How to limit running a program one user at a time?

Question

I have a program on a remote server that I access via remote desktop and I was wondering if there is any way to restrict the program to be used by one user at a given moment?

For instance while user A is using the program, I want to prevent users B,C,etc.. from running it.

Note: the mutex name must start `"Global\"` for this to work between terminal sessions; `"Local\"` (or no prefix) is processes within a single terminal — Marc Gravell, Oct 25 '13 at 12:11
@MarcGravell Am not sure about your last point *(no prefix) is in a single process* If no prefix used it will be visible in single session right? — Sriram Sakthivel, Oct 25 '13 at 12:23
@MarcGravell IIRC then named mutex will be OS level(in this case terminal login level) where as unnamed mutex is process level. — Sriram Sakthivel, Oct 25 '13 at 12:32
@SriramSakthivel yes, my mistake: " If you do not specify a prefix when you create a named mutex, it takes the prefix "Local\"." - I'll edit my comment — Marc Gravell, Oct 25 '13 at 12:42

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

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Check out this answer

.NET Check if another application is running

Here is an example of one approach (VB.NET):

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If (Process.GetProcessesByName(Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName).Length > 1) Then Close()
End Sub

Though in researching this, it seems that using a Mutex is a better approach, albeit a much more complicated one, because it's possible that, using the simple approach exemplified above, you could run into trouble if more than one of your processes has the same name. This seems to be one of the definitive q&a's on the topic:

What is a good pattern for using a Global Mutex in C#?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

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answered Oct 25 '13 at 12:08

rory.ap

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This should be a comment. [Are answers that just contain links elsewhere really “good answers”?](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8231/are-answers-that-just-contain-links-elsewhere-really-good-answers) – Sriram Sakthivel Oct 25 '13 at 12:11
Nothing went wrong, you could add some code and info to make your answer *prominent* – Sriram Sakthivel Oct 25 '13 at 12:18

How to limit running a program one user at a time?

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