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By Mark Russinovich

Published: November 1, 2006

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Note: NewSID has been retired and is no longer available fordownload. Please see Mark Russinovich’s blog post: NewSID Retirementand the Machine SID DuplicationMyth

IMPORTANT:

Regarding SIDs, Microsoft does not support images that are preparedusing NewSID, we only support images that are prepared using SysPrep.Microsoft has not tested NewSID for all deployment cloning options.

For more information on Microsoft's official policy, please see thefollowing Knowledge Base article: Microsoft hosted network virtual adapter drivers download.

Introduction

Many organizations use disk image cloning to perform mass rollouts ofWindows. This technique involves copying the disks of a fully installedand configured Windows computer onto the disk drives of other computers.These other computers effectively appear to have been through the sameinstall process, and are immediately available for use.

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While this method saves hours of work and hassle over other rolloutapproaches, it has the major problem that every cloned system has anidentical Computer Security Identifier (SID). This fact compromisessecurity in Workgroup environments, and removable media security canalso be compromised in networks with multiple identical computer SIDs.

Demand from the Windows community has lead several companies to developprograms that can change a computer's SID after a system has beencloned. However, Symantec's SID Changer andSymantec's Ghost Walker areonly sold as part of each company's high-end product. Further, they bothrun from a DOS command prompt (Altiris' changer is similar toNewSID).

NewSID is a program we developed that changes a computer's SID. It isfree and is a Win32 program, meaning that it can easily be run onsystems that have been previously cloned.

Please read this entire article before you use this program.

Version Information:

Version 4.0 introduces support for Windows XP and .NET Server, awizard-style interface, allows you to specify the SID that you wantapplied, Registry compaction and also the option to rename acomputer (which results in a change of both NetBIOS and DNS names).
Version 3.02 corrects a bug where NewSid would not correctly copydefault values with invalid value types when renaming a key with anold SID to a new SID. NT actually makes use of such invalid valuesat certain times in the SAM. The symptom of this bug was errormessages reporting access denied when account information wasupdated by an authorized user.
Version 3.01 adds a work-around for an inaccessible Registry keythat is created by Microsoft Transaction Server. Without thework-around NewSID would quit prematurely.
Version 3.0 introduces a SID-sync feature that directs NewSID toobtain a SID to apply from another computer.
Version 2.0 has an automated-mode option, and let's you change thecomputer name as well.
Version 1.2 fixes a bug in that was introduced in 1.1 where somefile system security descriptors were not updated.
Version 1.1 corrects a relatively minor bug that affected onlycertain installations. It also has been updated to change SIDsassociated with the permission settings of file and printer shares.

Cloning and Alternate Rollout Methods

One of the most popular ways of performing mass Windows rollouts(typically hundreds of computers) in corporate environments is based onthe technique of disk cloning. A system administrator installs the baseoperating system and add-on software used in the company on a templatecomputer. After configuring the machine for operation in the companynetwork, automated disk or system duplication tools (such asSymantec'sGhost,PowerQuest'sImage Drive, andAltiris'RapiDeploy) are used to copy thetemplate computer's drives onto tens or hundreds of computers. Theseclones are then given final tweaks, such as the assignment of uniquenames, and then used by company employees.

Another popular way of rolling out is by using the Microsoft sysdiffutility (part of the Windows Resource Kit). This tool requires that thesystem administrator perform a full install (usually a scriptedunattended installation) on each computer, and then sysdiff automatesthe application of add-on software install images.

Because the installation is skipped, and because disk sector copying ismore efficient than file copying, a cloned-based rollout can save dozensof hours over a comparable sysdiff install. In addition, the systemadministrator does not have to learn how to use unattended install orsysdiff, or create and debug install scripts. This alone saves hoursof work.

The SID Duplication Problem

The problem with cloning is that it is only supported by Microsoft in avery limited sense. Microsoft has stated that cloning systems is onlysupported if it is done before the GUI portion of Windows Setup has beenreached. When the install reaches this point the computer is assigned aname and a unique computer SID. If a system is cloned after this stepthe cloned machines will all have identical computer SIDs. Note thatjust changing the computer name or adding the computer to a differentdomain does not change the computer SID. Changing the name or domainonly changes the domain SID if the computer was previously associatedwith a domain.

To understand the problem that cloning can cause, it is first necessaryto understand how individual local accounts on a computer are assignedSIDs. The SIDs of local accounts consist of the computer's SID and anappended RID (Relative Identifier). The RID starts at a fixed value, andis increased by one for each account created. This means that the secondaccount on one computer, for example, will be given the same RID as thesecond account on a clone. The result is that both accounts have thesame SID.

Duplicate SIDs aren't an issue in a Domain-based environment sincedomain accounts have SID's based on the Domain SID. But, according toMicrosoft Knowledge Base article Q162001, 'Do Not Disk DuplicateInstalled Versions of Windows NT', in a Workgroup environment securityis based on local account SIDs. Thus, if two computers have users withthe same SID, the Workgroup will not be able to distinguish between theusers. All resources, including files and Registry keys, that one userhas access to, the other will as well.

Another instance where duplicate SIDs can cause problems is where thereis removable media formatted with NTFS, and local account securityattributes are applied to files and directories. If such a media ismoved to a different computer that has the same SID, then local accountsthat otherwise would not be able to access the files might be able to iftheir account IDs happened to match those in the security attributes.This is not be possible if computers have different SIDs.

An article Mark has written, entitled 'NT Rollout Options,' waspublished in the June issue of Windows NT Magazine. It discusses theduplicate SID issue in more detail, and presents Microsoft's officialstance on cloning. To see if you have a duplicate SID issue on yournetwork, usePsGetSidto display machine SIDs.

NewSID

NewSID is a program we developed to change a computer's SID. It firstgenerates a random SID for the computer, and proceeds to updateinstances of the existing computer SID it finds in the Registry and infile secur

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