There may come a time when you need to know the security identifier (SID) for a specific user on your system. Microsoft added this feature in Windows Vista, and it continues to be part of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
Basically, a SID is a string value of variable length, unique to each account you set up on Windows. It is used to uniquely identify users or groups, as well as control their access to various systems resources like files, registry keys, network shares and more.
Each SID is a unique identifier for a user or group. It is stored in the security database, and is put to use whenever a user logs in. It defines and identifies the user in all interactions with Windows security.
Let’s learn how you can find the security identifier of a user.
1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.
2. Enter the whoami /user command, and press the Enter key.
This will list your unique SID, or more specifically the security identifier of the currently signed in user. You can also find out the security identifiers of all users that are set up on a system.
1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.
2. Enter the wmic useraccount get domain,name,sid command, and Windows will neatly list the security identifiers of all the users that Windows 10 have set up.
