Capture screen on server desktop session

In order to capture the screen you need to run a program in the session of an user. That is because without the user there is no way to have a desktop associated.

To solve this you can run a desktop application to take the image, this application can be invoked in the session of the active user, this can be done from a service.

The code below allows you to invoke an desktop application in such way that it run on the local user’s desktop.

If you need to execute as a particular user, check the code in article Allow service to interact with desktop? Ouch.. You can also consider using the function LogonUser.

The code:

public void Execute()
{
    IntPtr sessionTokenHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
    try
    {
        sessionTokenHandle = SessionFinder.GetLocalInteractiveSession();
        if (sessionTokenHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            ProcessLauncher.StartProcessAsUser("Executable Path", "Command Line", "Working Directory", sessionTokenHandle);
        }
    }
    catch
    {
        //What are we gonna do?
    }
    finally
    {
        if (sessionTokenHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            NativeMethods.CloseHandle(sessionTokenHandle);
        }
    }
}

internal static class SessionFinder
{
    private const int INT_ConsoleSession = -1;

    internal static IntPtr GetLocalInteractiveSession()
    {
        IntPtr tokenHandle = IntPtr.Zero;
        int sessionID = NativeMethods.WTSGetActiveConsoleSessionId();
        if (sessionID != INT_ConsoleSession)
        {
            if (!NativeMethods.WTSQueryUserToken(sessionID, out tokenHandle))
            {
                throw new System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception();
            }
        }
        return tokenHandle;
    }
}

---

internal static class ProcessLauncher
{
    internal static void StartProcessAsUser(string executablePath, string commandline, string workingDirectory, IntPtr sessionTokenHandle)
    {
        var processInformation = new NativeMethods.PROCESS_INFORMATION();
        try
        {
            var startupInformation = new NativeMethods.STARTUPINFO();
            startupInformation.length = Marshal.SizeOf(startupInformation);
            startupInformation.desktop = string.Empty;
            bool result = NativeMethods.CreateProcessAsUser
            (
                sessionTokenHandle,
                executablePath,
                commandline,
                IntPtr.Zero,
                IntPtr.Zero,
                false,
                0,
                IntPtr.Zero,
                workingDirectory,
                ref startupInformation,
                ref processInformation
            );
            if (!result)
            {
                int error = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
                string message = string.Format("CreateProcessAsUser Error: {0}", error);
                throw new ApplicationException(message);
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            if (processInformation.processHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                NativeMethods.CloseHandle(processInformation.processHandle);
            }
            if (processInformation.threadHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                NativeMethods.CloseHandle(processInformation.threadHandle);
            }
            if (sessionTokenHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                NativeMethods.CloseHandle(sessionTokenHandle);
            }
        }
    }
}

internal static class NativeMethods
{
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", EntryPoint = "CloseHandle", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
    internal static extern bool CloseHandle(IntPtr handle);

    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
    internal static extern bool CreateProcessAsUser(IntPtr tokenHandle, string applicationName, string commandLine, IntPtr processAttributes, IntPtr threadAttributes, bool inheritHandle, int creationFlags, IntPtr envrionment, string currentDirectory, ref STARTUPINFO startupInfo, ref PROCESS_INFORMATION processInformation);

    [DllImport("Kernel32.dll", EntryPoint = "WTSGetActiveConsoleSessionId")]
    internal static extern int WTSGetActiveConsoleSessionId();

    [DllImport("WtsApi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    internal static extern bool WTSQueryUserToken(int SessionId, out IntPtr phToken);

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    internal struct PROCESS_INFORMATION
    {
        public IntPtr processHandle;
        public IntPtr threadHandle;
        public int processID;
        public int threadID;
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    internal struct STARTUPINFO
    {
        public int length;
        public string reserved;
        public string desktop;
        public string title;
        public int x;
        public int y;
        public int width;
        public int height;
        public int consoleColumns;
        public int consoleRows;
        public int consoleFillAttribute;
        public int flags;
        public short showWindow;
        public short reserverd2;
        public IntPtr reserved3;
        public IntPtr stdInputHandle;
        public IntPtr stdOutputHandle;
        public IntPtr stdErrorHandle;
    }
}

This code is a modification of the one found at the article Allow service to interact with desktop? Ouch. (MUST READ)

---

Addendum:

The code above allows to execute a program in the desktop of the user logged locally on the machine. This method specific for the current local user, but it is possible to do it for any user. Check the code at the article Allow service to interact with desktop? Ouch. for an example.

The core of this method is the function CreateProcessAsUser, you can find more about at MSDN.

Replace "Executable Path" with the path of the executable to run. Replace "Command Line" with the string passed as execution arguments, and replace "Working Directory" with the working directory you want. For example you can extract the folder of the executable path:

    internal static string GetFolder(string path)
    {
        var folder = System.IO.Directory.GetParent(path).FullName;
        if (!folder.EndsWith(System.IO.Path.DirectorySeparatorChar.ToString()))
        {
            folder += System.IO.Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;
        }
        return folder;
    }

If you have a service, you can use this code in the service to invoke a desktop application. That desktop application may also be the the service executable… for that you can use Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location as the executable path. Then you can use System.Environment.UserInteractive to detect if the executable is not running as a service and pass as execution arguments information about the task needed to do. In the context of this answer that is to capture the screen (for example with CopyFromScreen), it could be something else.