How to Find Current User SID in Regedit

This article explains where to find the unique Security Identifier (SID) for the currently logged-in account using the Windows Registry Editor (Regedit). It details the primary registry paths that map user accounts to their respective SIDs and provides a direct, step-by-step method to identify your active session’s SID.

Method 1: Using the ProfileList Key (Recommended)

The most reliable location to match the currently logged-in user to their unique SID is the ProfileList registry key.

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

3. Expand the ProfileList folder. You will see several subkeys named after SIDs (typically starting with S-1-5-21-...).

4. Click on each SID key and check the ProfileImagePath value in the right-hand pane.

5. The key containing your current user profile path (for example, C:\Users\YourUsername) is your unique user SID.

Method 2: Inspecting the HKEY_USERS Hive

Since HKEY_CURRENT_USER is a direct symbolic link to the active user’s branch in HKEY_USERS, you can find the current SID loaded directly in memory:

1. In the Registry Editor, expand the HKEY_USERS hive.
2. Look for the keys starting with S-1-5-21-....
3. The root key without the _Classes suffix that matches the contents of HKEY_CURRENT_USER represents your logged-in SID.
4. Standard user SIDs follow the format: S-1-5-21-[Domain/Machine-Specific-Numbers]-[Unique-RID] (e.g., S-1-5-21-1234567890-1234567890-1234567890-1001).