How to start a process from within a windows service

Question

I want to pop a browser with a given url from within a windows service. Like so:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("http://www.venganza.org/");

Works fine when running in a console but not from within the service. No error messages, no exceptions, the Process.Start() command just seem to do nothing. It smells of some security issue, maybe something with the service properties and/or logon options? Annoying stuff this... Anybody? (Oh, and on windows 7/.NET framework 3.5.)

Answer 1

A service should never pop up anything to the user. Don't do this with a service.

You will problably need elevated rights to do this aswell. You will have to sign in as the user.

Even if you manage to do this, don't. This is not what services is ment for and it is really bad practise. If you really want someting to pop up, have a seperate process instead.

Answer 2

It is popping up, but on the Window Station associated with the service.

I would suggest that you tweak your design such that your service doesn't need to interact in this manner. There are ways to get it to appear on an interactive desktop (you'd have to cope with issues such as impersonating the relevant user, targeting the correct desktop if nobody is logged on or if more than one person is logged on, etc.)

Answer 3

Similar question to this one, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2330519/launching-web-browser-from-windows-service

Answer 4

I think you ran into a simmilar issue like described in this post

Answer 5

Just on a side note Windows services aren't built for interactivity. They are used to process behind-the-scenes type stuff. However, have you tried enabling the Interact with Desktop option on the service itself?