Start a process in custom desktop with ShellExecute call

Question

I am working on a feasibility task, where I need to start an application in a custom desktop (programmatically created desktop, using CreateDesktop() ).

Scenario:

ConsoleTestApplication: Use ShellExecute() to start an MFC application, LaunchingApp

LaunchingApp: Creates a new custom desktop and start a WPF application using ShellExecute() . The WPF application should open in the custom desktop.

The above scenario works while using CreateProcess() . When I tried with ShellExecute() , the custom desktop just glitched away, and didn't work.

Does ShellExecute() work along with custom desktop creation?

Is there any possible way to solve the above scenario using ShellExecute() ? Can you suggest a solution for this?

Answer 1

Neither ShellExecute() nor ShellExecuteEx() support launching processes on alternative desktops, only on the desktop of the calling thread.

So, you would have to either use SetThreadDesktop() before ShellExecute/Ex() , or else just use CreateProcess() instead, which supports alternative desktops, as you noted.

ShellExecute/Ex() will simply delegate to CreateProcess() when launching an EXE file, so you really should just use CreateProcess() directly. Use ShellExecute/Ex() only when launching data files (or when you need to force an EXE to launch with UAC elevation).