Running outlook interlop by an application started with process.start

Question

I know title is a little confusing. So my main problem is this:

I have an application which updates an another app.And after update function ends it starts the other app with process.start method

Process.Start(@"C:\Program Files (x86)\XMLMailService\XMLMailWF.exe");

and this second updated program sends a mail with simple outlook interlop

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application OutlookObject = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application();
                Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.MailItem MailObject = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.MailItem)(OutlookObject.CreateItem(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem));
                MailObject.To = txtkime.Text;
                MailObject.Subject = psubj;
                MailObject.Importance = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlImportance.olImportanceNormal;
                MailObject.HTMLBody = pbody;
                MailObject.Attachments.Add(pdfyolu);
                MailObject.Send();

Actually problem is not code related. But outlook code works like a charm when i start the app with double click. But gives me error.

So why outlook interlop gives error when app starts with process.start.

Edit: Error translation=>

Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {0006F03A-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 80080005 Server execution failed (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80080005 (CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE)).

Answer 1

This has nothing to do with admin rights or Outlook. COM refuses to marshal any calls between processes running in different security contexts - that could lead to privilege escalation attacks. And since Outlook is a singleton, no new COM object is created - the call is simply forwarded to the already running instance, which is running in a different security context.

Answer 2

My solution in this situation is to use cmd and UACHelper library. My wpf app has to work with administrator priviliges. And I want user to have an option to send email via Outlook (that most of the cases is launched with user UAC). In order to avoid UAC conflict, I have to launch cmd without admin priviliges with passed in parameters. The code looks like this:

ProcessStartInfo outlookStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
{
     FileName = "cmd.exe",                    
     Arguments = $"/c start outlook.exe /c ipm.note /m [e-mail]",
     WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
     CreateNoWindow = true
};

UACHelper.UACHelper.StartLimited(outlookStartInfo);

Link to the UACHelper github

Answer 3

For anyone has the same situation I found the solution.

First app is downloading zip files and unzipping them. After unzipping and making adjustments app starts the downloaded app with process.start("...") method.

So the problems here 1) First app needs admin priviliges for its purposes. And when it uses Process.Start it launches the second app with admin priviliges too. 2)Second app is sending mails from outlook client as a secondary function. Outlook does not like automation apps. When you try to use outlook interlop as a admin it gives you COM error. Because outlook needs to be same privilige level with the app.Regular users use outlook without admin priviliges because outlook's search function does not work in administrator mode(god knows why)

There is 2 solutions.

1) You can start the first app without admin priviliges. And try to start another instance of the app with admin priviliges which returns some kind of data to tell the first instance that it finished it job. Then first instance can use process.start without admin rights. But this is not suitable for me because first app is installed at a lot of computers and I am a lazy person. So ı choose the hard way. 2)You can restart the second app without admin rights. (Which is tricky)

So I used this code for checking for admin rights like described in here and restart the app

 static class Program
{

    public static bool IsAdministrator()
    {
        var identity = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent();
        var principal = new WindowsPrincipal(identity);
        return principal.IsInRole(WindowsBuiltInRole.Administrator);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        if (IsAdministrator())
        {
            UserRights.RunAsDesktopUser(@"C:\Program Files (x86)\XMLMailService\XMLMailWF.exe");
            Form1.benciktim = true;
            Application.Exit();
        }
        else
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            Application.Run(new Form1());
        }

    }
}

and used this brilliant piece of code as described in here

    public static class UserRights
{


    public static void RunAsDesktopUser(string fileName)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fileName))
            throw new ArgumentException("Value cannot be null or whitespace.", nameof(fileName));

        // To start process as shell user you will need to carry out these steps:
        // 1. Enable the SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege in your current token
        // 2. Get an HWND representing the desktop shell (GetShellWindow)
        // 3. Get the Process ID(PID) of the process associated with that window(GetWindowThreadProcessId)
        // 4. Open that process(OpenProcess)
        // 5. Get the access token from that process (OpenProcessToken)
        // 6. Make a primary token with that token(DuplicateTokenEx)
        // 7. Start the new process with that primary token(CreateProcessWithTokenW)

        var hProcessToken = IntPtr.Zero;
        // Enable SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege in this process.  (This won't work if current process is not elevated.)
        try
        {
            var process = GetCurrentProcess();
            if (!OpenProcessToken(process, 0x0020, ref hProcessToken))
                return;

            var tkp = new TOKEN_PRIVILEGES
            {
                PrivilegeCount = 1,
                Privileges = new LUID_AND_ATTRIBUTES[1]
            };

            if (!LookupPrivilegeValue(null, "SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege", ref tkp.Privileges[0].Luid))
                return;

            tkp.Privileges[0].Attributes = 0x00000002;

            if (!AdjustTokenPrivileges(hProcessToken, false, ref tkp, 0, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero))
                return;
        }
        finally
        {
            CloseHandle(hProcessToken);
        }

