Replacing winlogon.exe in windows embedded

Question

I need to create my own UI for windows login. I'm doing this using Windows 7 Embedded and I have complete access to image creation and modification.

From researching I've learnt that winlogon.exe is called by smss.exe I've haven't looked too much into smss.exe; I've started to disassemble it, but I haven't quite found out how it launches winlogon. I think, and I hope that this information is contained somewhere in the registry, otherwise it may cause conflicts with windows updates.

I'm also starting to get a grasp of the hierarchy of windows sessions, stations, and desktops. One thing that is curious to me is that winlogon runs on session 1. I would have assumed it would be running on session 0, but this is not the case. Does this mean that a new instance of winlogon is spawned for each user session?
Edit: I now know that a winlogon instance is created for each user

In essence I'm trying to figure out where I go from here. Now that I have a somewhat limited grasp on user sessions, how do I begin implementing my custom logon user interface.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

After billions of Google searches I finally found where to begin. What I want to do is write a custom GINA. I found this article on MSDN that explains the process.

Edit: Credential Providers have replaced GINA in Windows Vista and above. An overview is found here.