Increase scheduling priority
Updated: May 8, 2013
Applies To: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista
This security policy reference topic for the IT professional describes the best practices, location, values, policy management, and security considerations for this policy setting.
Reference
This policy setting determines which user accounts can increase the base priority class of a process. It is not a privileged operation to increase relative priority within a priority class. This user right is not required by administrative tools that are supplied with the operating system, but it might be required by software development tools.
Specifically, this security setting determines which accounts can use a process with Write Property access to another process to increase the run priority that is assigned to the other process. A user with this privilege can change the scheduling priority of a process through the Task Manager user interface.
This policy setting is supported on versions of Windows that are designated in the Applies To list.
Constant: SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege
Possible values
User-defined list of accounts
Not defined
Administrators
Best practices
- Allow the default value, Administrators, as the only account responsible for controlling process scheduling priorities.
Location
GPO_name\Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment
Default values
By default this setting is Administrators on domain controllers and on stand-alone servers.
The following table lists the actual and effective default policy values for the most recent supported versions of Windows. Default values are also listed on the policy’s property page.
| Server type or GPO | Default value |
|---|---|
Default Domain Policy |
Not defined |
Default Domain Controller Policy |
Administrators |
Stand-Alone Server Default Settings |
Administrators |
Domain Controller Effective Default Settings |
Administrators |
Member Server Effective Default Settings |
Administrators |
Client Computer Effective Default Settings |
Administrators |
Operating system version differences
There are no differences in the way this policy setting works between supported versions of Windows.
Policy management
This section describes features, tools, and guidance to help you manage this policy.
A restart of the computer is not required for this policy setting to be effective.
Any change to the user rights assignment for an account becomes effective the next time the owner of the account logs on.
Group Policy
Settings are applied in the following order through a Group Policy Object (GPO), which will overwrite settings on the local computer at the next Group Policy update:
Local policy settings
Site policy settings
Domain policy settings
OU policy settings
When a local setting is greyed out, it indicates that a GPO currently controls that setting.
Security considerations
This section describes how an attacker might exploit a feature or its configuration, how to implement the countermeasure, and the possible negative consequences of countermeasure implementation.
Vulnerability
A user who is assigned this user right could increase the scheduling priority of a process to Real-Time, which would leave little processing time for all other processes and could lead to a denial-of-service condition.
Countermeasure
Verify that only Administrators have the Increase scheduling priority user right assigned to them.
Potential impact
None. Restricting the Increase scheduling priority user right to members of the Administrators group is the default configuration.