Using "runas" command for a program that writes a file (Windows Server 2008)

Question

I wrote this simple console program (writeTxt.exe):

#include "stdafx.h"

using namespace std;

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    char        *fileName = "test.txt";
    ofstream    outStream(fileName, ios::out);

    outStream << "This is a very simple test." << endl;

    return 0;
}

Then I run it on the console of Windows Server 2008 using runas command (I logged-in as a different user from User1):

runas /user:User1 writeTxt.exe

But the program doesn't produce the file test.txt. If I log-in to the server as User1 and run the program, it works correctly. Do I have to set something for this to run correctly?

Answer 1

I believe that runas always launches programs with their working directory set to C:\Windows\System32 (or moral equivalent) rather than whatever your current working directory is when you invoke runas.

If User1 has permissions to write to that directory, that's where the file will be. If they don't have such a permission, then the program will fail.