Create a Process as Logged-On-User from PowerShell
The following example shows how to start a new process under the current logged-on user. This can be used to allow user interaction from a high priviledged account (e.g. SYSTEM) with a logged-on user.
The Main-Code (written in C#) was created by murrayju and is available on: https://github.com/murrayju/CreateProcessAsUser
As PowerShell can run C# code, we just have to wrapp the code from murrayju into a PowerShell script...
The following example will run 'notepad.exe' as the logged-on user:
$Source = @"
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace murrayju.ProcessExtensions
{
public static class ProcessExtensions
{
#region Win32 Constants
private const int CREATE_UNICODE_ENVIRONMENT = 0x00000400;
private const int CREATE_NO_WINDOW = 0x08000000;
private const int CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE = 0x00000010;
private const uint INVALID_SESSION_ID = 0xFFFFFFFF;
private static readonly IntPtr WTS_CURRENT_SERVER_HANDLE = IntPtr.Zero;
#endregion
#region DllImports
[DllImport("advapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "CreateProcessAsUser", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
private static extern bool CreateProcessAsUser(
IntPtr hToken,
String lpApplicationName,
String lpCommandLine,
IntPtr lpProcessAttributes,
IntPtr lpThreadAttributes,
bool bInheritHandle,
uint dwCreationFlags,
IntPtr lpEnvironment,
String lpCurrentDirectory,
ref STARTUPINFO lpStartupInfo,
out PROCESS_INFORMATION lpProcessInformation);
[DllImport("advapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "DuplicateTokenEx")]
private static extern bool DuplicateTokenEx(
IntPtr ExistingTokenHandle,
uint dwDesiredAccess,
IntPtr lpThreadAttributes,
int TokenType,
int ImpersonationLevel,
ref IntPtr DuplicateTokenHandle);
[DllImport("userenv.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern bool CreateEnvironmentBlock(ref IntPtr lpEnvironment, IntPtr hToken, bool bInherit);
[DllImport("userenv.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
private static extern bool DestroyEnvironmentBlock(IntPtr lpEnvironment);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern bool CloseHandle(IntPtr hSnapshot);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
private static extern uint WTSGetActiveConsoleSessionId();
[DllImport("Wtsapi32.dll")]
private static extern uint WTSQueryUserToken(uint SessionId, ref IntPtr phToken);
[DllImport("wtsapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
private static extern int WTSEnumerateSessions(
IntPtr hServer,
int Reserved,
int Version,
ref IntPtr ppSessionInfo,
ref int pCount);
#endregion
#region Win32 Structs
private enum SW
{
SW_HIDE = 0,
SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1,
SW_NORMAL = 1,
SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2,
SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3,
SW_MAXIMIZE = 3,
SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4,
SW_SHOW = 5,
SW_MINIMIZE = 6,
SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7,
SW_SHOWNA = 8,
SW_RESTORE = 9,
SW_SHOWDEFAULT = 10,
SW_MAX = 10
}
private enum WTS_CONNECTSTATE_CLASS
{
WTSActive,
WTSConnected,
WTSConnectQuery,
WTSShadow,
WTSDisconnected,
WTSIdle,
WTSListen,
WTSReset,
WTSDown,
WTSInit
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct PROCESS_INFORMATION
{
public IntPtr hProcess;
public IntPtr hThread;
public uint dwProcessId;
public uint dwThreadId;
}
private enum SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL
{
SecurityAnonymous = 0,
SecurityIdentification = 1,
SecurityImpersonation = 2,
SecurityDelegation = 3,
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct STARTUPINFO
{
public int cb;
public String lpReserved;
public String lpDesktop;
public String lpTitle;
public uint dwX;
public uint dwY;
public uint dwXSize;
public uint dwYSize;
public uint dwXCountChars;
public uint dwYCountChars;
public uint dwFillAttribute;
public uint dwFlags;
public short wShowWindow;
public short cbReserved2;
public IntPtr lpReserved2;
public IntPtr hStdInput;
public IntPtr hStdOutput;
public IntPtr hStdError;
}
private enum TOKEN_TYPE
{
TokenPrimary = 1,
TokenImpersonation = 2
}
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct WTS_SESSION_INFO
{
public readonly UInt32 SessionID;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public readonly String pWinStationName;
public readonly WTS_CONNECTSTATE_CLASS State;
}
#endregion
// Gets the user token from the currently active session
private static bool GetSessionUserToken(ref IntPtr phUserToken)
{
var bResult = false;
var hImpersonationToken = IntPtr.Zero;
var activeSessionId = INVALID_SESSION_ID;
var pSessionInfo = IntPtr.Zero;
var sessionCount = 0;
// Get a handle to the user access token for the current active session.
