Creating a new dekstop using the Win32 API in Windows 8 - winapi

Question

I'm trying to write an application which will creates a new desktop using the Win32 API.
The below code works in Windows 7 but but in Windows 8 the desktop is created with out the desktop icons and with an empty taskbar.
public class Desktop
{
private const int NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS = 0x00000020;
private const long DF_ALLOWOTHERACCOUNTHOOK = 0x0001L;
private const uint DELETE = 0x00010000;
private const uint READ_CONTROL = 0x00020000;
private const uint WRITE_DAC = 0x00040000;
private const uint WRITE_OWNER = 0x00080000;
private const uint STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED = DELETE | READ_CONTROL | WRITE_DAC | WRITE_OWNER;
private const long DESKTOP_CREATEWINDOW = 0x0002L;
private const long DESKTOP_ENUMERATE = 0x0040L;
private const long DESKTOP_WRITEOBJECTS = 0x0080L;
private const long DESKTOP_SWITCHDESKTOP = 0x0100L;
private const long DESKTOP_CREATEMENU = 0x0004L;
private const long DESKTOP_HOOKCONTROL = 0x0008L;
private const long DESKTOP_READOBJECTS = 0x0001L;
private const long DESKTOP_JOURNALRECORD = 0x0010L;
private const long DESKTOP_JOURNALPLAYBACK = 0x0020L;
private const uint AccessRights = (uint)DESKTOP_JOURNALRECORD |
(uint)DESKTOP_JOURNALPLAYBACK |
(uint)DESKTOP_CREATEWINDOW |
(uint)DESKTOP_ENUMERATE |
(uint)DESKTOP_WRITEOBJECTS |
(uint)DESKTOP_SWITCHDESKTOP |
(uint)DESKTOP_CREATEMENU |
(uint)DESKTOP_HOOKCONTROL |
(uint)DESKTOP_READOBJECTS |
STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED;
private delegate bool EnumDesktopProc(string lpszDesktop, IntPtr lParam);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern IntPtr GetProcessWindowStation();
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool EnumDesktops(IntPtr hwinsta, EnumDesktopProc lpEnumFunc, IntPtr lParam);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr CreateDesktop(string desktopName, string device, string deviceMode, int flags, uint accessMask, [In] ref SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES attributes);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern IntPtr OpenDesktop(string lpszDesktop, uint dwFlags, bool fInherit, uint dwDesiredAccess);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern bool SwitchDesktop(IntPtr hDesktop);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
private static extern bool CreateProcess(string lpApplicationName, string lpCommandLine, IntPtr lpProcessAttributes, IntPtr lpThreadAttributes, bool bInheritHandles, int dwCreationFlags, IntPtr lpEnvironment, string lpCurrentDirectory, ref STARTUPINFO lpStartupInfo, ref PROCESS_INFORMATION lpProcessInformation);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES
{
public int nLength;
public IntPtr lpSecurityDescriptor;
public int bInheritHandle;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct STARTUPINFO
{
public int cb;
public string lpReserved;
public string lpDesktop;
public string lpTitle;
public int dwX;
public int dwY;
public int dwXSize;
public int dwYSize;
public int dwXCountChars;
public int dwYCountChars;
public int dwFillAttribute;
public int dwFlags;
public short wShowWindow;
public short cbReserved2;
public IntPtr lpReserved2;
public IntPtr hStdInput;
public IntPtr hStdOutput;
public IntPtr hStdError;
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct PROCESS_INFORMATION
{
public IntPtr hProcess;
public IntPtr hThread;
public int dwProcessId;
public int dwThreadId;
}
private static List<string> _desktops = new List<string>();
public static IntPtr Create(string name)
{
var securityAttributes = new SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES();
securityAttributes.nLength = Marshal.SizeOf(securityAttributes);
return CreateDesktop(name, null, null, (int) DF_ALLOWOTHERACCOUNTHOOK, AccessRights, ref securityAttributes);
}
public static IntPtr Open(string name)
{
return OpenDesktop(name, 0, false, AccessRights);
}
public static bool Show(IntPtr desktopPrt)
{
if (desktopPrt == IntPtr.Zero) return false;
return SwitchDesktop(desktopPrt);
}
public static void Prepare(string desktopName)
{
CreateProcess("C:\\Windows\\explorer.exe", desktopName);
}
public static bool Exists(string name)
{
return GetDesktops().Any(s => s == name);
}
private static void CreateProcess(string path, string desktopName)
{
STARTUPINFO si = new STARTUPINFO();
si.cb = Marshal.SizeOf(si);
si.lpDesktop = desktopName;
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = new PROCESS_INFORMATION();
var lpCurrentDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(path);
CreateProcess(path, null, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero, true, NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, IntPtr.Zero, lpCurrentDirectory, ref si, ref pi);
}
private static string[] GetDesktops()
{
IntPtr windowStation = GetProcessWindowStation();
if (windowStation == IntPtr.Zero) return new string[0];
_desktops.Clear();
bool result = EnumDesktops(windowStation, DesktopEnumProc, IntPtr.Zero);
if (!result) return new string[0];
return _desktops.ToArray();
}
private static bool DesktopEnumProc(string lpszDesktop, IntPtr lParam)
{
_desktops.Add(lpszDesktop);
return true;
}
}
Usage:
var desktopName = "TestDesktop";
var desktopPrt = Desktop.Create(desktopName);
Desktop.Show(desktopPrt);
Desktop.Prepare(desktopName);
The Sysinternals Desktops app (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881.aspx) uses the same API and it works in Windows 8 so there must be something that I am missing.
Does anyone have any pointers for me? Or does anyone know of any where I can find examples of how to use this API? MSDN for the API calls gives a lot of information but no many examples.
Thanks ;D

Answer 1

EDIT: Sry, I realised that you run it in your code snippet, please ignore my comment.
How about explicitly running explorer.exe for each desktop you create? That one handles icons, taskbar, etc ...
When you run SysInternals Desktops app you can see that it actually does that.