Sending Password to Remote Computer at Login Screen [Windows 7]

Question

I have written a piece of software that allows you to control computers remotely and one of its functions is to turn on all the computers that it controls via Magic Packets.

Due to the restrictions of Network Drives and the need for passwords on accounts, I have run into an issue.

When the computers boot, I am stuck at the login screen on each computer and must walk around manually and type in the passwords.

Is there anyway that I can send the passwords to the individual computers or have the computers log themselves in?

Answer 1

You probably want to install your program as a Service. You'll set its startup to automatic, which means it'll start up and run automatically when the computer is started up, even without a user being logged in.

Note that it's also possible to set a Service's startup to Boot. You probably want to avoid this though. Boot startup is primarily for device drivers, not normal services. It runs much earlier in the boot process. You don't need (or probably want) that -- you just want it to run roughly when the system would be ready for somebody to log in if they chose.

I'd also note that a service is (normally) written slightly differently from a normal program. It has a Windows-style event loop, but responds to a different set of "messages" that start the service, stop the service, pause the service, and so on. Most of it isn't terribly difficult but it is somewhat different from a normal program.