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37

answers:

1
+3  Q: 

Can I display a form on top of or beside the Windows Vista Login screen?

I have a need to display alerts and such on-screen at any time the computer is running. We have a service running collecting these events, so that's not a problem - but I need to find a way to display critical alerts, even if the user hasn't logged in yet; that is, they're sitting at the 'Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to log in' prompt.

Is this possible? If so, can it be done via managed code (C#)?

+2  A: 

In Windows XP and earlier, the system you'd be working with is GINA. This changed in Vista and Windows 7 to "Credential Providers". See here for some background.

Mark  2010-09-14 19:36:24
I was just about to post the same thing. Even so, that mechanism is intended for use with alternative authentication providers -- it's not supposed to be used to put user-level notifications on the logon desktop.
Daniel Pryden  2010-09-14 19:39:29
Agreed, but you'd still have to implement that mechanism to affect the logon desktop at all, AFAIK.
Mark  2010-09-14 19:44:24
This is about what I figured - but it's for work, and I needed confirmation that it wouldn't be a quickie...
Erik Forbes  2010-09-14 20:25:00

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