How does the authentication of a user actually work?
First, a user logs on. When this happens, NT creates a token object that represents that user. Each process the user runs is associated with this token (or a copy of it). The token-process combination is refered to as a subject. As subjects access objects such as files and directories, NT checks the subject’s token with the Access Control List (ACL) of the object and determines whether to allow the access or not. This may also generate an audit message.
