Inter-process communication between a system service and a GUI on Windows
I am trying to figure out what the best way to communicate between a GUI and a Windows system service is. Named pipe seems to be a good option because it has built-in access control mechanism to protect the channel. I found that VPN apps actually use named pipe for communicating between their GUI with system services, such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN.
It seems that these VPN apps don't use basic Windows APIs for creating named pipes (i.e. CreateNamedPipe) but some other libraries or APIs because the behavior of these apps is almost the same: The system service, which is installed by the app, creates a named pipe with a name in this format: (app_id)(username):SingleInstanceIPCChannel or a random GUID string (e.g. 64de4b4e-96e2-4444-8946-f96888f5f3bd)
Anyone knows which library or APIs have this behavior?
windows ipc named-pipes
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
add a comment |
I am trying to figure out what the best way to communicate between a GUI and a Windows system service is. Named pipe seems to be a good option because it has built-in access control mechanism to protect the channel. I found that VPN apps actually use named pipe for communicating between their GUI with system services, such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN.
It seems that these VPN apps don't use basic Windows APIs for creating named pipes (i.e. CreateNamedPipe) but some other libraries or APIs because the behavior of these apps is almost the same: The system service, which is installed by the app, creates a named pipe with a name in this format: (app_id)(username):SingleInstanceIPCChannel or a random GUID string (e.g. 64de4b4e-96e2-4444-8946-f96888f5f3bd)
Anyone knows which library or APIs have this behavior?
windows ipc named-pipes
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
Yes, use a named pipe. The pipe name can be anything, as long as the service and the GUI app agree about it. And the name is prefixed withGlobalso it can be seen across sessions. A guid is wise.
– Hans Passant
Nov 15 '18 at 22:22
There's no need for "Global". Pipes are created in the named-pipe file system on the PIPE device, which doesn't support a "Global" prefix. ("Local" is required for UWP apps.) There are two common uses for "Global". For local DOS devices, there's a "Global" link to the "Global??" device directory, but it's unlikely that we need to use "\.GlobalPIPE[PipeName]". The suggestion is probably confusing the "Global" link to the global "BaseNamedObjects" directory, which is used for most named kernel objects (e.g. "Global[EventName]").
– eryksun
Nov 16 '18 at 5:48
add a comment |
I am trying to figure out what the best way to communicate between a GUI and a Windows system service is. Named pipe seems to be a good option because it has built-in access control mechanism to protect the channel. I found that VPN apps actually use named pipe for communicating between their GUI with system services, such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN.
It seems that these VPN apps don't use basic Windows APIs for creating named pipes (i.e. CreateNamedPipe) but some other libraries or APIs because the behavior of these apps is almost the same: The system service, which is installed by the app, creates a named pipe with a name in this format: (app_id)(username):SingleInstanceIPCChannel or a random GUID string (e.g. 64de4b4e-96e2-4444-8946-f96888f5f3bd)
Anyone knows which library or APIs have this behavior?
windows ipc named-pipes
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
I am trying to figure out what the best way to communicate between a GUI and a Windows system service is. Named pipe seems to be a good option because it has built-in access control mechanism to protect the channel. I found that VPN apps actually use named pipe for communicating between their GUI with system services, such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN.
It seems that these VPN apps don't use basic Windows APIs for creating named pipes (i.e. CreateNamedPipe) but some other libraries or APIs because the behavior of these apps is almost the same: The system service, which is installed by the app, creates a named pipe with a name in this format: (app_id)(username):SingleInstanceIPCChannel or a random GUID string (e.g. 64de4b4e-96e2-4444-8946-f96888f5f3bd)
Anyone knows which library or APIs have this behavior?
windows ipc named-pipes
windows ipc named-pipes
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
asked Nov 15 '18 at 20:33
Thanh BuiThanh Bui
1361212
1361212
Yes, use a named pipe. The pipe name can be anything, as long as the service and the GUI app agree about it. And the name is prefixed withGlobalso it can be seen across sessions. A guid is wise.
– Hans Passant
Nov 15 '18 at 22:22
There's no need for "Global". Pipes are created in the named-pipe file system on the PIPE device, which doesn't support a "Global" prefix. ("Local" is required for UWP apps.) There are two common uses for "Global". For local DOS devices, there's a "Global" link to the "Global??" device directory, but it's unlikely that we need to use "\.GlobalPIPE[PipeName]". The suggestion is probably confusing the "Global" link to the global "BaseNamedObjects" directory, which is used for most named kernel objects (e.g. "Global[EventName]").
– eryksun
Nov 16 '18 at 5:48
add a comment |
Yes, use a named pipe. The pipe name can be anything, as long as the service and the GUI app agree about it. And the name is prefixed withGlobalso it can be seen across sessions. A guid is wise.
– Hans Passant
Nov 15 '18 at 22:22
There's no need for "Global". Pipes are created in the named-pipe file system on the PIPE device, which doesn't support a "Global" prefix. ("Local" is required for UWP apps.) There are two common uses for "Global". For local DOS devices, there's a "Global" link to the "Global??" device directory, but it's unlikely that we need to use "\.GlobalPIPE[PipeName]". The suggestion is probably confusing the "Global" link to the global "BaseNamedObjects" directory, which is used for most named kernel objects (e.g. "Global[EventName]").
– eryksun
Nov 16 '18 at 5:48
Yes, use a named pipe. The pipe name can be anything, as long as the service and the GUI app agree about it. And the name is prefixed with
Global so it can be seen across sessions. A guid is wise.– Hans Passant
Nov 15 '18 at 22:22
Yes, use a named pipe. The pipe name can be anything, as long as the service and the GUI app agree about it. And the name is prefixed with
Global so it can be seen across sessions. A guid is wise.– Hans Passant
Nov 15 '18 at 22:22
There's no need for "Global". Pipes are created in the named-pipe file system on the PIPE device, which doesn't support a "Global" prefix. ("Local" is required for UWP apps.) There are two common uses for "Global". For local DOS devices, there's a "Global" link to the "Global??" device directory, but it's unlikely that we need to use "\.GlobalPIPE[PipeName]". The suggestion is probably confusing the "Global" link to the global "BaseNamedObjects" directory, which is used for most named kernel objects (e.g. "Global[EventName]").
– eryksun
Nov 16 '18 at 5:48
There's no need for "Global". Pipes are created in the named-pipe file system on the PIPE device, which doesn't support a "Global" prefix. ("Local" is required for UWP apps.) There are two common uses for "Global". For local DOS devices, there's a "Global" link to the "Global??" device directory, but it's unlikely that we need to use "\.GlobalPIPE[PipeName]". The suggestion is probably confusing the "Global" link to the global "BaseNamedObjects" directory, which is used for most named kernel objects (e.g. "Global[EventName]").
– eryksun
Nov 16 '18 at 5:48
add a comment |
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Yes, use a named pipe. The pipe name can be anything, as long as the service and the GUI app agree about it. And the name is prefixed with
Globalso it can be seen across sessions. A guid is wise.– Hans Passant
Nov 15 '18 at 22:22
There's no need for "Global". Pipes are created in the named-pipe file system on the PIPE device, which doesn't support a "Global" prefix. ("Local" is required for UWP apps.) There are two common uses for "Global". For local DOS devices, there's a "Global" link to the "Global??" device directory, but it's unlikely that we need to use "\.GlobalPIPE[PipeName]". The suggestion is probably confusing the "Global" link to the global "BaseNamedObjects" directory, which is used for most named kernel objects (e.g. "Global[EventName]").
– eryksun
Nov 16 '18 at 5:48