Windows Service getting access denied exception while writing to Network Drive

Question

I have an interactive windows service which run on a Local System account and with Interact with desktop checkbox checked(this is mandatory for my project as my service needs to invoke .exe with UI ). I am getting an exception as Access denied while writing to network drive. I am passing the UNC path from config file. i tried giving full control access to anonymous user on the folder which i want to access but its still not working. i cannot run my windows service under Network service account or under any other account as suggested in some other posts because i want it interact with desktop check box checked. is there any way to achieve this?

Edit: UNC path of network drive: //server/ABC/pqr

my service should create .txt file in pqr folder. should have access to delete it afterwords too.

i have tried creating anonymous user for pqr folder and giving it full control but still i am getting access denied exception. as i mentioned before i cannot run it under any other account other than local system account because it will automatically disable interact with desktop option in the properties of that service. is there any way to make it run under Network Service Account and still keep it interactive(interact with desktop option checked in the properties of service)?

Answer 1

Try using the following nugget package named SimpleImpersonation

This way you could wrap the code you use to access your remote file location like this:

    using (Impersonation.LogonUser(domain, username, password, logonType))
{
    // do whatever you want as this user.
}

It worked for me. I used it to turn on and turn off a windows service remotely. Like this:

 await Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
            {
                using (
                    Impersonation.LogonUser(serviceInfo.Domain, serviceInfo.User, serviceInfo.Pswd,
                        Environment.MachineName.Equals(serviceInfo.ComputerName,
                            StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)
                            ? LogonType.Network
                            : LogonType.Interactive))
                {
                    var service = new ServiceController(serviceInfo.ServiceName, serviceInfo.ComputerName);
                    if (service.Status == ServiceControllerStatus.Stopped)
                    {
                        service.Start();
                        service.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Running, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        service.Stop();
                        service.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Stopped, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60));
                    }
                }
            });

(the snippet was taken from the project site)