Why does Windows make it so hard to trigger an event based on an exe?

Valour549 · Oct 11, 2024

I want Program B to open whenever Program A is opened.

Trying to create such a task in Task Scheduler is very hard because the "On an event" trigger asks for Log, Source, and Event ID, which I don't think is even possible to get because Event Viewer doesn't log every exe you open and the Event ID changes anyways.

Now I know the typical response is "just write a batch file so the two programs open at the same time", but that's not a proper solution because it means Program A has to be started from that batch file every time. In reality, there are so many ways Program A can commence, and in all of them bar one Program B would not follow.

I just don't understand why Task Scheduler makes it so hard to do something that should be so goddamn simple.

pseymour · Oct 11, 2024

You could enable auditing of process creation, which is off by default. In the local group policy editor, navigate to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Advanced Audit Policy Configuration | System Audit Policies | Detailed Tracking. From there, you can audit process creation.

Then, you would just need to monitor for process 4688.

Audit Process Creation - Windows 10

The Advanced Security Audit policy setting, Audit Process Creation, determines if audit events are generated when a process is created (starts).

learn.microsoft.com

hdmi · Oct 12, 2024

Run a Script (Program) When a Specific Program Opens/Closes in Windows | Windows OS Hub

In this article, we will show how to track an event of launching a certain program (process) in Windows and perform an action (run a script, command, program, send an…

woshub.com

To enable auditing for successful process creations:

auditpol /set /subcategory:"Process Creation" /success:enable

To disable auditing for successful process creations:

auditpol /set /subcategory:"Process Creation" /success:disable

Valour549 · Oct 12, 2024

Too bad atm I only have Windows 11 Home, but I shall bookmark this, thanks

hdmi · Oct 12, 2024

Valour549 said:
Too bad atm I only have Windows 11 Home, but I shall bookmark this, thanks

It also works on Home editions of Windows 10/11.

Valour549 · Oct 12, 2024

hdmi said:
It also works on Home editions of Windows 10/11.

But gpedit doesn't exist though?

hdmi · Oct 13, 2024

Valour549 said:
But gpedit doesn't exist though?

It doesn't, but auditpol.exe does. auditpol

jimbo45 · Oct 13, 2024

Not sure what this thread means -- there's plenty of ways of creating a programmable interrupt -- I'm sure even the bog standard Windows published API will have some programmable interrupts -- I'm not a Windows internals person by any manner but an interrupt in any OS is usually serviced before any other process. A few are obviously in the hardware bios such as the keyboard which generates a hardware interrupt and has the highest priority in the system. Even the old MsDos had a command line INT(X) which would generate an interupt.

cheers
jimbo

antspants · Oct 13, 2024

Valour549 said:
I want Program B to open whenever Program A is opened

Stardock Groupy 2 will do that and more. I bought it when they made it and only just started to use it.
I just love having Photoshop and Adobe Bridge open together, along with my FTP program and old copy of Dreamweaver.

Or Word and Excel open with Outlook, or Outlook open with Firefox etc etc

Stardock Groupy 2: Tabs for Windows

Groupy 2 enables you to drag and drop application windows together to group them together under a common tabbed interface.

www.stardock.com

LesFerch · Oct 14, 2024

Did you see these discussions?

How to start a program when another one is started

I want a program to start each time another one is starting. Here's an example: Each time I start Google Chrome, I would like iTunes to start at the same time. Also, I want it to start when I cli...

superuser.com

Run command / script when program starts in Windows

I will strive to explain what I want. I have Windows 10 Pro. I want to create a task in Task Scheduler that causes Windows to lock when someone launches a certain app (in my case - uTorrent). I’ve

superuser.com

I tested the answer that detailed how to use Bill2's Process Manager and it was easy to set up and worked perfectly. As a a test, I set up a simple rule to launch 7-Zip when MSPaint is opened and it did exactly that.

dacrone · Oct 14, 2024

Shutter « Products « den4b.com

www.den4b.com

if you want an easy gui for it

hdmi · Oct 15, 2024

LesFerch said:
I tested the answer that detailed how to use Bill2's Process Manager and it was easy to set up and worked perfectly. As a a test, I set up a simple rule to launch 7-Zip when MSPaint is opened and it did exactly that.

How resource-heavy is Bill2's Process Manager when compared to the other method (that, BTW, I already outlined in my 1st reply to this thread)? I suspect that this program just keeps polling the process list constantly to detect changes in it through WMI, as it has to be always running in the background to achieve its goal. Polling is a highly primitive strategy. It should be avoided when possible to avoid, and, in this case avoiding it is both possible and relatively very easy.

LesFerch · Oct 15, 2024

hdmi said:
How resource-heavy is Bill2's Process Manager when compared to the other method (that, BTW, I already outlined in my 1st reply to this thread)? I suspect that this program just keeps polling the process list constantly to detect changes in it through WMI, as it has to be always running in the background to achieve its goal. Polling is a highly primitive strategy. It should be avoided when possible to avoid, and, in this case avoiding it is both possible and relatively very easy.

Good points. I took another look. BPM appears to use very little CPU, but its memory footprint at 22.3 MB seems a bit excessive if all you need to do is launch another program. If the OP can get it done with Task Manager, I agree, that would be best.

garlin · Oct 16, 2024

Another method is to use Image File Execution Options (IFEO), to force every instance of trying to run ProgramA, to execute a batch script which runs both ProgramA and ProgramB at the same time. Every time ProgramA is called, Windows substitutes another command in its place.

The catch is ProgramA's executable must be renamed to a different filename to prevent an infinite loop (otherwise ProgramA launches a script to run ProgramA, which in turn runs the script again). The IFEO method removes all need for the Event logger or polling.

Code:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ProgramA.exe" /t REG_SZ /v Debugger /d "C:\myscripts\wrapper.bat" /f

wrapper.bat

Code:

ProgramA_other.exe
ProgramB.exe

To revert the IFEO:

Code:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ProgramA.exe" /f

LesFerch · Oct 16, 2024

garlin said:
The catch is ProgramA's executable must be renamed to a different filename to prevent an infinite loop (otherwise ProgramA launches a script to run ProgramA, which in turn runs the script again). The IFEO method removes all need for the Event logger or polling.

Another catch appears to be with Store apps. I could not get Windows 11 mspaint or notepad to work with IFEO. Maybe there's some trick with the "UseFilter" value, but I had no success.

garlin · Oct 16, 2024

You're correct, UWP apps are exempt from IFEO. I don't think UWP has a similar debugging hook.

dacrone · Oct 17, 2024

LesFerch said:
Another catch appears to be with Store apps. I could not get Windows 11 mspaint or notepad to work with IFEO. Maybe there's some trick with the "UseFilter" value, but I had no success.

what if you made a .bat or .cmd to (or ahk compiled as .exe) to run the store app?

LesFerch · Oct 17, 2024

dacrone said:
what if you made a .bat or .cmd to (or ahk compiled as .exe) to run the store app?

I already tried a C# exe and couldn't get store apps to work. The infinite loop issue also makes it inconvenient. It looks like a scheduled task is still the best option.

Why does Windows make it so hard to trigger an event based on an exe?

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