Log off a Windows user locally using c#

Question

I am currently working on some parental control software. This software is supposed to log out a user and then lock the account so that they cannot log back in unless the parent/admin has specified that they can.

I have tried several things so far such as setting flags on the user account saying that it is disabled. This completely removes it from the login screen. From what I have found out is that if the user account is logged in, it doesn't apply the ADS_Disable flag. I have also tried looking for resources on logging out another account but I can only seem to find information on logging out the account that is running the logout command. Such as Pinvoke, or directly calling the LOGOUT.EXE program.

I found a resource on LSAUser and found that there might be something there. I am doing this project for school and I am needing a little guidance. Since there is such a sparse amount of information on doing this, is there a better way of doing what I want to do? Or is there a reason why I shouldn't do this? Any alternatives?

Answer 1

piggybacking off Leng Weh Seng's answer (since I can't comment), if you want to Force the user to log off you need to add the EWX_FORCE flag like this:

ExitWindowsEx(0 | 0x00000004, 0);

More details on the function here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa376868(v=vs.85).aspx

Answer 2

Use the WTSDisconnectSession() Windows API. See article here.

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.ComponentModel;

class Program
{
  [DllImport("wtsapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
  static extern bool WTSDisconnectSession(IntPtr hServer, int sessionId, bool bWait);

  const int WTS_CURRENT_SESSION = -1;
  static readonly IntPtr WTS_CURRENT_SERVER_HANDLE = IntPtr.Zero;

  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    if (!WTSDisconnectSession(WTS_CURRENT_SERVER_HANDLE,
         WTS_CURRENT_SESSION, false))
      throw new Win32Exception();
  }
}

Even without remote desktop, it will disconnect the current user and go to the login screen. The processes will still run in the background. After manually login in again, the running programs will appear as they were before the disconnect.

Answer 3

  [DllImport("wtsapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
  static extern bool WTSDisconnectSession(IntPtr hServer, int sessionId, bool bWait);

When you use WTSDisconnectSession in remote desktop is equivalent to 'Close' the remote desktop windows. It is disconnect your Windows session, but hold the connection.

The advantage is you can reconnect back the session later by remote log in again.
The disadvantage is the Windows may not be able log in by other user when the remote desktop connection is full.


To simulate Windows 'Log off' should use ExitWindowsEx under user32.dll

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern bool ExitWindowsEx(uint uFlags, uint dwReason);

public static bool WindowsLogOff() {
  return ExitWindowsEx(0, 0);
}

if you want to Force the user to log off you need to add the EWX_FORCE flag like this:

ExitWindowsEx(0 | 0x00000004, 0);

More details on the function here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa376868(v=vs.85).aspx