asked on

show process window

Hi all,

I have written a service that starts a process:

STARTUPINFO                  si;
            PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;

            memset(&pi, 0, sizeof(pi));
            memset(&si, 0, sizeof(si));
            si.cb = sizeof(si);
            si.dwFlags = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
            si.wShowWindow = SW_NORMAL | SW_SHOW;

            CreateProcess(<ExeName>, NULL, NULL, NULL, FALSE,
                  CREATE_DEFAULT_ERROR_MODE, NULL,<WorkingFolder>, &si, &pi))

This works, but the window for <ExeName> is not shown (it's a console application)

How do I create that process so that console window will always be shown?

Thank you.

jkr

>>I have written a service that starts a process
>>[...]
>>This works, but the window for <ExeName> is not shown (it's a console
>>application)

The reason for this is that services run on their own desktop, which is invisible to the logged on user. If you want the window to be visible, you need to either set your service to interact with the user's desktop using 'SERVICE_INTERACTIVE_PROCESS' when calling 'CreateService()' (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682450(VS.85).aspx) - which is not recommended for systems more recent than XP - or go the hard way as outlined in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327618 ("Security, services and the interactive desktop in Windows"). See also the sample code in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/165194 ("CreateProcessAsUser() windowstations and desktops") as well as http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysinternals/Session0Changes.mspx ("Impact of Session 0 Isolation on Services and Drivers in Windows").
In a nutshell: This is helluva a task if you do not want to risk a security breach and use deprecated methods like SERVICE_INTERACTIVE_PROCESS.

darrgyas

ASKER

If I start some dialog-based applicationfrom the service, like notepad - it is visible.
Also, if checking "allow this service to interact..." in the services applet does not do anything, will doing it programmatically work?

jkr

What Windows version are you on?

darrgyas

ASKER

server 2003

darrgyas

ASKER

I tried CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE - no effect

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

jkr

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darrgyas

ASKER

That works, thank you.
The points well deserved, but just to push my luck is it possible to show console for the service itself?

jkr

I am afraid that this would require opening the window station, adjusting the privileges etc. - IOW a lot of effort. I'd rather recommend to use an application that is launech in the user's context and with which you communicate with some IPC means if you need to display any status updates or something similar.

darrgyas

ASKER

Thank you, I appreciate it.