I am running on Windows Server 2012. I have a service that creates several processes, one of them is a GUI client. The process in high level is as follows:
Service runs a launcher exe
The launcher exe launches an AutoIT compiled exe
The AutoIT compiled exe launches a winform exe
The winform exe does two things:
a. It write a file to the disk on program startup (test.log)
b. It waits for a keyboard press "c" to write a second file to the disk (test2.log)
The AutoIT script does two things:
a. It launches the said winform exe
b. It sleeps for 5 seconds and then send "c" (Send command)
If I start running this chain manually (from step 2) - everything works fine and 2 files are being created. I guess this happens because I have an interactive session (specifically 2) so it's a no brainer here. However, if I run it from the service, everything runs in session 0 (I verified this with ProcessExplorer) but only the first file is being written. Meaning, the keystroke message was not read by the winform exe.
I read about Session 0 isolation which means that user input from other sessions can't interact with programs (services) running in session 0. However, all of the processes mentioned now run in the same session 0. So I'm not sure why my application doesn't get the keyboard strokes? Any workaround for this? Please note that running under a different session is probably not possible, as the server must run without user logged on and as far as I know, you can't launch a session yourself without logging into the system.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!
Your service probably runs under Local System or Local Service account (it's always "logged in" in some sense). But you can change this behavior to allow the service running under any specified account with access to the desktop.
Go to menu "Start->Computer->Manage".
In the "Computer Management" window select "Services and Applications->Services".
Find your service and call "Properties" by popup menu.
Open "Log on" tab.
You have 2 options here:
a. Choose "Local System account" radio button and check "Allo&w service to interact with desktop".
b. Choose "This account" and type or "Browse..." the account you need.
Option (b) could make sense if you set up an auto logon on the machine (in this case you may run as Administrator and have an access to the desktop simultaneously).
Option (a) is applicable only if you don't need running as Administrator. Hope it helps.
Related
I´m having problems with doing Shift + Enter in an object of SAP application.
This is the code I have:
If Dialog("SAP Logon 730").WinListView("SysListView32").Exist(100) Then
Dialog("SAP Logon 730").Activate
Dialog("SAP Logon 730").WinListView("SysListView32").Select sServer
Dialog("SAP Logon 730").Activate
SendKeysShell ("+{ENTER}")
End if
A list of server is displayed in the "Dialog" object. One must be selected (with the .Select) and then open using Shift + Enter.
The problem is that if I minimize the remote machine, the Sendkeys is not performed correctly.
If you minimise the Remote Desktop window (the window that displays the remote computer’s desktop), Windows switches the remote session to a GUI-less mode and doesn't display windows and controls. This means you can't interact with the desktop while the session is minimised and therefore your UFT/QTP script (that's what it looks like to me anyway) will fail.
As a possible workaround, you can try the following steps:
On your local computer, close all open Remote Desktop sessions.
Launch the Registry editor (regedit.exe).
Navigate to one of the following Registry keys, depending on whether you wish to modify the Remote Desktop settings only for the current user or for all users on the computer:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client
Create a DWORD value named RemoteDesktop_SuppressWhenMinimized and set it to 2.
Close the Registry Editor.
Now, when you minimise the remote session on your local desktop, the GUI availability on the remote machine should be unaffected and your test case should continue to run OK.
Hope that helps...
When running a Scheduled Task under Windows to launched batch processes under a dedicated account, you could want to see output of theses processes.
These sub-processes could be either or both graphical or character based applications
As there are running in a different Windows Logon session, I cannot find way to display their output. There are like ghost processes
I would expect being able to use the show Window command from Process Explorer, but even via running Process Explorer under the dedicated account used to run the task (via runas), it is not working
Is there a way to do it ?
References : http://www.brianbondy.com/blog/id/100/
I believe that once created, a window cannot be transferred to another window station. Also, I doubt it is possible to open windows in another session. For character-based applications you are better off writing the output to some file and examining that file. For graphical applications you are out of luck with task scheduler. You may want to write a simple VBS script that wakes up at a certain time and runs your graphical task(s) and run it upon user logon, e.g. along the lines of a script from this page:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/d9465815-87e2-43df-a0fe-4a23c16dca99/need-a-time-schedule-in-vbs-script-to-execute-something
I have a system service running on my Windows machine that can impersonate the currently logged on user and launch applications on their behalf (including UI apps).
