Create Windows session programmatically

Question

I have a service running in the Windows services (0) session. Upon connection from a client I need to create a new Windows session for given user credentials, log in that user and start an application into this new session.

Is there a way to programmatically create a user session for given user credentials?

Answer 1

AFAIK, you cannot create sessions programmably. The client would have to connect to the machine using Terminal Services or Remote Desktop for that. You can, however, programmably log in to a user account and impersonate it if you just need to run a process as that user without making it visible to the screen. Look at LogonUser() and ImpersonateLoggedOnUser(), CreateProcessAsUser(), or CreateProcessWithLogonW().