if (WTSEnumerateSessions(WTS_CURRENT_SERVER_HANDLE, 0, 1, ref pSessionInfo, ref sessionCount) != 0)
{
var arrayElementSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(WTS_SESSION_INFO));
var current = pSessionInfo;
for (var i = 0; i < sessionCount; i++)
{
var si = (WTS_SESSION_INFO)Marshal.PtrToStructure((IntPtr)current, typeof(WTS_SESSION_INFO));
current += arrayElementSize;
if (si.State == WTS_CONNECTSTATE_CLASS.WTSActive)
{
activeSessionId = si.SessionID;
}
}
}
// If enumerating did not work, fall back to the old method
if (activeSessionId == INVALID_SESSION_ID)
{
activeSessionId = WTSGetActiveConsoleSessionId();
}
if (WTSQueryUserToken(activeSessionId, ref hImpersonationToken) != 0)
{
// Convert the impersonation token to a primary token
bResult = DuplicateTokenEx(hImpersonationToken, 0, IntPtr.Zero,
(int)SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL.SecurityImpersonation, (int)TOKEN_TYPE.TokenPrimary,
ref phUserToken);
CloseHandle(hImpersonationToken);
}
return bResult;
}
public static bool StartProcessAsCurrentUser(string appPath, string cmdLine = null, string workDir = null, bool visible = true)
{
var hUserToken = IntPtr.Zero;
var startInfo = new STARTUPINFO();
var procInfo = new PROCESS_INFORMATION();
var pEnv = IntPtr.Zero;
int iResultOfCreateProcessAsUser;
startInfo.cb = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(STARTUPINFO));
try
{
if (!GetSessionUserToken(ref hUserToken))
{
throw new Exception("StartProcessAsCurrentUser: GetSessionUserToken failed.");
}
uint dwCreationFlags = CREATE_UNICODE_ENVIRONMENT | (uint)(visible ? CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE : CREATE_NO_WINDOW);
startInfo.wShowWindow = (short)(visible ? SW.SW_SHOW : SW.SW_HIDE);
startInfo.lpDesktop = "winsta0\\default";
if (!CreateEnvironmentBlock(ref pEnv, hUserToken, false))
{
throw new Exception("StartProcessAsCurrentUser: CreateEnvironmentBlock failed.");
}
if (!CreateProcessAsUser(hUserToken,
appPath, // Application Name
cmdLine, // Command Line
IntPtr.Zero,
IntPtr.Zero,
false,
dwCreationFlags,
pEnv,
workDir, // Working directory
ref startInfo,
out procInfo))
{
throw new Exception("StartProcessAsCurrentUser: CreateProcessAsUser failed.\n");
}
iResultOfCreateProcessAsUser = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
}
finally
{
CloseHandle(hUserToken);
if (pEnv != IntPtr.Zero)
{
DestroyEnvironmentBlock(pEnv);
}
CloseHandle(procInfo.hThread);
CloseHandle(procInfo.hProcess);
}
return true;
}
}
}
"@
Add-Type -ReferencedAssemblies 'System', 'System.Runtime.InteropServices' -TypeDefinition $Source -Language CSharp
[murrayju.ProcessExtensions.ProcessExtensions]::StartProcessAsCurrentUser('notepad.exe')
Note: You have to call this code from a Service (like the ConfigurationManager Agent) or another high priviledged account...