Setting a Windows Service to interact with the desk top and also log on as a user account

[Ian Frawley]

Hello everyone

I have written a Windows Service to monitor local and remote
Processes/Applications. However I am stuck because if it is installed as a
user account I cannot get it to interact with the desktop and therefore get
the System.Diagnostics.Process.Responding of an app. But if I set it as a
System account that interacts with the desktop I have all sorts of security
issues.

I frigged the Type field within the Services registry entry which now shows
that it can interact with the desktop but it still refuses to play. Anyone
else come up against anything like this?

Cheers

--
Ian Frawley

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Ian,

I would not ever have a service that interacts with a desktop. It just
doesn't make sense. The reason for this is that there might not always be a
user logged in, but the service will always be running.

What you should do is have an application that communicates with the
service (using some mechanism, remoting, pipes, etc, etc). This will allow
you to run the service under any account you like, and allow it to interact
with the desktop (through a layer of indirection).

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:ub**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Hello everyone

I have written a Windows Service to monitor local and remote
Processes/Applications. However I am stuck because if it is installed as a
user account I cannot get it to interact with the desktop and therefore get the System.Diagnostics.Process.Responding of an app. But if I set it as a
System account that interacts with the desktop I have all sorts of security issues.

I frigged the Type field within the Services registry entry which now shows that it can interact with the desktop but it still refuses to play. Anyone
else come up against anything like this?

Cheers

--
Ian Frawley

[Ian Frawley]

Hi Nicholas,

Yeah I see what you mean. However the majority of the apps being monitored
will be running as processes on remote machines and will definatley be
logged on to the desktop. This means that even if the service is able to
interact with the desktop it probably means that it won't be able to on a
remote machine anyway. Hmmmmmm this seems to have become the fly in the
ointment and bust me design.

Damn

"Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com> wrote in
message news:ew**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

Ian,

I would not ever have a service that interacts with a desktop. It just doesn't make sense. The reason for this is that there might not always be a user logged in, but the service will always be running.

What you should do is have an application that communicates with the
service (using some mechanism, remoting, pipes, etc, etc). This will allow you to run the service under any account you like, and allow it to interact with the desktop (through a layer of indirection).

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:ub**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Hello everyone

I have written a Windows Service to monitor local and remote
Processes/Applications. However I am stuck because if it is installed as a user account I cannot get it to interact with the desktop and therefore

get

the System.Diagnostics.Process.Responding of an app. But if I set it as a System account that interacts with the desktop I have all sorts of

security

issues.

I frigged the Type field within the Services registry entry which now

shows

that it can interact with the desktop but it still refuses to play. Anyone else come up against anything like this?

Cheers

--
Ian Frawley

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Ian,

I am surprized that the Process class can not monitor the local
processes if it is not interactive with the desktop. Are you sure this is
the case?

Also, even if you can't interact with the desktop, you should still see
information about remote services (since you can't interact with their
desktops).
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:uw*************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hi Nicholas,

Yeah I see what you mean. However the majority of the apps being monitored
will be running as processes on remote machines and will definatley be
logged on to the desktop. This means that even if the service is able to
interact with the desktop it probably means that it won't be able to on a
remote machine anyway. Hmmmmmm this seems to have become the fly in the
ointment and bust me design.

Damn

"Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com> wrote in message news:ew**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

Ian,

I would not ever have a service that interacts with a desktop. It just

doesn't make sense. The reason for this is that there might not always be a

user logged in, but the service will always be running.

What you should do is have an application that communicates with the
service (using some mechanism, remoting, pipes, etc, etc). This will allow

you to run the service under any account you like, and allow it to

interact

with the desktop (through a layer of indirection).

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:ub**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Hello everyone

I have written a Windows Service to monitor local and remote
Processes/Applications. However I am stuck because if it is installed

as a user account I cannot get it to interact with the desktop and

therefore get

the System.Diagnostics.Process.Responding of an app. But if I set it

as a System account that interacts with the desktop I have all sorts of

security

issues.

I frigged the Type field within the Services registry entry which now

shows

that it can interact with the desktop but it still refuses to play. Anyone else come up against anything like this?

Cheers

--
Ian Frawley

[Ian Frawley]

Nick,

I have tested the Process class and it always returns true when running as a
service that doesn't interact with the desktop. I dun know why it just does.
I am going to see if there are any WMI classes that I can use instead.

Cheers

Ian

Ian,

I am surprized that the Process class can not monitor the local
processes if it is not interactive with the desktop. Are you sure this is
the case?

Also, even if you can't interact with the desktop, you should still see information about remote services (since you can't interact with their
desktops).
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:uw*************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hi Nicholas,

Yeah I see what you mean. However the majority of the apps being monitored

will be running as processes on remote machines and will definatley be
logged on to the desktop. This means that even if the service is able to
interact with the desktop it probably means that it won't be able to on a remote machine anyway. Hmmmmmm this seems to have become the fly in the
ointment and bust me design.

Damn

"Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com> wrote in

message news:ew**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

Ian,

I would not ever have a service that interacts with a desktop. It

just

doesn't make sense. The reason for this is that there might not always be

a

user logged in, but the service will always be running.

