Question

I am using the below code to disable the task manager for a kiosk application which works perfectly

    public void DisableTaskManager()
    {
        RegistryKey regkey;
        string keyValueInt = "1";
        string subKey = "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\System";

        try
        {
            regkey = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(subKey);
            regkey.SetValue("DisableTaskMgr", keyValueInt);
            regkey.Close();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("DisableTaskManager" + ex.ToString());
        }
    }

But when i run this in OS hardened machine i get the following error,

DisableTaskManagerSystem.UnauthorizedAccessException: 
Access to the registry key 'HKey_Current_User\Software\Mictrosoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System' is denied.
at Microsoft.win32.RegistryKey.win32Error(int32 errorcode, String str)

How can i overcome this ? I need to do this for a Kiosk application.

Answer 1

the code requires an elevated privilege to access registry. However there is just a fragment of code that requires these extra permission. To handle such scenarios impersonation is used i.e. you will execute this application as normal user only but that particular piece of code will be executed as if you were an Administrator.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.principal.windowsimpersonationcontext.aspx