VB.net 1.1 TCPIP Printer Port creation with CreateProcessWithLogon API

Question

A few months back I wrote a VB.net console application to migrate a group of about 100+ printers and the 1800+ users that use them from some old HP print appliances to a mixed Print Server and Direct to IP Printing solutions. The application uses a database to compare installed printers and remove old/invalid shares and remap to the new Win2K3 based print server OR create a TCPIP printer port and install the driver for direct to IP printing.

It worked really well, but users needed power user rights to create the TCPIP printer port. For the main campus this wasn't an issue, but the smaller remote sites need a solution that allows the app to be run by users without power user rights.

My solution was to take the "CreatePrinterIPPort" function and put it into it's own wrapper app and then call it as needed from the main app using a hard coded local admin account for the purpose, but I'm running into issues when spawning the createport app. If I run the app standalone it creates the port with no issue, but when I run it in my test app to spawn the createport using the CreateProcessWithLogon API the port creation fails with an "access denied" error. I'm limited to using .net 1.1 as 2.0 isn't in our environment throughly and I was told it wouldn't be pushed just for this app.

Any thoughts?

Source listed below.

Spawning app:

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

Module Module1

Region "API Structures"

<StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
  Public Structure PROCESS_INFORMATION
    Dim hProcess As System.IntPtr
    Dim hThread As System.IntPtr
    Dim dwProcessId As Integer
    Dim dwThreadId As Integer
End Structure

<StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
 Public Structure STARTUPINFO
    Dim cb As Integer
    Dim lpReserved As System.IntPtr
    Dim lpDesktop As System.IntPtr
    Dim lpTitle As System.IntPtr
    Dim dwX As Integer
    Dim dwY As Integer
    Dim dwXSize As Integer
    Dim dwYSize As Integer
    Dim dwXCountChars As Integer
    Dim dwYCountChars As Integer
    Dim dwFillAttribute As Integer
    Dim dwFlags As Integer
    Dim wShowWindow As Short
    Dim cbReserved2 As Short
    Dim lpReserved2 As System.IntPtr
    Dim hStdInput As System.IntPtr
    Dim hStdOutput As System.IntPtr
    Dim hStdError As System.IntPtr
End Structure

End Region

Region "API Constants"

Private Const LOGON_NETCREDENTIALS_ONLY As Integer = &H2
Private Const NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS As Integer = &H20
Private Const CREATE_DEFAULT_ERROR_MODE As Integer = &H4000000
Private Const CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE As Integer = &H10
Private Const CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP As Integer = &H200
Private Const LOGON_WITH_PROFILE As Integer = &H1

End Region

Region "API Functions"

Private Declare Unicode Function CreateProcessWithLogon Lib "Advapi32" Alias "CreateProcessWithLogonW" _
    (ByVal lpUsername As String, _
     ByVal lpDomain As String, _
     ByVal lpPassword As String, _
     ByVal dwLogonFlags As Integer, _
     ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
     ByVal lpCommandLine As String, _
     ByVal dwCreationFlags As Integer, _
     ByVal lpEnvironment As System.IntPtr, _
     ByVal lpCurrentDirectory As System.IntPtr, _
     ByRef lpStartupInfo As STARTUPINFO, _
     ByRef lpProcessInfo As PROCESS_INFORMATION) As Integer

Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As System.IntPtr) As Integer

End Region

Public Sub RunProgram(ByVal UserName As String, ByVal Password As String, ByVal Domain As String, ByVal Application As String, ByVal CommandLine As String)

    Dim siStartup As STARTUPINFO
    Dim piProcess As PROCESS_INFORMATION
    Dim intReturn As Integer

    If CommandLine Is Nothing OrElse CommandLine = "" Then CommandLine = String.Empty

    siStartup.cb = Marshal.SizeOf(siStartup)
    siStartup.dwFlags = 0

    intReturn = CreateProcessWithLogon(UserName, Domain, Password, LOGON_WITH_PROFILE, Application, CommandLine, _
    NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS Or CREATE_DEFAULT_ERROR_MODE Or CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE Or CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP, _
    IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero, siStartup, piProcess)

    If intReturn = 0 Then
        Throw New System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error())
    End If

    CloseHandle(piProcess.hProcess)
    CloseHandle(piProcess.hThread)

End Sub

Overloads Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
    Dim command As String = "C:\Program Files\Printer Server Update Utility\CreatePrinterPort.exe"
    Dim arguments As String = Chr(34) & "C:\Program Files\Printer Server Update Utility\CreatePrinterPort.exe" & Chr(34) & " /I:138.90.1.3"
    Dim user As String = "PrintAdmin" 
    Dim domain As String = System.Environment.MachineName
    Dim password As String = "Pa$$word" '<---- No not really
    Dim currentDirectory As String = System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()

    RunProgram(user, password, domain, command, arguments)
    System.Console.WriteLine("Please press the ENTER key to close window.")
    System.Console.WriteLine("")
    System.Console.Read()
End Sub

End Module

Function in TCPIP port creation app that does the work and fails when spawned in app above.

Function CreatePrinterIPPort(ByVal strPrinterIPAddress As String, Optional ByVal Protocol As Short = 1, Optional ByVal QueueName As String = "Dummy", _ Optional ByVal ByteCount As Boolean = False) As Boolean ' Protocal 1 = RAW (Default) 2 = LPR System.Console.WriteLine("Attempting to create port at IP Address: " & strPrinterIPAddress) Dim options As New ConnectionOptions options.Impersonation = ImpersonationLevel.Impersonate Dim mpBasePath As New ManagementPath("\.\ROOT\CIMV2") Dim mpTCPIPPort As New ManagementPath("Win32_TCPIPPrinterPort") Dim msLocalMachine As New ManagementScope(mpBasePath, options) msLocalMachine.Connect() Dim mcNetworkPorts As New ManagementClass(msLocalMachine, mpTCPIPPort, New ObjectGetOptions) Dim moNewPort As ManagementObject = mcNetworkPorts.CreateInstance() moNewPort.Properties("Name").Value = "IP_" & strPrinterIPAddress moNewPort.Properties("Protocol").Value = Protocol moNewPort.Properties("HostAddress").Value = strPrinterIPAddress If Protocol = 1 Then moNewPort.Properties("PortNumber").Value = "9100" ElseIf Protocol = 2 Then moNewPort.Properties("ByteCount").Value = ByteCount moNewPort.Properties("Queue").Value = QueueName End If

    Try
        moNewPort.Put()
    Catch ex As Exception
        System.Console.WriteLine("Port creation failed.")
        System.Console.WriteLine(ex.Message.ToString)
        Return False
    End Try
    System.Console.WriteLine("Created port at IP Address: " & strPrinterIPAddress)
    Return True
End Function

Answer 1

Seem that WMI does not allow write access to an impersonated account, so I've moved on to using the prnadmin.dll to create ports. This requires me to check that the dll is registered and register if it isn't, but seems this is the only way I can find (and keep my sanity) to get this done.