I am creating a complex service on Windows 7, which starts off by loading an .exe application. The only way to achieve this was to enable to "Interactive Services Detection" service in services.msc.
As a test application, I added the following code which simply opens the system calculator. It works, however not as intended. I first get the following message when starting the service:
When clicking "View this message", it loads the calculator as it is supposed to, but opens a blue full screen mode, and contains the calculator within it.
My question is basically the following: How can I make the application display automatically, and not have to prompt the user to "view the message", and more importantly, how can I get the application to display normally, rather than in this "interactive services detection" sandbox?
This is the code of my sample service:
public partial class OpenCalculator : ServiceBase
{
public Process process;
public OpenCalculator()
{
this.ServiceName = "Open Calculator";
InitializeComponent();
}
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
start_calc();
}
protected override void OnStop()
{
process.Kill();
}
protected void start_calc()
{
try
{
process = new Process();
process.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\Windows\system32\calc.exe";
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
process.StartInfo.ErrorDialog = false;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = true;
process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
process.Start();
using (StreamWriter writer = File.AppendText("C:\\Users\\scaruana\\Desktop\\test.txt"))
{
writer.WriteLine(process);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
using (StreamWriter writer = File.AppendText("C:\\Users\\scaruana\\Desktop\\test.txt"))
{
writer.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
}
}
Services run in session 0, whose desktop you cannot see. Interactive desktops are hosted in other sessions. So, for instance, the first interactive logon runs in session 1. This means that services cannot directly show UI on an interactive desktop.
In older versions of Windows (XP and earlier), the first interactive logon shared session 0 with services. And so when you enabled the allow service to interact with desktop option in the service control manager, the service could show UI on an interactive desktop. However, all that ended with Vista because it was a security risk.
So, you need to start a new process and specifically force it onto the desktop of an logged in interactive user. That is not easy to do. This MSDN blog article covers your options: Launching an interactive process from Windows Service in Windows Vista and later.
Now, that's how you go about starting a new process from a service, and putting the new process onto an interactive desktop. But that is almost certainly the wrong way to solve your problem. As you can see by reading the linked article, doing it that way is complex. The standard solution to your problem is to run an interactive process on the logged in user's desktop. This remains hidden until your service needs to show UI. The service then communicates with the desktop app using your preferred IPC mechanism, and then the desktop app shows the UI.
This question has been the cause of great frustration, and I have finally solved my problem. Yes, I have managed to make a service load a GUI application, even though everyone says that it is impossible. There is a warning though - the "fix" can be considered as exploiting a loophole in Windows, as the code which I used basically passes the Vista and Windows 7 UAC. Essentially, the application is always executed with full rights and bypasses the UAC.
If anyone has this same problem, what you need to do is iterate through a list of logged in users on the PC, and choose to open the UI application in this session (which has the user's desktop), rather than in session 0 where the service is supposed to be running (and which does not have a desktop).
For some people, this might not be a solution as it is not secure. But in my case, security is not a main concern, and I just needed it to work (had to be a service by force).
Hope this helps anyone who has the same problem that I had.
Related
I have a web API project that has a call that allows the user to basically start a separate application on the server.
Basically my web API is a gateway to remotely call this application from an MVC project.
Problem:
The problem I am facing is that the Process.Start() method is working perfectly (as in I can see the process starting on the server's task manager) but no window is popping up? I can run the application directly and see it start in its own window.
Web API Code:
public void ReconnectEPLAN()
{
if (CheckEplanConnection() == false)
{
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
process.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\Program Files\EPLAN\Pro Panel\2.8.3\Bin\W3u.exe"; //works but no ui poopup
process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
process.Start();
}
}
What can I do to force the started process's app window to appear as well?
On your server, IIS runs as a service (unlike IIS Express, which runs in the user space).
Since Windows Vista, services can no longer interact with the user's desktop directly.
See:
How to run console application from Windows Service?
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/f8f91e8f-5954-43a7-8bc4-80ed2ff1e3b1/quotallow-service-to-interact-with-desktopquot-does-not-work-on-vista?forum=windowssdk
https://www.codeproject.com/Questions/1239551/Why-does-process-start-goes-to-background-when-sta
Services cannot interact directly with the user at all: this is because services can run on a machine that doesn't have a user logged in at all, so there is no way to interact with them.
link app with windows process so that when user terminated or end the process it says used by another process and also need to insert it into system file like shutdown file using c sharp so that my app never end or terminates
i tried that material but not usefull
this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
I also tried that code in click:
WindowsImpersonationContext ctx = null;
if (!WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().IsSystem)
{
ctx = WindowsIdentity.Impersonate(System.IntPtr.Zero);
}
string thisuser = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Name;
But have a look at image it is still present in process, what I want is that my process never stops.
what I want is that my process never stops.
