microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys

Run as different user spawns thousands of credentialuibroker.exe instances and never prompts for login

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#44,838 4 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Issue-Bug Needs-Triage Product-Command Palette
Dominant language
C
Stars
139k
Forks
8.6k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.97.0

Installation method

GitHub

Area(s) with issue?

Command Palette

Steps to reproduce
  1. Press Windows Key + Alt + Space Bar
  2. Enter aduc (Active Directory Users and Computers)
  3. Press Ctrl + Shift + U

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d2460d83-c988-44c1-a602-89cb1436a8d2

PowerToysReport_2026-01-20-11-12-57.zip

✔️ Expected Behavior

Login prompt would be displayed and ADUC would be started as the user entered in the login prompt.

❌ Actual Behavior

CredentialUIBroker.exe instances are spawned and do not stop spawning until PowerToys is stopped. See attached video and PowerToys zipped logs.

Additional Information

Windows 11 Business 25H2 (26200.7623)
.NET 9.0.308

Other Software

No response

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the Command Palette flow in the issue: launch it, enter “aduc,” and press Ctrl+Shift+U. Inspect the attached PowerToysReport logs while reproducing; done means one login prompt appears, ADUC starts as the selected user, and repeated CredentialUIBroker.exe instances do not continue spawning.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
desktop, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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