Not able to launch narrator from Visual Studio

Question

I am not able to launch narrator program from Visual Studio using C#. I have tried using complete path and other similar hacks but no outcome ? The code is :

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(@"C:\windows\system32\narrator.exe");

Similar code is able to execute notepad.exe present in the same folder. Can anyone help me in this regard ? The execption which i got was ::

"An unhandled exception of type 'System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception' occurred in System.dll Additional information: The system cannot find the file specified "

however the file exists in the specified path. Then i copied the entire system32 folder to my desktop and gave the new location .then the code passes through without any exception but no narrator application is launched .

Answer 1

You can disable the filesystem redirection using some system calls. Note that even with the redirection fixed, you still cannot launch Narrator without elevated privileges.

const int ERROR_CANCELLED = 1223; //The operation was canceled by the user.

var oldValue = IntPtr.Zero;
Process p = null;

try
{
    if (SafeNativeMethods.Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection(ref oldValue))
    {
        var pinfo = new ProcessStartInfo(@"C:\Windows\System32\Narrator.exe")
        {
            CreateNoWindow = true,
            UseShellExecute = true,
            Verb = "runas"
        };

        p = Process.Start(pinfo);
    }

    // Do stuff.

    p.Close();

}
catch (Win32Exception ex)
{
    // User canceled the UAC dialog.
    if (ex.NativeErrorCode != ERROR_CANCELLED)
        throw;
}
finally
{
    SafeNativeMethods.Wow64RevertWow64FsRedirection(oldValue);
}


[System.Security.SuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurity]
internal static class SafeNativeMethods
{
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    public static extern bool Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection(ref IntPtr ptr);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    public static extern bool Wow64RevertWow64FsRedirection(IntPtr ptr);

}