How to run a ClickOnce application (.appref-ms) on a remote computer?

Question

I am trying to launch a ClickOnce application via an .appref-ms shortcut on a remote machine using WMI, but cannot succeed. The below code works fine if I try to run notepad.exe.

ManagementPath pm = new ManagementPath(@"\\server\root\cimv2:Win32_process");
ManagementClass processClass = new ManagementClass(pm);

//Get an input parameters object for this method
ManagementBaseObject inParams = processClass.GetMethodParameters("Create");

//Fill in input parameter values
inParams["CommandLine"] = @"C:\Documents and Settings\Start Menu\Programs\New\New App.appref-ms";

//Execute the method
ManagementBaseObject outParams = processClass.InvokeMethod("Create", inParams, null);

Answer 1

Try launching the .appref-ms shortcut via rundll32:

inParams["CommandLine"] = @"rundll32.exe dfshim.dll,ShOpenVerbShortcut ""C:\New App.appref-ms"";

Alternatively, instead of relying on the shortcut path, you could use the application deployment URL (you can see it by opening the .appref-ms file in a text editor):

inParams["CommandLine"] = @"rundll32.exe dfshim.dll,ShOpenVerbApplication http://github-windows.s3.amazonaws.com/GitHub.application";

Keep in mind that Win32_Process.Create cannot create interactive processes remotely.