Hi, I need to create a new Windows service from where I can start an Edge instance using command line like this: msedge.exe "http://localhost:9080/ebb/newIESession.action"Another thing the code does is to update some windows registry settings, which requires admin right. I have put path to msedge.exe into system path. It works well from command line. But after I created a window service to start this, no Edge can be started at all from the service. I also tried to do this from Windows startup folder instead of using Windows service. The problem is that it only works when I have admin right. Currently I use NSSM utility to create the new Windows service. It looks like everything installed and started correctly but no Edge window even showed up. Can you tell me if it is possible to launch a new Edge browser from a Windows service or it can only perform background tasks without UI? If yes how to do it? I appreciate your help.

As stated in the other post, services run in isolation, independent of any user logged into the system. As such services cannot interact with or change user settings directly. Services are designed to provide functionality that runs independently of users. This is by design. If you need to modify user settings then look into using Group Policies if possible. There are lots of settings that are configurable there across a single computer or entire network. GPO is applied automatically and is the preferred approach. Most browsers, including Edge and Chrome , have GPOs for their settings. Not all settings are available though so you have to look through the docs for the settings you want. If a setting is not available in GPO but there is a registry entry to back it then you can set the registry via GPO as well. That is discussed here . If none of that works then the final resort would be to run a scheduled task using Task Scheduler. The task can run at user startup. Note that a task has to run under a user context and if it needs admin privileges then the user account must be an admin. That account is unrelated to the user who is logged into the system. For example the auto-update tools many programs use run as scheduled tasks with admin privileges. However the limitation on this is that a task's user context only has access to their user account so you couldn't, for example, have a task run as admin for a standard user account. That doesn't make sense anyway though.

How to start Edge browser from a Windows service

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Michael Taylor 54,126 Reputation points

2024-09-09T13:58:42.78+00:00

As stated in the other post, services run in isolation, independent of any user logged into the system. As such services cannot interact with or change user settings directly. Services are designed to provide functionality that runs independently of users. This is by design.

If you need to modify user settings then look into using Group Policies if possible. There are lots of settings that are configurable there across a single computer or entire network. GPO is applied automatically and is the preferred approach. Most browsers, including Edge and Chrome, have GPOs for their settings. Not all settings are available though so you have to look through the docs for the settings you want.

If a setting is not available in GPO but there is a registry entry to back it then you can set the registry via GPO as well. That is discussed here.

If none of that works then the final resort would be to run a scheduled task using Task Scheduler. The task can run at user startup. Note that a task has to run under a user context and if it needs admin privileges then the user account must be an admin. That account is unrelated to the user who is logged into the system. For example the auto-update tools many programs use run as scheduled tasks with admin privileges. However the limitation on this is that a task's user context only has access to their user account so you couldn't, for example, have a task run as admin for a standard user account. That doesn't make sense anyway though.
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Zhu, Ligong 220 Reputation points

2024-09-09T15:46:24.66+00:00

Hi,

As I described before, I created a windows batch file to start my program and put it into Windows startup folder. It works great when I have admin right but doesn't work when I don't have admin right. So if you can tell me how to make a Windows batch file to always start with admin right during Windows startup regardless current user has admin right or not, that will totally resolve my problem. Thanks.

Michael Taylor 54,126 Reputation points

2024-09-09T16:17:21.09+00:00

At Windows startup or login? If you are putting a program into the Startup folder then that doesn't run until the user logs in. If you want it to run for all users then it would have to go into the global user's Startup folder.

Without knowing what your batch file does it is hard to say the correct option but Task Scheduler is really designed for this. You can run a batch file (or better yet Powershell) from Task Scheduler. Set it to run whether a user logs in or not and it'll run irrelevant of user. You need to specify the admin user account to run it as though. Set the Run with highest privileges to run it as an admin. NOTE: the user must be an admin in order for this checkbox to work. On the Triggers tab select when you want it to run (user login, Windows startup, etc). If you run the task at Windows startup then it behaves a lot like a Windows service. If you run the task at logon then it behaves like a process running in the Startup folder.

If the task needs to display stuff to the user or access the user's data then you need to run as the logged in user. There is no workaround for this as it is a security boundary. Furthermore the task runs with the user's privileges. This is also by design and there is no workaround.

Be aware, a standard user cannot run a program as an admin under any circumstances. This would be a security hole. You must run your task (or service or whatever) as a user with admin privileges if you need that. It is not possible to run a process as a standard user but with "admin" privileges.

Zhu, Ligong 220 Reputation points

2024-09-09T19:31:12.51+00:00

Thank you very much for the quick response.

My program basically does two things: 1. launch Edge browser with a specified profile from command line 2. Read/Update windows registry for local machine, which requires admin right.

Does Task Scheduler work for this purpose? Whether to start at Windows startup or login does not make much difference.

Thanks.

ShiJieLi-MSFT 9,331 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-09-10T03:10:23.4466667+00:00

Hi @Zhu, Ligong,

I believe your concern now is the goal 2 of updating the registry. Normally, you should manage the registry settings for users from the server, which is also the recommended configuration. Does it fit in your scenario?

Zhu, Ligong 220 Reputation points

2024-09-10T10:51:33.0766667+00:00

Hi,

We can only use a Java WebSphere server so I don't think we can update a remote user's registry setting from there at runtime.

Does Task Scheduler work for two things I mentioned? I tried and so far it is not working.

So far the only way everything works is to put my batch file into Windows startup folder when I have admin right.

Michael Taylor 54,126 Reputation points

2024-09-10T14:13:10.0133333+00:00

Task Scheduler can write to registry HKLM if you run the task as an admin.

It can start a web browser as well but it will start the web browser as the user who is running the task. If the user isn't logged in then they won't see the browser window so if you need to do this and let the user interact with it then you'd need to run the task when the user logs in and as the user's account. If the user isn't an admin then you cannot grant them admin rights. If you need that behavior then you'd need to create 2 different tasks.

Zhu, Ligong 220 Reputation points

2024-09-11T13:47:53.6966667+00:00

Thank you very much for your response.

I modified the approach based on your suggestion so that one part will be started as a Windows service to update registry only and another part is placed at Windows startup folder to start Edge browser when users send http requests. This approach works even when I don't have admin right, which is great. But one thing I noticed that windows service part keeps running but I only want it to run once during system startup. Do you have any suggestion? Is there a startup folder for admin so that I can put this part over there to update registry only once for every user during system startup?

ShiJieLi-MSFT 9,331 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-09-12T07:16:17.85+00:00

Hi @Zhu, Ligong,

Not quite sure about Windows Service, but maybe you can assign a "stop" after all the operations have been done? See the stop() method here.

Zhu, Ligong 220 Reputation points

2024-09-13T10:43:42+00:00

It looks like Windows service I created from PowerShell will run only once but this issue is not a showstopper anyway. Thank you very much for all your help!
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