Create a computer login screen VB.net

Question

I would like to create a VB.net program that will prompt a user before it shows them their desktop for a password. If the password is correct it will log in. If incorrect, after a couple of tries the compuer will shut down. The only problem is starting the program without showing any icons or the taskbar. I haven't tried the startup folder in the start menu because wouldn't that show the desktop first? Also I would like it to load before the desktop loads (and then continue to load the desktop after logging in) so you can't close it with task manager or accidentally minimize the form (with the Windows Key + D).

Thank you.

P.S. I do not care about actual security it is just a way to see who's logging on. Also the people will be logging on to the same Windows account... it's faster than switching users.

(I am using Visual Studio 2010 Express.)

Answer 1

You could stop explorer.exe from opening temporarily by replacing it with your start-up program in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell

So you change Shell = Explorer.exe to Shell = C:\path\to\Myapplication.exe.

More details can be found on MSDN (article actually focuses XP Embedded but should work the same way in a regular installation).

What this does is, explorer.exe loads the desktop and the taskbar. Windows launches the .exe file that is in the registry value we edited and loads the desktop and taskbar. By replacing explorer.exe with your program, it launches your program insted.

The desktop will load normally after your application launches explorer.exe. (Thanks to Matt for confirming that works.) Process.Start("explorer.exe") will launch explorer.exe and load your desktop.

If you are not putting your application in the Windows directory or adding it to the Path variable, you need to fully qualify the location (write the full location like above).

Answer 2

Programs can be started via the registry by adding entries to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Note that you should not be storing passwords in plain text. Even if you don't care about actual security your users should care as many people use the same passwords for multiple things.

And there are plenty of ways to bypass this type of program...

Answer 3

Set shell in command line : REG ADD HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon /v Shell /t REG_SZ /d /f