntPtr pSid);

            [DllImport( "advapi32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto, SetLastError=true, PreserveSig=true)]
            private static extern bool LookupAccountName(
                string lpSystemName, string lpAccountName,
                IntPtr psid,
                ref int cbsid,
                StringBuilder domainName, ref int cbdomainLength, ref int use );

            [DllImport( "advapi32.dll")]
            private static extern bool IsValidSid(IntPtr pSid);

            [DllImport("advapi32.dll")]
            private static extern int LsaClose(IntPtr ObjectHandle);

            [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
            private static extern int GetLastError();

            [DllImport("advapi32.dll")]
            private static extern int LsaNtStatusToWinError(int status);

            // define the structures

            [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
            private struct LSA_UNICODE_STRING {
                public UInt16 Length;
                public UInt16 MaximumLength;
                public IntPtr Buffer;
            }

            [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
            private struct LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES{
                public int Length;
                public IntPtr RootDirectory;
                public LSA_UNICODE_STRING ObjectName;
                public UInt32 Attributes;
                public IntPtr SecurityDescriptor;
                public IntPtr SecurityQualityOfService;}

            // enum all policies

            private enum LSA_AccessPolicy : long{
                POLICY_VIEW_LOCAL_INFORMATION = 0x00000001L,
                POLICY_VIEW_AUDIT_INFORMATION = 0x00000002L,
                POLICY_GET_PRIVATE_INFORMATION = 0x00000004L,
                POLICY_TRUST_ADMIN = 0x00000008L,
                POLICY_CREATE_ACCOUNT = 0x00000010L,
                POLICY_CREATE_SECRET = 0x00000020L,
                POLICY_CREATE_PRIVILEGE = 0x00000040L,
                POLICY_SET_DEFAULT_QUOTA_LIMITS = 0x00000080L,
                POLICY_SET_AUDIT_REQUIREMENTS = 0x00000100L,
                POLICY_AUDIT_LOG_ADMIN = 0x00000200L,
                POLICY_SERVER_ADMIN = 0x00000400L,
                POLICY_LOOKUP_NAMES = 0x00000800L,
                POLICY_NOTIFICATION  = 0x00001000L
            }

            /// <summary>Adds a privilege to an account</summary>
            /// <param name="accountName">Name of an account - "domain\account" or only "account"</param>
            /// <param name="privilegeName">Name ofthe privilege</param>
            /// <returns>The windows error code returned by LsaAddAccountRights</returns>
            public static int SetRight(String accountName, String privilegeName){
                int winErrorCode = 0; //contains the last error

                //pointer an size for the SID
                IntPtr sid = IntPtr.Zero;
                int sidSize = 0;
                //StringBuilder and size for the domain name
                StringBuilder domainName = new StringBuilder();
                int nameSize = 0;
                //account-type variable for lookup
                int accountType = 0;

                //get required buffer size
                LookupAccountName(String.Empty, accountName, sid, ref sidSize, domainName, ref nameSize, ref accountType);

                //allocate buffers
                domainName = new StringBuilder(nameSize);
                sid = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(sidSize);

                //lookup the SID for the account
                bool result = LookupAccountName(String.Empty, accountName, sid, ref sidSize, domainName, ref nameSize, ref accountType);

                //say what you're doing for debug
                //Console.WriteLine("LookupAccountName result = "+result);
                //Console.WriteLine("IsValidSid: "+IsValidSid(sid));
                //Console.WriteLine("LookupAccountName domainName: "+domainName.ToString());

                if( ! result ){
                    winErrorCode = GetLastError();
                    Console.WriteLine("LookupAccountName failed: "+ winErrorCode);
                }else{

                    //initialize an empty unicode-string
                    LSA_UNICODE_STRING systemName = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING();
                    //combine all policies
                    int access = (int)(
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_AUDIT_LOG_ADMIN |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_CREATE_ACCOUNT |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_CREATE_PRIVILEGE |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_CREATE_SECRET |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_GET_PRIVATE_INFORMATION |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_LOOKUP_NAMES |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_NOTIFICATION | 
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_SERVER_ADMIN |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_SET_AUDIT_REQUIREMENTS |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_SET_DEFAULT_QUOTA_LIMITS |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_TRUST_ADMIN |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_VIEW_AUDIT_INFORMATION |
                        LSA_AccessPolicy.POLICY_VIEW_LOCAL_INFORMATION
                        );
                    //initialize a pointer for the policy handle
                    IntPtr policyHandle = IntPtr.Zero;

                    //these attributes are not used, but LsaOpenPolicy wants them to exists
                    LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES ObjectAttributes = new LSA_OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES();
                    ObjectAttributes.Length = 0;
                    ObjectAttributes.RootDirectory = IntPtr.Zero;
                    ObjectAttributes.Attributes = 0;
                    ObjectAttributes.SecurityDescriptor = IntPtr.Zero;
                    ObjectAttributes.SecurityQualityOfService = IntPtr.Zero;            

                    //get a policy handle
                    int resultPolicy = (int)LsaOpenPolicy(ref systemName, ref ObjectAttributes, access, out policyHandle);
                    winErrorCode = LsaNtStatusToWinError(resultPolicy);

                    if(winErrorCode != 0){
                        Console.WriteLine("OpenPolicy failed: "+ winErrorCode);
                    }else{
                        //Now that we have the SID an the policy,
                        //we can add rights to the account.

                        //initialize an unicode-string for the privilege name
                        LSA_UNICODE_STRING[] userRights = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING[1];
                        userRights[0] = new LSA_UNICODE_STRING();
                        userRights[0].Buffer = Marshal.StringToHGlobalUni(privilegeName);
                        userRights[0].Length = (UInt16)( privilegeName.Length * UnicodeEncoding.CharSize );
                        userRights[0].MaximumLength = (UInt16)( (privilegeName.Length+1) * UnicodeEncoding.CharSize );

                        //add the right to the account
                        int res = LsaAddAccountRights(policyHandle, sid, userRights, 1);
                        winErrorCode = LsaNtStatusToWinError(res);
                        if(winErrorCode != 0){
                            Console.WriteLine("LsaAddAccountRights failed: "+ winErrorCode);
                        }else{
                            Console.WriteLine("LsaAddAccountRights successful");
                        }

                        LsaClose(policyHandle);
                    }
                    FreeSid(sid);
                }

                return winErrorCode;
            }

        }
    }
"@ 

    Add-Type -TypeDefinition $Source -Language CSharp  

    [Privileges.LsaUtility]::SetRight($username, $Privilege) | Out-Null
}