Detecting remote desktop connection

Question

Is there anyway, in a program, to detect if a program is being run from inside a remote desktop session or if the program is being run normal in .NET 2.0? What I'm trying to do is, I create a timeclock application which will clock a person in and out and keep track. But this particular person, I suspect, is remoting into their computer at work, from home, and clocking in and out.

Any ideas how I can solve this issue (and taking away remote desktop access is not an option)? My idea is, if there is a way to detect remote desktop sessions, I will simply implement this into the progam and prevent them from clocking in remotely.

Answer 1

allegedly,

System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.TerminalServerSession

will be true for a remote desktop session (or VNC session)

but i'd test it to be sure ;-)

Answer 2

If you don't want to add a reference to System.Windows.Forms.dll just for this (as suggested above), then you can also call the underlying system call directly via PInvoke, like this:

    int result = GetSystemMetrics(SystemMetric.SM_REMOTESESSION);
    bool isRemoteSession = (result != 0);

The SystemMetric enumeration can be found at PInvoke.net - SystemMetric (but you can just use the value of 0x1000); while the signature for GetSystemMetrics at PInvoke.net - GetSystemMetrics.

I tested this with RDP and VNC - works with the former (admin/console mode also), does not detect the latter.

Answer 3

For Windows Store apps, you can use this:

Windows.System.RemoteDesktop.InteractiveSession.IsRemote