To ensure that your process is always running and is started when Windows boots it's easiest to create a windows service instead. It will probably still show up somewhere in task manager and could be killed manually by the user. But windows will try to keep it running.
How to create a service:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zt39148a(v=vs.110).aspx
And if you need other programs to communicate with your service I find it easy to use a WCF service instead.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386386.aspx
I need to launch or run an windows exe file from a OEM in Win store App.
can below be used? I try but have error but why since diagnostic is in the framework
using System.Diagnostics;
Process myProcess = new Process();
try
{
myProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
// here I point to the OEM windows exe file
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = "C:\\HelloWorld.exe";
myProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
myProcess.Start();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
-- Update
# Michal :
Thank you. This method works using URI.
One problem :
the WinRT app goes into background after launching. How to make the winRT app not going background?
Is there any other way? I need to integrate the Exe from the OEM into Win Store App.
Note:
I want to know is this can be done or I am doing something which is not allowed?
If I didnot make my case clearer, please tell me what I miss.
I tried it but it did not work. So my solution should be using similar approach like Diagnostic but what it can be?
Recycling bits from https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsapps/en-US/0a822355-909f-44b4-9c79-cb986087fe27/after-launching-or-activate-an-app-the-main-app-goes-into-background?forum=winappswithcsharp
This is expected behavior and there's no good way around it. Launching a file or protocol switches to the default handler with no expectation of return.
Launching an app via protocol like this a hack in the first place. Since you are a side-loaded app look into writing a Brokered Windows Runtime Component to allow proper use of desktop API and communication with a desktop back-end.
See the Brokered Windows Runtime Component docs at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn630195.aspx
i want to run an application made in c# winform through service.i have done the code but the application does not get started even service successfully gets started and no exception is thrown.
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
eventLog1.WriteEntry("starting Kb");
try
{
Process myProcess = new Process();
myProcess.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Invisual E. Inc\KeyboardSetup\keyboard.exe";//Exe Path
myProcess.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
myProcess.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
myProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
myProcess.Start();
ProcessWindowStyle ws = myProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle;
if (ws == ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden)
myProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
eventLog1.WriteEntry("started");
}
catch (Exception c)
{
eventLog1.WriteEntry(c.Message);
}
}
Log file does not show any exceptions.
Purpose is to start the application at the welcome screen of window so that user can use custom made keyboard .
What operating system? From Vista and beyond you cannot create GUI from services (it's a security flaw and ugly...) There is a user 0 session that shows gui started by services from vista onwards.
Why not create a registry entry and/or startup entry for your app to start when the user who installed your app logs in? Or follow the info here about implementing an interactive service.
A service normally runs under a user other than the logged in user therefore the service doesn't have a desktop available to display any windows form, hence the reason t isn't being displayed.
I think you will need to find another way as although a winforms app can start a service I dont believe it can be done the other way around.
Regards
AJ
Is it possible to start a program so that it is available to a user with a windows service? I have been working with the Process.Start() in C#. I can get the service to kickoff some sort of process that appears in the Task Manager list under processes. However, the program nevers appears on the screen. By default, it runs under the user name "SYSTEM". I have adjusted the "Log On" option in the service manager to match the person logged into the computer, but this does not cause a window to appear either.
I feel like I am either missing a simple setting, or need to take a different direction for this. Below is the code I have been working with to start up Firefox as a test app.
private void startRunDap()
{
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.FileName = "Firefox";
startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
startInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
Process.Start(startInfo);
//Process.Start("Firefox");
}
On Vista and Win7 Services run in their own session with a private desktop. You'll get Firefox started but it will never be visible. The account name is actually how this came about, LocalSystem is a highly privileged account, a giant security hole.
You will need an "agent" in the user session to get the process started. An otherwise invisible program that you start with the Run key or the Startup folder that talks to the service through, say, a named pipe or socket. It can start the program.
Put a tick at "Allow service to interact with user" at properties of service in Services
Here's a link to a blog post that describes how to do this in Windows Vista and later. You should note, though, that the first sentences in the article are:
The first thing you should do about it is that; don't do it. There are many limitations and bad implications and restrictions involved.
In case, you are in a state that you cannot avoid launching an interactive process from Windows Service then you might want to read this article.
Windows SDK blog