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Aids and Tools for Networking Certifications

 

Using Whoami

The Whoami utility, which is available in the Support/Tools directory on the Windows XP Professional operating system CD, allows you to view the rights and permissions that apply to an individual user. This command-line tool returns the domain or computer name and the user name of the user who is currently logged on to the computer on which the tool is run, as well as the complete contents of the current user's access token. It displays the user name and security identifiers (SIDs), the groups and their SIDs, the privileges and their status (for example, enabled or disabled), and the logon ID.

Note

  • To install Whoami, double-click Setup.exe in the Support/Tools directory on the Windows XP Professional operating system CD. Then complete the steps in the Support Tools Setup Wizard to complete the installation.

To view an individual's user rights and permissions

  • At the command line, type: 
    whoami

You can use the following command-line options to customize the results you receive from whoami:

  • /ALL. Displays all information in the current access token.
  • /USER. Displays the user identified in the current access token.
  • /GROUPS. Displays groups listed in the current access token.
  • /PRIV. Displays privileges associated with the current access token.
  • /LOGONID. Displays the logon ID used for the current session.
  • /SID. Displays the SIDS associated with the current session (must be used in combination with the/USER, /GROUPS, /PRIV, or /LOGONID switches).
  • /NOVERBOSE. Displays minimal information (must be used in combination with the/USER, /GROUPS, /PRIV, or /LOGONID switches).

For example, on a clean installation of Windows XP Professional, whoami used with the /GROUPS option reveals that an Administrator user belongs to the following default groups:

Everyone
Builtin/Administrators
NT Authority/Users
Local
NT Authority/Interactive
NT Authority/Authenticated Users

A Standard or Power User who runs whoami would generate the following group results:

Everyone
Builtin/Power Users
NT Authority/Users
Local
NT Authority/Interactive
NT Authority/Authenticated Users

A member of the Limited or User group who runs whoami would generate the following group results:

Everyone
NT Authority/Users
Local
NT Authority/Interactive
NT Authority/Authenticated Users