What you should do is have an application that communicates with

the service (using some mechanism, remoting, pipes, etc, etc). This will

allow

you to run the service under any account you like, and allow it to

interact

with the desktop (through a layer of indirection).

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:ub**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Hello everyone
>
> I have written a Windows Service to monitor local and remote
> Processes/Applications. However I am stuck because if it is installed as

a

> user account I cannot get it to interact with the desktop and

therefore get
> the System.Diagnostics.Process.Responding of an app. But if I set it

as

a

> System account that interacts with the desktop I have all sorts of
security
> issues.
>
> I frigged the Type field within the Services registry entry which

now shows
> that it can interact with the desktop but it still refuses to play.

Anyone

> else come up against anything like this?
>
> Cheers
>
> --
> Ian Frawley
>
>

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Ian,

You should be able to use the Win32_Process class as an alternative.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

Nick,

I have tested the Process class and it always returns true when running as a service that doesn't interact with the desktop. I dun know why it just does. I am going to see if there are any WMI classes that I can use instead.

Cheers

Ian

Ian,

I am surprized that the Process class can not monitor the local
processes if it is not interactive with the desktop. Are you sure this is

the case?

Also, even if you can't interact with the desktop, you should still see

information about remote services (since you can't interact with their
desktops).
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:uw*************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hi Nicholas,

Yeah I see what you mean. However the majority of the apps being monitored will be running as processes on remote machines and will definatley be
logged on to the desktop. This means that even if the service is able to interact with the desktop it probably means that it won't be able to on a

remote machine anyway. Hmmmmmm this seems to have become the fly in

the ointment and bust me design.

Damn

"Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com> wrote in

message news:ew**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Ian,
>
> I would not ever have a service that interacts with a desktop.

It just
> doesn't make sense. The reason for this is that there might not

always

be

a
> user logged in, but the service will always be running.
>
> What you should do is have an application that communicates with

the > service (using some mechanism, remoting, pipes, etc, etc). This will allow
> you to run the service under any account you like, and allow it to
interact
> with the desktop (through a layer of indirection).
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
> --
> - Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
> - mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com
>
> "Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
> news:ub**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > Hello everyone
> >
> > I have written a Windows Service to monitor local and remote
> > Processes/Applications. However I am stuck because if it is installed

as

a
> > user account I cannot get it to interact with the desktop and

therefore

> get
> > the System.Diagnostics.Process.Responding of an app. But if I set it as

a
> > System account that interacts with the desktop I have all sorts of
> security
> > issues.
> >
> > I frigged the Type field within the Services registry entry which

now > shows
> > that it can interact with the desktop but it still refuses to

play. Anyone
> > else come up against anything like this?
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > --
> > Ian Frawley
> >
> >
>
>

[Ian Frawley]

Yeah I have been looking at that as I collect other Process metrics from
that class. I am also looking at using Event Traces.

Cheers

"Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com> wrote in
message news:OX**************@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

Ian,

You should be able to use the Win32_Process class as an alternative.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

Nick,

I have tested the Process class and it always returns true when running as

a

service that doesn't interact with the desktop. I dun know why it just does.

I am going to see if there are any WMI classes that I can use instead.

Cheers

Ian

Ian,

I am surprized that the Process class can not monitor the local
processes if it is not interactive with the desktop. Are you sure this is the case?

Also, even if you can't interact with the desktop, you should

still

see

information about remote services (since you can't interact with their
desktops).
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
news:uw*************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Hi Nicholas,
>
> Yeah I see what you mean. However the majority of the apps being monitored

> will be running as processes on remote machines and will definatley

be > logged on to the desktop. This means that even if the service is able to > interact with the desktop it probably means that it won't be able to on

a

> remote machine anyway. Hmmmmmm this seems to have become the fly in

the > ointment and bust me design.
>
> Damn
>
> "Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]" <mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com> wrote in
> message news:ew**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> > Ian,
> >
> > I would not ever have a service that interacts with a desktop. It > just
> > doesn't make sense. The reason for this is that there might not

always

be
> a
> > user logged in, but the service will always be running.
> >
> > What you should do is have an application that communicates

with the

> > service (using some mechanism, remoting, pipes, etc, etc). This will > allow
> > you to run the service under any account you like, and allow it to
> interact
> > with the desktop (through a layer of indirection).
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> >
> > --
> > - Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
> > - mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com
> >
> > "Ian Frawley" <ch****@away.com> wrote in message
> > news:ub**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > > Hello everyone
> > >
> > > I have written a Windows Service to monitor local and remote
> > > Processes/Applications. However I am stuck because if it is

installed

as
> a
> > > user account I cannot get it to interact with the desktop and
therefore
> > get
> > > the System.Diagnostics.Process.Responding of an app. But if I

set it as
> a
> > > System account that interacts with the desktop I have all sorts

of > > security
> > > issues.
> > >
> > > I frigged the Type field within the Services registry entry

which now

> > shows
> > > that it can interact with the desktop but it still refuses to

play. > Anyone
> > > else come up against anything like this?
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > >
> > > --
> > > Ian Frawley
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>