rana74 wrote: Well this definitely does not seem to be the case for all hosts - as we have this 'interactivity' working even for remote login into most of our w2003 host environments,where we have out-of-box security settings. Not out of the box you don't. Unless you're using a third party tool that does this to get around the limitation, like PSEXEC. Using the Win32 API, you cannot launch an interactive remote process and there is no "switch" to get around it. A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^] Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP Visual Developer - Visual Basic      2006, 2007, 2008

Thanks. One clarification - what is the option to do a similar operation on widows vista/2008 server? If we impersonate a logged-on user,though we do not see the browser,it serves the purpose for us. Will impersonating a interactvie user for a process launched from a windows service continue to work in vista/2008? Or will that be clamped on too?

So were you able to figure out what was wrong with CoInitialize?

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." --Winston Churchill

You need to increase the version attribute in the web page. The modified date of the CAB itself is irrelevant. Think about it, the original CAB is discarded after it's installed, and even if it were kept around, IE would have to download the entire CAB file every time you visited the page just to check the date. --Mike-- Visual C++ MVP :cool: LINKS~! Ericahist | PimpFish | CP SearchBar v3.0 | C++ Forum FAQ Ford, what's this fish doing in my ear?

You already got your answer to this question. You can not modify any settings for a browser running under the LocalSystem account. There's simply nothing to modify. The LocalSystem account doesn't have a profile you can modify. The only way you can do this is if you create a user account, login with the account, setup youe IE settings, then setup your service to use that account when it starts. The problem with that is you'll lose the Interact With Desktop ability. But, you don't have a choice here... Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic

rana74 wrote: To create a 'interactive' service on windows - we use a localsystem account ,with 'Interact with desktop' option. Is there any other account which allows a service to be interactive - e.g. can a service be made interactive while it is running under the credentials of a domain account in 2000/XP/2003 ? We launch an IE browser from the service - and hence the service neesd to be interactive. have a try! "Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow cheers, Alok Gupta VC Forum Q&A :- I/ IV Support CRY- Child Relief and you

I have come across a heated debate of preventing interactive services in Vista too. The problem is that if we configure the service under a domain account ;it ceases to be interactive. The only way a service can be interactive is with 'localsystem' privileges.Am i wrong on this? FYI - Also,this setup works fine on Xp(Sp2) and 2000.In 2003,a normal navigatino works - but a redirection doesnt.

I don't have anything on it. Your search can't find anything because you're focused on the LocalSystem account. Don't. Just search for the default locked down IE setup on 2003. At the very least, it's documented in the Windows Server 2003 Reosurce Kit. Dave Kreskowiak Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic

Interactive services have some pretty serious limitations and they become more limited in Windows Vista. See my blog post "Avoid Interactive Services"[^] for the reasoning. Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder

I'm not sure though. Try increasing major/minor version(at all occurances in your project) of your object. I found similar problem with newly added function to interface. And changing minor version does trick. Prasad Notifier using ATL | Operator new[],delete[][^]

I have never had difficulty writing to the event log from a service running in system account. Are you getting an error or what? led mike