Create a custom lock screen Windows 7

Question

I think the title is pretty self explanatory. The material available on the net is largely on setting up custom images during the lock screen time.

The answer given here talks about invoking the windows provided lock screen by using the user32.dll.

I want to ask if there is any API that would let me use my own lock screen on Windows 7? The reason is that I have developed my own face recognition algorithm but I want to integrate it with the windows locking mechanism.

One application that actually does the same thing is Winlockpro that creates custom lock screens for Windows 8. It uses custom forms in VB for the images and links the rest to a DLL.

Can someone guide me to some useful resources (API's etc) for this?

Answer 1

You need to implement a Credential Provider. There are several examples on the web, and the link above to MSDN should get you started. (Believe it or not, it's much simpler than implementing a GINA provider was in XP.)