How to use Windows Authentication in WPF?

Question

I'm not finding much documentation on how to use Windows Authentication in a WPF app. I wouldn't have thought that it would be any different than in any non-WPF app, but it seems that it is. I want to go into my project Properties -> Application and ensure that Windows Authentication is on, but that option is not available in a WPF app (as the following document confirms).

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tzdks800.aspx

If I ignore all that and just look at My.User.Name (VB), it is empty. This tells me that somehow Windows Authentication is not enabled.

Seems like there is a concept I am missing; could someone point me in the right direction?

My plan is to use a PrincipalPermission attribute to restrict access to certain parts of my app (or perhaps the entire app, by applying it to Application_Startup()).

Answer 1

The reason this doesn't work in WPF is that these services are implemented in VB's WindowsFormsApplicationBase class, which isn't used in WPF applications. To do the same thing yourself:

Call WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent() to get the Windows user identity. You can get the name from this.

If you specifically want to set the thread principal the way the VB Windows Authentication option does, call Thread.CurrentPrincipal = new WindowsPrincipal(WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent()) -- this is exactly what WindowsFormsApplicationBase does internally.

EDIT: If you prefer the My.User API, it looks like you should be able to do the same thing by calling My.User.InitializeWithWindowsUser(). I haven't tested this though.

Answer 2

Itowlson's answer was correct, but also, in order to use the PrincipalPermissionAttribute on any method, you have to first make the windows principal the current principal by calling:

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetPrincipalPolicy(PrincipalPolicy.WindowsPrincipal)