Getting the logged in user name to activate a process with

Question

I'm using C# with .NET 3.5

My goal here is to take the logged in user name and simply start a process under this user name. Normally a simple Process.Start(pathToProgram) would help here, but the problem is that I'm calling this line from an installer class, meaning the msiexec is currently working and the user name i get is SYSTEM instead of the actual user who currently logged in to windows.

Of course that Environment.UserName also returns "SYSTEM" instead of the logged in user.

How can I start the process as the logged in user and not as the user SYSTEM?

Not able to test now, but did you try to call `Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("USERNAME");` ? It is different from Environment.UserName in your particular context? — Steve, Jul 28 '13 at 13:01
There is no such thing as "the logged in user". Remember that Windows is a multi-user operating system. It's possible to have no users logged in, one user, multiple users, multiple *remote* users, and any combination of the above. So you'll need to define more clearly what you mean by "the logged in user" and how you want to handle these other cases. — Cody Gray - on strike, Jul 28 '13 at 13:06
the logged in user is the user name which entered his name and password in the windows login screen — CodeMonkey, Jul 28 '13 at 13:43
@Steve your suggestion was the winning suggestion and it did work. Why did it give me the user name I was searching for and the other suggestions didn't? If you write it as an answer, I will accept it as the correct answer. — CodeMonkey, Jul 28 '13 at 13:55

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

0

You can get the userName for current logged in user like this -

string userName = System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Name;

From SO post -

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = "C:\SetupVM.bat";
p.StartInfo.UserName = userName;
p.StartInfo.Password = "AdminPassword";
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

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answered Jul 28 '13 at 12:48

Rohit Vats

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How can I use it to run a process with the information I get? – CodeMonkey Jul 28 '13 at 12:51
`Process.Start(pathToProgram` will start the process for current logged in user only. Isn't it? – Rohit Vats Jul 28 '13 at 12:53
It will start the process as the user who ran the command. Since It's during an installation of a program, the user running the command was SYSTEM and not the logged in user. – CodeMonkey Jul 28 '13 at 12:55
And this line doesn't work. The user name I get from this line is: "NT AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM" – CodeMonkey Jul 28 '13 at 12:57
Then you must be logged in as a `System` itself. – Rohit Vats Jul 28 '13 at 13:08
No I'm not.. MSIEXEC is running when installing a program and it's being run by SYSTEM but it's not the user name which logged in to windows – CodeMonkey Jul 28 '13 at 13:42

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '13 at 14:09

I think that when you call Environment.UserName you get the value for the user impersonated by the current process, while if you call Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("USERNAME") you get the name of the user that starts the process and at that point the process is not started and, of coure, has not yet impersonated another user.

However, this is only a raw thought that seems to work for the OP question, but I still searching some reference material to confirm my assertion.
I welcome any one that has a better understanding of this fact and explain it better than me

Maybe you want to try getting another correct answer for a follow up question I've got: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17908993/starting-a-process-with-a-user-name-and-password — CodeMonkey, Jul 28 '13 at 14:12

Getting the logged in user name to activate a process with

2 Answers2