“RunWithElevatedPrivileges” in SharePoint Timer Jobs?

Question

Can we use SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges in SharePoint timer jobs?

Under whose identity will the timer job run under elevated privilegs?

Any gotcha's and must know facts regarding this will also be appreciated.

Answer 1

RunWithElevatedPrivileges only works if the current thread is using impersonation, i.e. IIS. Used in other code (timer jobs, console applications, workflow, etc.) it will have no effect. Colin is correct that by default the timer service runs as the farm service account specified in the COnfiguration Wizard. You can verify this in Windows Services.

Answer 2

They run under the account you used when running the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard for the first time to connect to SQl / run the Central Admin app pool under. i.e. the God account in SharePoint.