Mapping IPC$ doesn't work for DCOM

Whenever I need to access a remote system which requires some
authentication, I preferred to use this command

net use \\<remote-system>\IPC$ /user:<remotesystem-login> <password>

I have been using this for over 3 years ( I don't know how I learned
about this)

It works fine if I want access shared files/foldes. Also if I execute
above mentioned command even pstools form sysinternals.com works (I
don't have to provide the user name and passwords).

This doesn't work if I run a DCOM client applicaiton.

Say, the DCOM client is on client01 and the DCOM server is on server01
and server01 has user administrator with all the permission and password
as pass@word1. These systems are NOT part of a domain.

if I run this on the client01

net use \\server01\IPC$ /user:server01\Administrator pass@word1

I can then access anything on server01, C$ share, start or stop the
services, shutdown system, anything except DCOM. The DCOM client on
client01 fails to connect.

for the DCOM server on server01, I have assigned all permission to
'everyone' & 'users' even then I get access denied error.

Any ideas why DCOM is exception to this???

Regards,
Ashutosh

"Ashutosh Bhawasinka" <smbs-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Whenever I need to access a remote system which requires some authentication, I preferred to use this command
>
> net use \\<remote-system>\IPC$ /user:<remotesystem-login> <password>
>
> I have been using this for over 3 years ( I don't know how I learned about this)
>
> It works fine if I want access shared files/foldes. Also if I execute above mentioned command even pstools form sysinternals.com
> works (I don't have to provide the user name and passwords).
>
> This doesn't work if I run a DCOM client applicaiton.
>
> Say, the DCOM client is on client01 and the DCOM server is on server01 and server01 has user administrator with all the permission
> and password as pass@word1. These systems are NOT part of a domain.
>
> if I run this on the client01
>
> net use \\server01\IPC$ /user:server01\Administrator pass@word1
>
> I can then access anything on server01, C$ share, start or stop the services, shutdown system, anything except DCOM. The DCOM
> client on client01 fails to connect.
>
> for the DCOM server on server01, I have assigned all permission to 'everyone' & 'users' even then I get access denied error.
>
> Any ideas why DCOM is exception to this???
>
> Regards,
> Ashutosh

I'm not surprised. You have configured the DCOM server to permit "everyone" to have access (and I hope have launch rights).
"Everyone" means "everyone who is authenticated". It does not mean "anonymous". Therefore the client must present a known username
and password. Presumably it is presenting the name of the user who has launched the client unless you have overridden this by
filling in the COAUTHIDENTITY struct and passing it to CoCreateInstanceEx(). The IPC$ setting doesn't play a role in this handshake.

For remote computers that do not share a domain, this can be accomplished ensuring that you use a local account with matching
passwords on both the client and server machines.

Hi Brian,
No offense, but what you mentioned, I am already aware of that! I am not
looking for to fix this, but to know how & why it's happening.

My point here is, after you map IPC$, the client is already
authenticated to the server by the user name used in IPC$ mapping. This
can be verified by opening the computer management/Shared Folders/Open
Files (on the server). Any thing you access on the server from the
client is done under that user (the one mentioned in IPC$ mapping). This
can also be verified in the even log of the server.

So, why does DCOM authenticate with a different credential when the
currently logged on user is already authenticated with the server? Is it
using a different mechanism to communicate/authenticate with the server?

Regards,
Ashutosh

Is your DCOM server configured to run as the INTERACTIVE
identity?

--
=====================================
Alexander Nickolov
Microsoft MVP [VC], MCSD
email: (E-Mail Removed)
MVP VC FAQ: http://vcfaq.mvps.org
=====================================

"Ashutosh Bhawasinka" <smbs-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23bS%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Brian,
> No offense, but what you mentioned, I am already aware of that! I am not
> looking for to fix this, but to know how & why it's happening.
>
> My point here is, after you map IPC$, the client is already authenticated
> to the server by the user name used in IPC$ mapping. This can be verified
> by opening the computer management/Shared Folders/Open Files (on the
> server). Any thing you access on the server from the client is done under
> that user (the one mentioned in IPC$ mapping). This can also be verified
> in the even log of the server.
>
> So, why does DCOM authenticate with a different credential when the
> currently logged on user is already authenticated with the server? Is it
> using a different mechanism to communicate/authenticate with the server?
>
> Regards,
> Ashutosh