I am trying to launch a process from a web page's back-end code/app pool. This process will launch an App that i built myself.
For some reason, the process only works / runs when i start it from VS2013... it never works when i launch it from IIS(7.5) itself.
I am on a Windows 7 machine (both IIS host, and App location), and I've setup my web site to only be accessible via internal network.
Here's the code, followed by the config / attempts to fix the issue:
protected void btn_DoIt_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string file_text = this.txt_Urls.Text;
if (!String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(file_text))
File.WriteAllText(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["filePath"], file_text);
ProcessStartInfo inf = new ProcessStartInfo();
SecureString ss = GetSecureString("SomePassword");
inf.FileName = #"........\bin\Release\SomeExecutable.exe";
inf.Arguments = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["filePath"];
inf.UserName = "SomeUserName";
inf.Password = ss;
inf.UseShellExecute = false;
//launch desktop app, but don't close it in case we want to see the results!
try
{
Process.Start(inf);
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
this.txt_Urls.Text = ex.Message;
}
this.txt_Urls.Enabled = false;
this.btn_DoIt.Enabled = false;
this.txt_Urls.Text = "Entries received and process started. Check local machine for status update, or use refresh below.";
}
Here are the things I've tried to resolve the issue:
Made sure the executing assembly was built with AnyCPU instead of
x86
Ensured that the AppPool that runs the app, also runs under the same account (SomeUsername) as the ProcessStartInfo specified.
Ensured that the specific user account has full access to the executable's folder.
Ensured that IIS_USR has full access to the executable's folder.
Restarted both the app pool and IIS itself many times over implementing these fixes
I am now at a loss as to why this simply will not launch the app... when i first looked into the event log, i saw that the app would die immediately with code 1000:KERNELBASE.dll, which got me on the AnyCPU config instead of X86 fix... that fixed the event log entries but the app still doesn't start (nothing comes up in task manager), and i get no errors in the event log...
if someone could help me fix this problem i would really appreciate it. This would allow me to perform specific tasks on my main computer from any device on my network (phone, tablet, laptop, etc etc) without having to be in front of my main PC...
UPDATE
The comment to my OP, and ultimate answer from #Bradley Uffner actually nailed the problem on the head: My "app" is actually a desktop application with a UI, and in order to run that application, IIS would need to be able to get access to the desktop and the UI, just like if it were a person sitting down in front of the PC. This of course is not the case since IIS is running only as a service account and it makes sense that it shouldn't be launching UI programs in the background. Also see his answer for one way of getting around this.
Your best bet might be to try writing this as 2 parts. A web site that posts commands to a text file (or database, or some other persistent storage), and a desktop application that periodically polls that file (database, etc) for changes and executes those commands. You could write out the entire command line, including exe path command arguments, and switches.
This is the only way I can really think of to allow a service application like IIS to execute applications that require a desktop context with a logged in user.
You should assign a technical user with enough high priviliges to the running application pool. By default the application pool is running with ApplicationPoolIdentity identy which has a very low priviliges.
Related
I have created a service that works good, except for this section that don't do what I want
shutdownProcess.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
shutdownProcess.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Siemens\Automation\WinCC RT Advanced";
shutdownProcess.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Siemens\Automation\HmiRtmShutdown.exe";
shutdownProcess.Start();
string errors = shutdownProcess.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
eventLog1.WriteEntry(errors, EventLogEntryType.Error, eventId++);
The problem is that the process is not executed;
as you can see I tried to record errors in a log, but the log records a empty string so it seems that there is no error;
This application works perfectly when I call it from cmd.exe; I also tried to use process.start() with cmd.exe passing the path as argument, but it did not work;
I installed the service as LocalSystem to give it maximum privileges;
I also tried to put the service into same folder and call only the .exe to exclude errors in writing the path; nothing
please help!
You cannot execute applications or executables which try to render a User Interface or are designed to require interactive login from a Windows Service which runs in background in UI less mode ( Session 0 from Vista onwards as others have comemnted ).
try to wite some unit tests and run your code from the unit tests in Visual Studio, if all works fine but then from the Windows Service does not work, then the problem is exactly the one explained above.
I have a ClickOnce application that should automatically check for updates before the application starts. If I start the application manually this also works perfectly.
However I have also added a registry entry to start the application at windows startup and in this case the check for an update is not performed and the application starts just as if there would be no update - I guess because by the time the application starts the connection to the network drive on which the ClickOnce application installation is published is not yet established.
As a workaround I tried to manually force the application in my code by calling this after my MainWindow is already loaded:
private void checkforupdate()
{
try
{
ApplicationDeployment ad = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment;
if (ad.CheckForUpdate())
{
MessageBox.Show("Update available!");
ad.Update();
}
}
catch { }
}
However for some reason this code still only triggers an update when I start the application manually, when it's started automatically on Windows start nothing happens.
The part of my code where I call checkforupdate is after there was already a few things loaded from the very same drive where the ClickOnce installation files are published so the connection must be established by then.
Does anyone know what to do?
