What is reliable way to start external program for c# application - c#

From my C# application I want to start another application that requires admin privilleges and has manifest that ensures it.
My part of code:
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(#"MyLauncher.exe");
startInfo.Arguments = "/a";
startInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
startInfo.Verb = "runas";
System.Diagnostics.Process p = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(startInfo);
Thread.Sleep(5000);
Current.Shutdown();
Unfortunatelly sometimes application start smoothly but from time to time only UAC dialog appears but the application does not start.
I tried different startup settings but no luck.

Related

C# Windows Service with Registry Access and rundll32.exe

I have a C# Windows Service running under the LocalSystem account.
I need access to the Windows registry in this service. I assume that this is only possible when running as LocalSystem? Or can I install the service as User context and have access to HKEY_CURRENT_USER?
The systems where the service is used is normally just used by one user. So there will be just "one" HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Another option is, to setup Remote Apps not for one user, but for all users. But I have no idea how to do that. Currently I know only the way listed below by running rundll32.exe.
As a second requirement I need to execute rundll32.exe to create RemoteApp Connection.
The following Code is not working properly:
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
startInfo.Arguments = "/C rundll32.exe tsworkspace,WorkspaceSilentSetup C:\\RemoteConfig.wcx";
using (Process process = Process.Start(startInfo))
{
process.WaitForExit();
}
What must the Service be like to access HKEY_CURRENT_USER?
How can I run rundll32.exe? just running it directly caused some trouble when testing it in a console application. But with help of cmd.exe it worked.

Start Azure Storage Emulator for non-Admin users on Startup

At work we use Azure functions for simple tasks.
To debug or run the function you need a running Azure Storage Emulator.
The problem is that our developer accounts don't have admin privileges so we can't start the emulator ourselves.
For now we solve this by asking an admin to start it for us, but that works only until you restart/turn off the machine.
We tried many things for the emulator to start for each user( as if it was run by the admin) but nothing worked.
Here is one of the methods we tried. A simple program that runs at startup and starts the emulator. If you start it manually as admin it does the job and the emulator starts without problems.
But when scheduled to start(with the admin account) at startup or at logon it starts it but only for the admin account and not the current user.
Code for the program we run at startup:
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
startInfo.FileName = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\Storage Emulator\AzureStorageEmulator.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "start";
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();
}
}
Do you have any idea or suggestions how to solve the above problem ?
P.S:I have searched the related topics posted on StackOverflow for issues of the same kind but they ware not much help or the use-case was different.
:)
As per this link: the first time you run your emulator, the emulator environment will need to configure itself: it will create a database in LocalDB and it will register some HTTP ports. In order for the configuration process to succeed, you need administrator privilege.
The next time you'll run the storage emulator, you will no longer need administrator privilege.
So there is a tricky way, just for your reference.
you can use administrator to start the emulator, then wait for a few seconds(it finishes the inialization), stop emulator.
Then you can use normal user account to start it, it would be run for you.
Code like below:
with admin account:
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
startInfo.FileName = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\Storage Emulator\AzureStorageEmulator.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = "start";
process.StartInfo = startInfo;
process.Start();
//Wait for finished initialization
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
//After initialization, close the Emulator
Process[] processes = Process.GetProcessesByName("AzureStorageEmulator");
foreach (var p in processes)
{
p.Kill();
}
}
Then you can start Emulator again using your developer account, the code is similar to the above.
It maybe a not good choice, you can also submit an question on here.

need help: "The requested operation requires elevation" [duplicate]

