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Scheduled task security context dilemma

I have a scheduled task that runs exe which is a windows application. In order to see UI, I need to check "run only if user is logged on", but when I create a scheduled task I cannot specify which user it will run under, so if I specify System account, the exe will run without user interface. User interface only shows up if I run the task as myself while I am logged on.

The thing is that the task will be created on multiple machines and will have to run in logged in user context and be interractive. How can I accomplish that?

the task is created programmatically, using C# and Microsoft.Win32.TaskScheduler namespace

Can anyone help??

BuggyCoder

see these urls:-

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa382140%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
http://taskscheduler.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Examples&referringTitle=Documentation

YZlat

ASKER

My question is more specific. And the example you posted does not require user interface, it runs on a background.

I already have all that code and it is fine running on a background under System account. I need it to run under user account of currently logged in user

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

David Johnson, CD

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YZlat

ASKER

what kind of account is builtin\users??

Will it enable the scheduled task to run an exe with UI?

YZlat

ASKER

I tried that group and got an error "This LogonType is not supported on Task Scheduler 1.0"

David Johnson, CD

It is a group account All computer users are members of this group. Yes I tested it with Notepad and it ran fineNotepad-Test.xml

YZlat

ASKER

Here is the code that gave me this error "This LogonType is not supported on Task Scheduler 1.0"

  using (TaskService ts = new TaskService())
                {
                    
                    TaskDefinition td = ts.NewTask();
                    td.RegistrationInfo.Description = "task that runs exe";
                    TimeTrigger tt = new TimeTrigger();
                    tt.Enabled = true;
                    tt.StartBoundary = DateTime.Now + TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5);
                    tt.Repetition.Interval = TimeSpan.FromHours(1);
                    td.Triggers.Add(tt);

                    td.Principal.RunLevel = TaskRunLevel.Highest;
                    td.Actions.Add(new ExecAction("MyService.exe", null, Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("windir")));
                    ts.RootFolder.RegisterTaskDefinition("MyService", td, TaskCreation.Create, @"BUILTIN\Users", null, TaskLogonType.Group, null);

                    
                }

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YZlat

ASKER

I also tried to setup a scheduled task manually and use BUILTIN\Users group and got an error in EventViewer Security log:

Logon Failure:
     Reason:            Unknown user name or bad password
     User Name:      Users
     Domain:            BUILTIN

YZlat

ASKER

I modified the task manually to run as BUILTIN\Users and it did not run on a scheduld time. I selected "Run only if logged on" checkbox

David Johnson, CD

that dll doesn't have all the bases covered..
edit the .xml that I provided and then execute
schtasks /create /tn "notepadtest" /xml notepad-test.xml /f

the time is in UTC

YZlat

ASKER

I tried adding BUILTIN\Users to tak manually but it can only add 'ComputerName\Users' or 'DOMAINNAME\Domain users'

And I found that BUILTIN\Users only good for Windows 7 but does not work on Windows XP, so my problem still stays unsolved:(

YZlat

ASKER

Do you have any other suggestions? You cam closer than anyone else so far

What dll were you talking about?

YZlat

ASKER

Looks like BUILTIN\Users worked for Windows 7. But what do I do with Windows XP?

YZlat

ASKER

Turns out I do not need it for windows xp, only for windows 7.

Thanks a lot!

YZlat

ASKER

Thank you! You are the best!