C# – Start any Windows application from code

To start any application by code, it pretty easy:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
   var pi = new ProcessStartInfo
   {
      FileName = "calc",
      //Arguments = "...",
      //RedirectStandardOutput = true,
      UseShellExecute = false         //Allows the redirection of the ouput
    };

    var p = Process.Start(pi);
}

But in that simple case, we could just do:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
   var p = Process.Start("calc");
}

Sometimes you will need to start an application as the current user, but as the admin as well:

public static void StartApp(string appPath, string parameter, PrivilegeEnum privilege)
{
    var psi = new ProcessStartInfo(appPath, parameter);

    switch (privilege)
    {
        case PrivilegeEnum.Admin:
            psi.UseShellExecute = true;
            psi.Verb = "runas";
            break;
        case PrivilegeEnum.CurrentUser:
            //psi.UserName = System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Name;
            psi.LoadUserProfile = true;
            psi.UseShellExecute = false;
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
    
    var p = new Process();
    p.StartInfo = psi;
    p.Start();
}

public enum PrivilegeEnum
{
    Admin,
    CurrentUser
}

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