It works fine when the user is already logged on into their interactive session, their Desktop is created, and so on.
The startup of the service is Automatic, so it is started automatically after each reboot. If it attempts to run some program (that needs UI access) immediately after the service is started, that program may fail - possibly because the autologon process is still in progress, the Desktop is not created yet, etc.
The question is: if the service starts "early", how can it wait for the interactive session to be fully initialized (apart from waiting some arbitrary time, which is not optimal)?
Or, can the service be started "late"? Is there a registry key, or a folder, or something else, that I can use to delay the service startup to the moment when the Shell is ready and it is safe to launch UI applications?
The easiest two ways to "execute some code when a user logs on" is to write a .bat file, and either:
1) Put the .bat file in the startup folder
<= Note: Windows 7/Vista has a new location for "Startup folder"
... or ...
2) Create a new Task that calls the .bat file at login
I option "2)" gives you finer control. It also allows the .bat file to "Run as Administrator" if needed.
If you'd like to make the .bat file pause briefly (e.g. to make sure things are completely initialized", you can add "ping -w" to your .bat file.
EXAMPLE:
#rem Waits 5 seconds before continuing
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 5000 > nul
In matlab, I used a windows standalone application. There is a line in this application that writes a file in C:\...\...\. When I run the output exe file produced from this windows standalone application, the exe doesn't write in C:\...\...\ neither tells me that there is a security issues in that partition. All the execution does is nothing. But, when I right-click and run the exe as administrator, it runs correctly.
I want to do it without right-click and run as administrator. Are there is a command in matlab that can do that?
If you create a shortcut to your application, you can go to the Properties of the shortcut, click on Advanced in the Shortcut tab, and select "Run as administrator". That way, whenever you start the application from the shortcut it will be run as an administrator.
(Disclaimer: applications really shouldn't "foul their own nest" by writing into Program Files. This is bad design.)
Starting from Vista, unprivileged processes are not allowed to write to protected folders such as Program Files, because Program Files is designed to store code and not data. However, since this limitation has not been enforced in XP, MS has provided a backward-compatibility hack in the form of Virtual Store. Now, when a program tries to write to protected folder, its output is being redirected into a dedicated folder. This way, the program still "thinks" it writes to its usual location, while in fact it writes to an unprotected location. However, when you later check the Program Files location, you might not see the file - because it's not really there.
You can find more details here: User Account Control Data Redirection.
If you are administrator, add full control permission for your username to the destination folder. You do that by right clicking on the folder, going to properties and then security tab. Then edit and add you username with Full Control rights. Then you don;t have to run the the program as an administrator.
There is no way you can elevate a process once it is started, so Matlab cannot possibly have a command for that. Just running Matlab elevated.
Does anybody know if there is a feasible way on Windows XP to programmatically create and configure a user account so that after logging in from the console (no terminal services) a specific app is launched and the user is "locked" to that app ?
The user should be prevented from doing anything else with the system (e.g.: no ctrl+alt+canc, no ctrl+shift+esc, no win+e, no nothing).
As an added optional bonus the user should be logged off when the launched app is closed and/or crashes.
Any existing free tool, language or any mixture of them that gets the job done would be fine (batch, VB-script, C, C++, whatever)
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon has two values
UserInit points to the application that is executed upon successful logon. The default app there, userinit.exe processes domain logon scripts (if any) and then launches the specified Shell= application.
By creating or replacing those entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER or in a HKEY_USERS hive you can replace the shell for a specific user.
Once you ahve your own shell in place, you have very little to worry about, unless the "kiosk user" has access to a keyboard and can press ctrl-alt-del. This seems to be hardcoded to launch taskmgr.exe - rather than replacing the exe, you can set the following registry key
[SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\taskmgr.exe]
Debugger="A path to an exe file that will be run instead of taskmgr.exe"
I guess you're building a windows kiosk?
Here's some background in replacing the windows login shell - http://blogs.msdn.com/embedded/archive/2005/03/30/403999.aspx
The above link talks about using IE as the replacement, but any program can be used.
Also check out Windows Steady State - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx