UAC and Exit Codes

[DirtyMonkeyXXX]

Hi,

I've got an AutoIt script that acts as a pre-loader to run other AutoIt scripts to determine if certain prerequisites are installed. All these scripts are compiled to EXE with the #RequireAdmin directive. So, for example, if an application requires .NET Framework 2.0, the main AutoIt script runs a second script (as an elevated user) to 1) verify that .NET Framework 2.0 is/is not installed and return a flag via exit code then 2) install .NET Framework 2.0 if the return code was "not installed". This has worked quite well up until a few days ago when some of the users switched to Windows 7 64-bit (though because it appears to be UAC related, it may affect 32-bit as well). The ones with UAC turned completely off had no issue (other than a logic bug). The ones with UAC left on are having the second script run every time, regardless of whether the .NET Framework 2.0 is present or not.

From reading the forums and from how the other machines act, I can simply turn of UAC and that will fix the problem, but I'd like to see if there's a way to get this working with UAC turned on (since that would seem to be the more secure route). Here's what I'm doing with some example code using the .NET Framework 2.0 script:

The NETF2 script accepts a command line parameter "-check". This parameter tells the subscript to do whatever check it normally does and return either "Exit 1" or "Exit 0" depending on if .NETF2 was found. UAC causes a problem (from what I've found on the forums and from experimenting) in that when I launch the .NETF2 checker from my main program, the UAC prompt process and the actual run of .NETF2 have 2 different process IDs (and are thus 2 different runs). So this makes my RunAsWait ineffective because it exits when the UAC prompt is acknowledged.

Main App

$exit = RunAsWait('Super','Domain','Password',0,'C:\NETF2.exe','C:\')
MsgBOx(0, 'Test', $exit)

NETF2 App

#RequireAdmin
...
If FileExists($checkFile) Then 
    Exit 1 
Else 
    Exit 0
EndIf

With this, the message box appears before the .NETF2 app even starts running because the UAC process is closed. So I thought I'd try to re-catch the process and get its exit code. For some reason, this always results in the 0xCCCCCCCC exit code.

Main App

$exit = RunAsWait('Super','Domain','Password',0,'C:\NETF2.exe','C:\')
$2ndPID = ProcessWait('NETF2.EXE')
$rtn = ProcessWaitClose($2ndPID)
$exit = @extended

So this would appear to work as my process ID for the 2nd instance would match what the app thought its PID was (via MsgBox(0, "", @AutoItPID) added to NETF2 script). So I'm getting the right process, I'm waiting until its done running, but the exit code is useless as its not the .NETF2 exit code. I can't find a good explanation anywhere as to what the 0xCCCCCCCC exit code should indicate other than an invalid PID, which shouldn't be the case here.

So hopefully that's not too confusing, but I'm wondering where to go from here. Discussing with another developer, I think I have a work around that relies on creating and killing registry key entries for the subprograms, but I wanted to see if there was a way to just get the exit code as before.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Chris

[Richard Robertson]

You should instead start the preloader script as admin and the other scripts won't trigger UAC.

[AdmiralAlkex]

#RequireAdmin is only useful for a script, you want #AutoIt3Wrapper_res_requestedExecutionLevel if you compile stuff.

[DirtyMonkeyXXX]

Thanks for the suggestions.

BTW, I'm compiling with 3.3.6.1 (guess I should have mentioned that before).

I saw the #AutoIt3Wrapper_res_requestedExecutionLevel noted elsewhere, but when I use it, it makes no difference. The exe doesn't run elevated and doesn't prompt the UAC. Is this just a version thing? The wrapper seems to recognize the flag, but there's no discernable change while running. AutoItWrapper says it's version 1.10.1.8.

I tried just elevating the main program and that seemed to work OK. The only issue there is that there's another application that references the subprograms that's not currently elevating itself. I'll have to look into making that program elevate itself, but it would be nice if I could get away with just elevating the subprograms. Oh well.

Thanks again!

Chris

[Richard Robertson]

You need the full SciTE installation which is not included with the AutoIt install.

The command Alkex referenced is part of the Au3Wrapper which is part of the larger SciTE install.

[AdmiralAlkex]

@DirtyMonkeyXXX

Install SciTE4AutoIt3 from HERE. It brings loads of tools and goodies. You could even say that AutoIt isn't complete without it.

@Whoever is interested.

#RequireAdmin checks if the script is admin, and if not restarts the script. That means exit-codes, stdio and what-not will not work.

requestedExecutionLevel will cause the UAC dialog at start, so there's no weird breaking. I don't think so anyway, I don't know everything (or do I? ).

So #RequireAdmin is pretty much pointless nowadays. If you want something like this to work:

#RequireAdmin
ConsoleWrite("Hello. World!" & @CRLF)

Just right-click SciTE and [Run as administrator].

[DirtyMonkeyXXX]

Grabbed the lastest AutoIt/SciTE/Wrapper, I was quite out of date (new version is 2.0.1.24). So now the requestedExecutionLevel directive is working. But I'm having a new problem. The subprogram doesn't appear to run if both applications include the requestedExecutionLevel=requireAdministrator directive. If I compile the subprogram (which at this point just pops up a message box to say its been executed) without the directive, I get the message box (I also tested just launching notepad, which also worked), but if I compile the subprogram with the requireAdministrator flag, I can see in Process Explorer that it opens and closes immediately with no message box pop-up whatsoever. Any ideas with why the 2nd app wont run?

Thanks,

Chris

[Richard Robertson]

You removed the #RequireAdmin tag from the subprogram right?

[DirtyMonkeyXXX]

Yes, I removed it. If I run the main program, I only get the UAC notification for that program (so no more subprogram opening and requesting authority and closing). If I run the subprogram independantly, I get a UAC request for that. So it appears the security is all worked out. I thought maybe it was because the app was not running at all, but like I said, using Process Explorer, I can see the sub program startup and close immediately, so I know its running, it just appears its not actually going into the code at all.

[nergmlam]

Hi

1: Open your au3 source script

2: Press CTRL+F7

3: Select "Resource Update"

4: Select "Execution level"

5: Select "requireAdministrator"

6: Select "Compile Script"

You don't need to remember this, or script anything like e.g. #RequireAdmin,

because now this "requireAdministrator manifest" is part of your source script:

#AutoIt3Wrapper_Res_requestedExecutionLevel=requireAdministrator

From now on, no one can run your compiled exe file,

without being prompted with an UAC elevation to run as administrator

Sincerely

Jorgen Malmgren

IT-Programmer

Denmark - UTC+1

www.tryware.dk

;o) Your brain is like a parachute. It works best when it's

[BrewManNH]

@nergmlam

I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but most of the topics you're responding to are about 2 years old. I don't think the posters to the threads have much use of the information. Just an FYI.