        // Get an HWND representing the desktop shell.
        // CAVEATS:  This will fail if the shell is not running (crashed or terminated), or the default shell has been
        // replaced with a custom shell.  This also won't return what you probably want if Explorer has been terminated and
        // restarted elevated.
        var hwnd = GetShellWindow();
        if (hwnd == IntPtr.Zero)
            return;

        var hShellProcess = IntPtr.Zero;
        var hShellProcessToken = IntPtr.Zero;
        var hPrimaryToken = IntPtr.Zero;
        try
        {
            // Get the PID of the desktop shell process.
            uint dwPID;
            if (GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd, out dwPID) == 0)
                return;

            // Open the desktop shell process in order to query it (get the token)
            hShellProcess = OpenProcess(ProcessAccessFlags.QueryInformation, false, dwPID);
            if (hShellProcess == IntPtr.Zero)
                return;

            // Get the process token of the desktop shell.
            if (!OpenProcessToken(hShellProcess, 0x0002, ref hShellProcessToken))
                return;

            var dwTokenRights = 395U;

            // Duplicate the shell's process token to get a primary token.
            // Based on experimentation, this is the minimal set of rights required for CreateProcessWithTokenW (contrary to current documentation).
            if (!DuplicateTokenEx(hShellProcessToken, dwTokenRights, IntPtr.Zero, SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL.SecurityImpersonation, TOKEN_TYPE.TokenPrimary, out hPrimaryToken))
                return;

            // Start the target process with the new token.
            var si = new STARTUPINFO();
            var pi = new PROCESS_INFORMATION();
            if (!CreateProcessWithTokenW(hPrimaryToken, 0, fileName, "", 0, IntPtr.Zero, Path.GetDirectoryName(fileName), ref si, out pi))
                return;
        }
        finally
        {
            CloseHandle(hShellProcessToken);
            CloseHandle(hPrimaryToken);
            CloseHandle(hShellProcess);
        }

    }

    #region Interop

    private struct TOKEN_PRIVILEGES
    {
        public UInt32 PrivilegeCount;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst = 1)]
        public LUID_AND_ATTRIBUTES[] Privileges;
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 4)]
    private struct LUID_AND_ATTRIBUTES
    {
        public LUID Luid;
        public UInt32 Attributes;
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    private struct LUID
    {
        public uint LowPart;
        public int HighPart;
    }

    [Flags]
    private enum ProcessAccessFlags : uint
    {
        All = 0x001F0FFF,
        Terminate = 0x00000001,
        CreateThread = 0x00000002,
        VirtualMemoryOperation = 0x00000008,
        VirtualMemoryRead = 0x00000010,
        VirtualMemoryWrite = 0x00000020,
        DuplicateHandle = 0x00000040,
        CreateProcess = 0x000000080,
        SetQuota = 0x00000100,
        SetInformation = 0x00000200,
        QueryInformation = 0x00000400,
        QueryLimitedInformation = 0x00001000,
        Synchronize = 0x00100000
    }

    private enum SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL
    {
        SecurityAnonymous,
        SecurityIdentification,
        SecurityImpersonation,
        SecurityDelegation
    }

    private enum TOKEN_TYPE
    {
        TokenPrimary = 1,
        TokenImpersonation
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    private struct PROCESS_INFORMATION
    {
        public IntPtr hProcess;
        public IntPtr hThread;
        public int dwProcessId;
        public int dwThreadId;
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
    private struct STARTUPINFO
    {
        public Int32 cb;
        public string lpReserved;
        public string lpDesktop;
        public string lpTitle;
        public Int32 dwX;
        public Int32 dwY;
        public Int32 dwXSize;
        public Int32 dwYSize;
        public Int32 dwXCountChars;
        public Int32 dwYCountChars;
        public Int32 dwFillAttribute;
        public Int32 dwFlags;
        public Int16 wShowWindow;
        public Int16 cbReserved2;
        public IntPtr lpReserved2;
        public IntPtr hStdInput;
        public IntPtr hStdOutput;
        public IntPtr hStdError;
    }

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", ExactSpelling = true)]
    private static extern IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();

    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool OpenProcessToken(IntPtr h, int acc, ref IntPtr phtok);

    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool LookupPrivilegeValue(string host, string name, ref LUID pluid);

    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool AdjustTokenPrivileges(IntPtr htok, bool disall, ref TOKEN_PRIVILEGES newst, int len, IntPtr prev, IntPtr relen);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    private static extern bool CloseHandle(IntPtr hObject);


    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern IntPtr GetShellWindow();

    [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern uint GetWindowThreadProcessId(IntPtr hWnd, out uint lpdwProcessId);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern IntPtr OpenProcess(ProcessAccessFlags processAccess, bool bInheritHandle, uint processId);

    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool DuplicateTokenEx(IntPtr hExistingToken, uint dwDesiredAccess, IntPtr lpTokenAttributes, SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL impersonationLevel, TOKEN_TYPE tokenType, out IntPtr phNewToken);

    [DllImport("advapi32", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
    private static extern bool CreateProcessWithTokenW(IntPtr hToken, int dwLogonFlags, string lpApplicationName, string lpCommandLine, int dwCreationFlags, IntPtr lpEnvironment, string lpCurrentDirectory, [In] ref STARTUPINFO lpStartupInfo, out PROCESS_INFORMATION lpProcessInformation);

    #endregion


}