Microsoft KB Archive/221212

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INFO: Event Log Message for Security Event 592

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Q221212

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API), included with:
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
 * the operating system: Microsoft Windows 2000

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SUMMARY
When auditing the creation of a process, the system logs an event message similar to the following:

A new process has been created: New Process ID:     2209180864 Image File Name:    \temp\myprog.exe Creator Process ID: 2159539168 User Name:          SYSTEM Domain:             NT AUTHORITY Logon ID:           (0x0,0x3E7) The type of process ID that is displayed in an audit log, depends on the version of Windows that you are running.

In Windows NT 4.0 the Audit Process ID (APID) logged in this message is not the same as the Process ID (PID) returned in the PROCESS_INFORMATION structure passed to the CreateProcess Win32 API. PIDs identify running processes on the system. When a process exits, its PID is recycled back to the system. In Windows NT 4.0, these PIDs are reused quickly as processes are created and destroyed.

In Windows 2000, all audit logs use the actual PID when identifying a process. APIDs are NOT used in Windows 2000.

MORE INFORMATION
The purpose of APIDs are to provide better 32-bit identifiers for processes. Eventually, they are also recycled. However, APIDs should be useful over a longer period of time than PIDs. APIDs are not intended for programmatic use. There is no way to relate an APID to a PID. Rather, APIDs provide system administrators with correlative values to use when reviewing system activity.

For additional information about auditing process tracking events, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

"Q157238 How to Activate Security Event Logging in Windows NT 4.0" Additional query words:

Keywords : kbAPI kbEventLog kbKernBase kbOSWinNT400 kbOSWin2000 kbSecurity kbDSupport kbGrpDSKernBase

Issue type : kbinfo

Technology : kbAudDeveloper kbWin32sSearch kbWin32API