Security Identifier

In the context of the Microsoft Windows NT line of operating systems, a Security Identifier (SID) is a unique, immutable identifier of a user, user group, or other security principal. A security principal has a single SID for life (in a given domain), and all properties of the principal, including its name, are associated with the SID. This design allows a principal to be renamed (for example, from "Jane Smith" to "Jane Jones") without affecting the security attributes of objects that refer to the principal. Windows grants or denies access and privileges to resources based on access control lists (ACLs), which use SIDs to uniquely identify users and their group memberships. When a user logs into a computer, an access token is generated that contains user and group SIDs and user privilege level. When a user requests access to a resource, the access token is checked against the ACL to permit or deny particular action on a particular object. SIDs are useful for troubleshooting issues with security audits, Windows server and domain migrations. The format of a SID can be illustrated using the following example: "S-1-5-21-3623811015-3361044348-30300820-1013": Known identifier authority values are: Identifying a capability SID: If a user finds the SID in the registry data, then it is a capability SID. By design, it will not resolve into a friendly name. If the user does not find the SID in the registry data, then it is not a known capability SID. It can still be troubleshooted as a normal unresolved SID. There is a small chance that the SID could be a third-party capability SID, in which case it will not resolve into a friendly name. Per Microsoft Support: Important - DO NOT DELETE capability SIDS from either the Registry or file system permissions. Removing a capability SID from file system permissions or registry permissions may cause a feature or application to function incorrectly. After you remove a capability SID, you cannot use the UI to add it back. Virtual Accounts are defined for a fixed set of class names, but the account name isn't defined.