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TF30063: You are not authorized ... programmatic access not working

The code below provided in this answer did work well for a while but now its throwing Microsoft.TeamFoundation.TeamFoundationServerUnauthorizedException: 'TF30063: You are not authorized to access https://{mysite}.visualstudio.com/.' again.
var credentials = new VssClientCredentials();
credentials.PromptType = CredentialPromptType.PromptIfNeeded;
var teamProjects = new TfsTeamProjectCollection(tfsCollectionUri, credentials);
teamProjects.EnsureAuthenticated(); // exception thrown
Q How can I fix this problem?
Update Strange enough,
before executing teamProjects.EnsureAuthenticated(); the debugger reads PromptIfNeeded for credentials.PromptType.
after the exception has been thrown and the debugger has stopped the execution, it reads DoNotPrompt for credentials.PromptType.
Observation
The above code works perfectly well in a console application but fails to work in a windows forms application (i.e. it throws an exception).
Q1 How can I make the above code work in a windows forms application?

If you execute the code above within a Task (i.e. a separate thread) it just works. If the credentials are not present or stale at the location in the registry (see this answer) a window opens and you can authenticate yourself.
Can anyone explain why this works?

VS has added a registry entry to store the credential, try to delete the entry in the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VSCommon\14.0\ClientServices\TokenStorage\VisualStudio\VssApp
Update:
Also, try the code below to see whether it works:
var credentials = new VssClientCredentials();
credentials.PromptType = CredentialPromptType.PromptIfNeeded;
credentials.Storage = new VssClientCredentialStorage(storageKind: "VssApp2", storageNamespace: "VisualStudio");
var aTeamProjects = new TfsTeamProjectCollection(new Uri("https://xxxxx.visualstudio.com/"), credentials);
aTeamProjects.EnsureAuthenticated();

How do I look up a Corba service with C# and IIOP.NET?

I am writing a C# client for a Corba server and I am using IIOP.NET, going by the example on the following page: http://iiop-net.sourceforge.net/rmiAdderDNClient.html
I have gotten this far without errors:
// Register channel
IiopClientChannel channel = new IiopClientChannel();
ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(channel, false);
// Access COS naming context
CorbaInit init = CorbaInit.GetInit();
NamingContext context = init.GetNameService(host, port);
The variable "host" is a string with the computer name of the server and "port" is an int representing the port number. The values for these are currently used by other systems to connect to the server so I can confirm that they are correct.
However, trying to connect to the trader service yields an exception in runtime. Here is the code I use to do that:
// Looking up VB Trader
NameComponent[] names = new NameComponent[] { new NameComponent("TraderInterface") };
object obj = context.resolve(names);
And here is the error message I'm getting:
"CORBA system exception : omg.org.CORBA.INV_OBJREF, completed: Completed_No minor: 10102."
This seems to suggest an invalid object reference, but what does that mean? Is the string I am passing to the resolve method incorrectly formatted? I have tried many different names for this service as used in other systems, but I always get the same error, which makes me wonder whether I am even interpreting it correctly.
Incidentally, in my desperation, I have also attempted to obtain an object reference from the IOR, but this again throws a different exception (namely omg.org.CORBA.ORB_package.InvalidName).
OrbServices orb = OrbServices.GetSingleton();
object obj = orb.resolve_initial_references(traderIOR);
Any advice is welcome.

I was never able to reach my server with any of the above methods, however the following code is what finally got the communication working:
Hashtable props = new Hashtable();
props[IiopChannel.BIDIR_KEY] = true;
props[IiopServerChannel.PORT_KEY] = port;
// register corba services
IiopChannel channel = new IiopChannel(props);
ChannelServices.RegisterChannel(channel, false);
MyInterface obj = (MyInterface)RemotingServices.Connect(typeof(MyInterface), ior);
I'm not entirely sure why I had to use this (seemingly) unconventional way. Perhaps it is due to the lack of a naming service running on the server. Whatever the cause, I hope this helps somebody out there.

Changing how a service is configured

When installing a service, there is a helpful .NET class called ServiceProcessInstaller. This class has a property Account, which is a ServiceAccount enumeration with possible values LocalService, LocalSystem, NetworkService and User.
This is fine at install-time, but does anybody know how I can change this value for an existing service?
I assuming that I need to move away from the actual install-type classes, and have been researching hooking into the advapi32 ChangeServiceConfig method, WMI and ManagementObjects etc.
Indeed I have found code which will actually change the account under which the service runs,
ManagementObject mo = new ManagementObject("Win32_Service.Name='" + myService + "'");
object[] configParams = new object[11];
configParams[6] = userName;
configParams[7] = password;
object result = mo.InvokeMethod("Change", configParams);
(which on its own looks a bit like black magic but makes sense when viewed with the ChangeServiceConfig signature)
However when I apply this code to a service which happens to be installed as LocalSystem, it has no effect (although when I interpret result the call is reporting success). This doesn't really surprise me since I am only setting a username and password, I am not saying "rather than running as a local service, this service needs to run under a specific user account".
Now, my gut feel is that I am heading along the right lines here. The problem is that none of the parameters in ChangeServiceConfig appear to offer the opportunity to do this.
Any ideas? TIA, Pete

Error code 16 means "Service marked for deletion". Sometimes when you change service parameter, in particular when you delete / re-create a service you need to reboot your PC for operation to complete. While it's still pending, you can't manipulate service and you get error code 16.
Also, it might not be the case, that you problem has something to do with the fact that the call is inside a dll. If you put you code in a test rig dll and call it from a test rig exe (the same way you tested it in a test rig exe) and don't create / delete service in between I think it will work anyway.
The reason it does not working in your application on my opinion has to do with what you did with the service before (and this something most likely is not described in your question).

