Windows Form Startup with Admin Permission

Question

I have a windows form application that need of the admin permission for running, to make this, I use this code:

<requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />

The next step for complete the development is that this windows form application start up after windows restart, turn off and turn on again or user logon.

Here is my problem, this application need administrator permission and need startup after system startup, but I don't know to make this.

things did I do:

Put the application executable path on regedit

Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", true);

I Did create Windows Services project

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/windows-services/walkthrough-creating-a-windows-service-application-in-the-component-designer

These options do not work, can someone help me?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I find the answer for run a application with admin permission at startup.

Basically I just created a task with run level Highest and your trigger is on Logon.

I found the code in vb in this repository: https://bitbucket.org/trparky/start_program_at_startup_without_uac

Sub addTask(taskName As String, taskDescription As String, taskEXEPath As String, taskParameters As String)
        taskName = taskName.Trim
        taskDescription = taskDescription.Trim
        taskEXEPath = taskEXEPath.Trim
        taskParameters = taskParameters.Trim

        If Not IO.File.Exists(taskEXEPath) Then
            MsgBox("Executable path not found.", MsgBoxStyle.Critical, Me.Text)
            Exit Sub
        End If

        Dim taskService As TaskService = New TaskService()
        Dim newTask As TaskDefinition = taskService.NewTask

        newTask.RegistrationInfo.Description = taskDescription

        If chkEnabled.Checked Then newTask.Triggers.Add(New LogonTrigger)

        Dim exeFileInfo As New FileInfo(taskEXEPath)

        newTask.Actions.Add(New ExecAction(Chr(34) & taskEXEPath & Chr(34), taskParameters, exeFileInfo.DirectoryName))

        newTask.Principal.RunLevel = TaskRunLevel.Highest
        newTask.Settings.Compatibility = TaskCompatibility.V2_1
        newTask.Settings.AllowDemandStart = True
        newTask.Settings.DisallowStartIfOnBatteries = False
        newTask.Settings.RunOnlyIfIdle = False
        newTask.Settings.StopIfGoingOnBatteries = False
        newTask.Settings.AllowHardTerminate = False
        newTask.Settings.UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine = True
        newTask.Settings.ExecutionTimeLimit = Nothing
        newTask.Settings.Priority = ProcessPriorityClass.Normal
        newTask.Principal.LogonType = TaskLogonType.InteractiveToken

        taskService.RootFolder.SubFolders(strTaskFolderName).RegisterTaskDefinition(taskName, newTask)

        newTask.Dispose()
        taskService.Dispose()
        newTask = Nothing
        taskService = Nothing
    End Sub

So all I did was translated this code to c# and make tests

using Microsoft.Win32.TaskScheduler;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace CreateTaskTest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            addTask();
            //deleteTask();
        }

        static void addTask()
        {
            // Get the service on the local machine
            using (TaskService ts = new TaskService())
            {
                // Create a new task definition and assign properties
                TaskDefinition newTask = ts.NewTask();
                newTask.RegistrationInfo.Description = "Rondinelli Morais Create Task";

                newTask.Triggers.Add(new LogonTrigger());

                newTask.Actions.Add(new ExecAction("C:\\Windows\\regedit.exe"));

                newTask.Principal.RunLevel = TaskRunLevel.Highest;
                newTask.Principal.LogonType = TaskLogonType.InteractiveToken;

                newTask.Settings.Compatibility = TaskCompatibility.V2_1;
                newTask.Settings.AllowDemandStart = true;
                newTask.Settings.DisallowStartIfOnBatteries = false;
                newTask.Settings.RunOnlyIfIdle = false;
                newTask.Settings.StopIfGoingOnBatteries = false;
                newTask.Settings.AllowHardTerminate = false;
                newTask.Settings.UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine = true;
                newTask.Settings.Priority = System.Diagnostics.ProcessPriorityClass.Normal;

                // Register the task in the root folder
                ts.RootFolder.RegisterTaskDefinition(@"Test", newTask);

                newTask.Dispose();
                ts.Dispose();
            }
        }

        static void deleteTask()
        {
            using (TaskService ts = new TaskService())
            {

                var tasks = ts.FindAllTasks(new System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex(@"Test"));

                foreach(var task in tasks){
                    ts.RootFolder.DeleteTask(task.Name);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

I'm using regedit.exe on exemple because this program required admin permission for run.

Create the task, make logoff and login again and you will see the regedit open after logon.

OBS: To create or delete task you have run visual studio as administrator, or put this code in the install process of your program

Let me know if this worked for someone