I'm working on a WPF application targeting .NET 3.0. I need to call an exe which requires administrative privileges. I can get the UAC to prompt for permission by using something like:
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.Verb = "runas";
startInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
startInfo.FileName = "target.exe";
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo = startInfo;
p.Start();
My problem is I need to redirect standard output, and doing so with UseShellExecute = true results in an exception stating that:
The Process object must have the UseShellExecute property set to false
in order to redirect IO streams
However, setting it to false results in the UAC not prompting for permission and I get an exception stating:
The requested operation requires elevation
How can I redirect standard output and prompt for UAC?
I have seen this similar question, however the solution is to use the app.manifest to give my application administrative privileges. This is something I cannot do due to requirements.
UseShellExecute must be set to false to redirect IO, and to true to use the Verb property. So you can't.
But this article seems do the magic, although I haven't tested it.
It's written in C++, but a wrapper API can easily be created to be called from C# by using DllImport.
Note: If you want to pass data between the two programs and have access to the target program's source code, you can easily re-design you application to use Named Pipes instead of redirecting standard I/O.
There is another pretty simple solution:
If you want to run a child-executable elevated AND redirect the output (optionally including window hiding), then your main code must be running elevated too. This is a security requirement.
To accomplish this:
Manually edit your app.manifest in your project folder.
Find the comment regarding UAC Manifest Options, you will see the 3 examples of requestedExecutionLevel.
Under the comment, locate the tricky asInvoker which is currently enabled, and replace it with requireAdministrator.
Restart Visual Studio in order to take into effect, and after re-building your app it should have the typical UAC shield icon.
Now your code will run elevated, everything that it launches will be elevated too, and you can also capture output streams. Here is an example in VB.NET:
Dim startInfo As New ProcessStartInfo
startInfo.Verb = "runas"
startInfo.FileName = "subprocess-elevated.exe"
startInfo.Arguments = "arg1 arg2 arg3"
startInfo.WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
startInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
Dim p As Process = New Process()
p.StartInfo = startInfo
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = True
p.Start()
Console.WriteLine(p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd)
Console.WriteLine(p.StandardError.ReadToEnd)
p.WaitForExit()

Redirect standard output and prompt for UAC with ProcessStartInfo

I'm working on a WPF application targeting .NET 3.0. I need to call an exe which requires administrative privileges. I can get the UAC to prompt for permission by using something like:
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.Verb = "runas";
startInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
startInfo.FileName = "target.exe";
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo = startInfo;
p.Start();
My problem is I need to redirect standard output, and doing so with UseShellExecute = true results in an exception stating that:
The Process object must have the UseShellExecute property set to false
in order to redirect IO streams
However, setting it to false results in the UAC not prompting for permission and I get an exception stating:
The requested operation requires elevation
How can I redirect standard output and prompt for UAC?
I have seen this similar question, however the solution is to use the app.manifest to give my application administrative privileges. This is something I cannot do due to requirements.
UseShellExecute must be set to false to redirect IO, and to true to use the Verb property. So you can't.
But this article seems do the magic, although I haven't tested it.
It's written in C++, but a wrapper API can easily be created to be called from C# by using DllImport.
Note: If you want to pass data between the two programs and have access to the target program's source code, you can easily re-design you application to use Named Pipes instead of redirecting standard I/O.
There is another pretty simple solution:
If you want to run a child-executable elevated AND redirect the output (optionally including window hiding), then your main code must be running elevated too. This is a security requirement.
To accomplish this:
Manually edit your app.manifest in your project folder.
Find the comment regarding UAC Manifest Options, you will see the 3 examples of requestedExecutionLevel.
Under the comment, locate the tricky asInvoker which is currently enabled, and replace it with requireAdministrator.
Restart Visual Studio in order to take into effect, and after re-building your app it should have the typical UAC shield icon.
Now your code will run elevated, everything that it launches will be elevated too, and you can also capture output streams. Here is an example in VB.NET:
Dim startInfo As New ProcessStartInfo
startInfo.Verb = "runas"
startInfo.FileName = "subprocess-elevated.exe"
startInfo.Arguments = "arg1 arg2 arg3"
startInfo.WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
startInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
Dim p As Process = New Process()
p.StartInfo = startInfo
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
p.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = True
p.Start()
Console.WriteLine(p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd)
Console.WriteLine(p.StandardError.ReadToEnd)
p.WaitForExit()

Write code for execution time on C# Command Line Application

I want to have my program execute a bunch of commands on load-time and this is in C# btw, but it's a console program, how can I do that?
If you are trying to execute external applications from within your C# console application, see the ProcessStartInfo and Process class.
Example:
Process.Start("IExplore.exe", "www.google.com");
// -- OR --
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("IExplore.exe");
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Maximized;
startInfo.Arguments = "www.google.com";
Process.Start(startInfo);

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