Ok, I found out that I was having a severe misunderstanding of how the update of a ClickOnce application works: In the registry entry which starts the program at Windows start-up I referred to the .exe file in the mysterious Users\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0.... folders - while this does work of course for starting the application itself it does not have anything to do with the update functionality itself.
The update only happens when referring to ClickOnce Application reference (.appref-ms) Shortcut on the Desktop.
I seem to be asking the opposite of everyone else. I want to spawn a process and NOT have it request admin rights on the machine.
I have 2 executables:
1) Application
2) Updater
The application periodically checks a web service to see if there are any software updates. If there are, it will spawn the updater .exe and close the current application.
The updater then downloads the files, unpacks and spawns the original process.
Nothing here seems to need admin rights, and yet UAC keeps getting involved.
This is an application that runs on a machine with no keyboard or mouse and I want the update process to run with no user interaction.
Do I have to turn off UAC in order to get this to work, or have I got something enabled that I need to disable?
I think the only other piece to add here is that I'm using ClickOnce to deploy a minimal app initially that will always run the updater and download the latest copy of the program.
I'm using the following lines to spawn the updater or the calling app:
if (System.IO.File.Exists("AppUpdater.exe"))
{
Process.Start(fileName: "AppUpdater.exe", arguments: appId + " " + versionNo + " " + callingApp);
}
if (File.Exists(CallingApp))
{
Process.Start(CallingApp);
}
Thanks
Turns out it was my executable for the updater application that was causing the issue. I had to change some settings in the project properties.
I'm not sure exactly which one was causing the issue because I changed a number of settings to match another application that didn't cause the UAC message to be displayed.
I suspect the main one was the "Icon and Manifest" setting; I changed this to "Embed manifest with default settings".
I made new project (ASP.NET MVC Web Application) using Visual Studio Web 2013 Express Edition. Loading index page, redirects and everything works fine, except that in some part of my code I need to create Process and execute it, wait for it to finish, parse output of that external application and show that output to the user. However I get nothing. While debugging the code line by line:
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();
info.FileName = Tool;
info.Arguments = filename + " " + avArray;
info.CreateNoWindow = true;
info.UseShellExecute = false;
info.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo = info;
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();
Process exits immediately, someone would say it is pretty fast program, but application needs at least 5 seconds (sometimes 20 seconds) to complete.
What I think is happening is that process is not created in the first place, as my IIS settings or whatever other settings are not allowing me to run this EXE. What do I do to change this?
I've been trying to this for the past 2 weeks, I've read probably every post about it, and tried every solution suggested. I am choosing to write on this post since it is the most recent.
First of all, I am using VS2013, testing on IIS Express, and then on IIS 8.5., the webpages version is 3, and the target framework 4.5. And I am assuming that (as with my case) the goal is to launch the process on the server.
What I learned:
Using IIS Express should allow you to run the process without problems. You can try to allow it to launch the window, or start your process through the shell just to be sure that it is actually launching (a shell window should popup and close). If this happens, verify that you are giving the correct path to to your program, etc. So far so good.
Going into the IIS 8.5 is a totally different matter. Theoretically, the bad way of doing it should be preatty straight-forward: you create an app-pool for that server, give it a high privileged account (local system or network system, for instance); go to AdministrativeTools->Services->IIS, LogOn tab, and allow interaction with the desktop. You should be able to do the same as in IISExpress, but in my case is just the same as with a low privilege account.
I actually started by trying just to use impersonation, but also was not able to launch the process with IIS8.5. EDIT: I retried this again today, and the api won't even run if I enable impersonation.
I've spent more time than I would like with this, any input on why I can't get this to work properly with IIS8.5 (#clzola: IIS Express should do the job) is very welcome.
I am creating a service which runs an .exe file on Windows 7. It must be done as a service due to complex requirements, so a console application is not possible.
I have written the following code, which works perfectly in a console application, however when placed in the service, the executable is never run.
ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
try
{
startInfo.WorkingDirectory = "C:\\Folder";
startInfo.FileName = "MyApp.exe";
Process myProcess = Process.Start(startInfo);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
using (StreamWriter writer = File.AppendText(path))
{
writer.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
}
No errors are being thrown, but the application is simply not starting.
I have read that services cannot run an executable in a straightforward manner, and have modified the above code based on suggestions, however it does not work.
EDIT: I have configured the service manually as follows:
This question has been the cause of great frustration, and I have finally solved my problem. Yes, I have managed to make a service load a GUI application, even though everyone says that it is impossible. There is a warning though - the "fix" can be considered as exploiting a loophole in Windows, as the code which I used basically passes the Vista and Windows 7 UAC. Essentially, the application is always executed with full rights and bypasses the UAC.
If anyone has this same problem, what you need to do is iterate through a list of logged in users on the PC, and choose to open the UI application in this session (which has the user's desktop), rather than in session 0 where the service is supposed to be running (and which does not have a desktop).
For some people, this might not be a solution as it is not secure. But in my case, security is not a main concern, and I just needed it to work (had to be a service by force).
Hope this helps anyone who has the same problem that I had.