HostMonitor not starting as user in Options Service "Us

[ironcurtain]

My HostMonitor installation is starting as a service but with the SYSTEM account rather than the account that has administrative privileges that I have set up in HostMonitor Options -> Service -> "Use Account".

I am wondering why this would happen, please?

I am running HostMonitor V7.22c, installed as a service on Windows Server 2003

I have carried out the following steps to investigate my question:

Step: Run HM batch file
{
REM Batch File
net stop hostmonservice
"c:\program files\hostmon\hostmon.exe"
net start hostmonservice
}

Result: HM service stops and HM GUI is opened
Observed: HM runs under User Name {that I have set}

Step: Close the HM GUI
Result: HM runs as a service again
Observed: HM runs under User Name {SYSTEM}, not as the expected user {that I have set}, set up in HostMonitor Options -> Service -> "Use Account"

Observed: Log File extract after the above steps were taken:
23/10/2008 11:04:11 Monitor stopped
23/10/2008 11:04:17 Monitor started
23/10/2008 11:04:17 RCI enabled


OBSERVATIONS

NOTE: There are other exe's listed in Wondows Task manager all running as User Name {somenameservice$}, so why does HostMonitor not run under the user name that it is assigned, as a service?

These are the entries in the log file when restarting HM as a service.
1. There are no errors indicating that HostMonitor cannot log in as the user that I have set in HostMonitor Options -> Service -> "Use Account" .
2. There are no log entries that indicate that HostMonitor has logged on as the admin user {that I have set}.

[KS-Soft Europe]

My HostMonitor installation is starting as a service but with the SYSTEM account rather than the account that has administrative privileges that I have set up in HostMonitor Options -> Service -> "Use Account".

So, the problem is that "Task Manager" indicates that HostMonitor is started under "System" account? That's correct behavior. HostMonitor service is interactive service and according to the MS, all interactive services should be started under system account in order to be able to interact with desktop. When certain account is specified into "Options" -> "Service" tab, HostMonitor impersonate the security context of the specified account. But in "Task Manager" "System" account will be shown as well. Of course you can change this behavior. You may specify certain account for the HostMonitor service using standard windows "Services" applet and in this case, you will see HostMonitor is started under this particular user in "Task Manager". However, you will not be able to see HostMonitor icon in tray. To access HostMonitor GUI in this case, you may use RCC or use .bat file, you described in your initial post:
======================
net stop hostmonservice
"c:\program files\hostmon\hostmon.exe"
net start hostmonservice
======================

Quote from the manual:
http://www.ks-soft.net/hostmon.eng/mfra ... tm#Service
======================
Note #1: When HostMonitor starts as a service, it uses the system account (as all interactive services). But this account may not have all the necessary permissions, so some tests will not work correctly (UNC test, "disk free space" test for shared drives, "CPU Usage" test for remote machines, etc). If you need these tests, you will need to assign a special user account on the Service page in the Options dialog (HostMonitor's Options dialog). In this case HostMonitor will impersonate the security context of the user. Do not change the account using the system utility "Services". If you do so, HostMonitor may be unable to interact with the desktop.
======================

1. There are no errors indicating that HostMonitor cannot log in as the user that I have set in HostMonitor Options -> Service -> "Use Account" .
2. There are no log entries that indicate that HostMonitor has logged on as the admin user {that I have set}.

That's strange...
Could you check the "Application" event log using standard Windows "Event Viewer" applet? If HostMonitor is able to login, there should be "Logged on as user "XXX"" "Information" message with "HostMonService" source. If not, should be "Cannot logon as user "XXX" "Warning" message. Could you verify that?

Regards,
Max

[ironcurtain]

Could you check the "Application" event log using standard Windows "Event Viewer" applet? If HostMonitor is able to login, there should be "Logged on as user "XXX"" "Information" message with "HostMonService" source. If not, should be "Cannot logon as user "XXX" "Warning" message. Could you verify that?

Yes the Application Event Log for Information has a record that shows I am logged on as the user {that I have set}.

So this is actually working correctly then.
I will open another thread for the problem that I am seeing in light of these explanations.

Thank you for your quick response!