Choosing a Windows Service Account — LocalSystem, Virtual Accounts, and gMSA (archived 2026-08-30)
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Abstract
Are you still running a Windows service as LocalSystem? This article compares the privileges and network identity of LocalService, NetworkService, virtual accounts, domain users, and gMSA in a decision table, and explains how to operate with least privilege. Archived version of https://comcomponent.com/en/blog/windows-service-accounts-gmsa-guide/, as published on 2026-08-30. The live article is maintained and may change after this date. First published 2026-08-20.
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View paper (DOI)Open access versionOpenAlexZenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)Published 2026-08-30
Authors: Go Komura
Institutions: Fujikura (United States)