You need Impersonate an thread to run at context of user.
Try this class :
A small C# Class for impersonating a User
or this one :
Impersonate User

Return code is 21: "Invalid Parameter".
I ran into the same issue: Problem occurs when trying to apply a new user/password to a service which currently has "LocalSystem" with "Allow Service to interact with desktop" enabled.
To resolve, set the "DesktopInteract" flag in the "Change" query
var query = new ManagementPath(string.Format("Win32_Service.Name='{0}'", serviceName)); // string.Format("SELECT * FROM Win32_Service where Name='{0}'", serviceName);
using (ManagementObject service = new ManagementObject(query))
{
object[] wmiParams = new object[10];
//WMI update doesn't work if the service's user is currently set to LocalSystem
// with Interact with desktop on
wmiParams[5] = false;
wmiParams[6] = serviceUserName;
wmiParams[7] = password;
//update credentials for the service
var rtn = service.InvokeMethod("Change", wmiParams);
}

Setting Server Bindings of IIS 6.0 Programmatically

I'm trying to set up an installer to register a web site. Currently, I've got it creating an Application Pool and Web Site under Windows Server 2003. Unfortunately, whenever I try to modify the ServerBindings property to set the IP Address, it throws an exception at me. I first tried this because the documentation here told me to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms525712%28VS.90%29.aspx. I'm currently using VB.NET, but C# answers are okay too as I need to switch it over to using C# anyway.
siteRootDE.Properties.Item("ServerBindings").Item(0) = "<address>"
This throws an ArgumentOutOfRangeException. I checked it, and server bindings is of size 0. When I tried to create a new entry in the list like this:
siteRootDE.Properties.Item("ServerBindings").Add("<address>")
I get a COMException when I try that.
I looked at the registered property keys, and ServerBindings is nowhere to be found. However, when I create the Web Site through IIS, it generates ServerBindings correctly and I can see it.
What do I need to do to get ServerBindings to appear?
EDIT: I moved the code over to C# and tried it. It seems for some reason, VB.NET crashes when given either the above, but C# doesn't. But that code still doesn't seem to do anything. It just silently fails. I'm trying it like this:
// WebPage is the folder where I created the website
DirectoryEntry siteRootDE = new DirectoryRoot("IIS://LocalHost/W3SVC/WebPage");
// www.mydomain.com is one of the IP addresses that shows up
// when I used the IIS administrative program
siteRootDE.Properties["ServerBindings"].Value = ":80:www.mydomain.com";
siteRootDE.CommitChanges();

In C# you should be able to do this:
webSite.Invoke("Put", "ServerBindings", ":80:www.mydomain.com");
or
webSite.Properties["ServerBindings"].Value = ":80:www.mydomain.com";
EDIT:
Here is the sample code I used.
public static void CreateNewWebSite(string siteID, string hostname)
{
DirectoryEntry webService = new DirectoryEntry("IIS://LOCALHOST/W3SVC");
DirectoryEntry website = new DirectoryEntry();
website = webService.Children.Add(siteID, "IIsWebServer");
website.CommitChanges();
website.Invoke("Put", "ServerBindings", ":80:" + hostname);
// Or website.Properties["ServerBindings"].Value = ":80:" + hostname;
website.Properties["ServerState"].Value = 2;
website.Properties["ServerComment"].Value = hostname;
website.CommitChanges();
DirectoryEntry rootDir = website.Children.Add("ROOT", "IIsWebVirtualDir");
rootDir.CommitChanges();
rootDir.Properties["AppIsolated"].Value = 2;
rootDir.Properties["Path"].Value = #"C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\MyRootDir";
rootDir.Properties["AuthFlags"].Value = 5;
rootDir.Properties["AccessFlags"].Value = 513;
rootDir.CommitChanges();
website.CommitChanges();
webService.CommitChanges();
}
Also, here is a good article for reference.

How can I get tokenGroups from active directory on Windows Server 2003?

I'm trying to load tokenGroups from Active Directory but it isn't working once deployed to a Windows Server (2003). I cannot figure out why, since it works fine locally...
Here is my error:
There is no such object on the server.
And here is my code (the sid variable is the current users SecurityIdentifier pulled from HttpContext):
DirectoryEntry userDE = new DirectoryEntry(string.Format("LDAP://<SID={0}>", sid.Value))
userDE.RefreshCache(new[] { "tokenGroups" });
var tokenGroups = userDE.Properties["tokenGroups"] as CollectionBase;
groups = tokenGroups.Cast<byte[]>()
.Select(sid => new SecurityIdentifier(sid, 0)).ToArray();
Any ideas why I would get that error?
UPDATE: The error actually happens on the RefreshCache line

Do you have a valid value for userDE after the constructor call?? Does that user really exist? Or do you need to provide e.g. a server to use in your LDAP path??
The error message No such object on server seems to indicate the user just plain doesn't exist.... (or cannot be found, due to e.g. permissions)
Try this - not sure if that's the problem, but it's worth a try - it should work:
DirectoryEntry userDE = new DirectoryEntry(string.Format("LDAP://<SID={0}>", sid.Value))
userDE.RefreshCache(new string[] { "tokenGroups" });
Try using new string[] instead of just new[].