Decoding Security Identifiers (SID's) in Windows Permissions window

Question

When altering permissions in Windows 8 users show up as long SID's. Is there a way to see proper usernames in the list of 'Group or user names:'?

I have relied on removing and re-adding users (via the 'Check Name' mechanism) for users represented by an SID in this list in cases which have an unfamiliar relative ID (to which I am only familiar because of this method).

Pleasant words cannot describe just how absurd this is.

Answer 1

I'm in the process of determining this myself, if it is in fact possible, but for now, it appears there's a methodology for encoding/decoding SIDs:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Identifier#Decoding_Machine_SID
• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa379649(v=vs.85).aspx

Some C# code:

byte[] sidInBinaryForm = ...;

var sid = new SecurityIdentifier(sidInBinaryForm, 0);
string accountName = sid.Translate(typeof (NTAccount)).Value;

I'm almost 100% sure that this is strictly a decoding routine and not some wrapper on top of a LDAP call, but something to play with nevertheless.

Also see:

• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.principal.securityidentifier.translate(v=vs.100).aspx
• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.principal.identityreference(v=vs.100).aspx