How do I lock a windows workstation programmatically?

c# user32
Derek picture Derek · Dec 6, 2012 · Viewed 16.9k times · Source

Possible Duplicate:
Lock Windows workstation programmatically in C#

I am currently working on a visual studio windows form application that requires a function that locks the workstation. How can i make use of user32.dll to do a lock (Windows + L) when the function is called?

Answer

Pacane picture Pacane · Dec 6, 2012

I haven't tried it myself, but I found this on google

Process.Start(@"C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe", "user32.dll,LockWorkStation");

edit: I tried it, and it works!

edit2: Here's a solution using user32.dll that doesn't start an external process.

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

declare a method like this: 

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool LockWorkStation();

and then call LockWorkStation();.

Voilà

Related questions

Send keys through SendInput in user32.dll

I am using this board as a keyboard for demo purposes. Anyways to make the long story short everything works fine except for very few cases. I send keystrokes with the SendInput function located in user32.dll. So my program …

Read More
C# Using PostMessage

I'm trying to send a key to an application. I tested the Handlewindow value used breakpoints to understand what I'm doing wirong but i cant find a solution. To be more detailed, its a little game and when I activate …

Read More
Directing mouse events [DllImport("user32.dll")] click, double click

I tried [DllImport("user32.dll")] static extern bool SetCursorPos(int X, int Y); and it works pretty fine to move the cursor to the desired point. I have never tried such kind of a DLL import before but it works :). …

Read More