Question : How to view Session 0 Applications in Windows 2008?

I have recently upgraded to windows 2008 server edition from windows 2003.

One of the major changes I have noticed is that you can no longer log in as /console (or session 0). I always run many of my applications as services. Sometimes for debugging purposes I require it's user interface so with windows 2003 it was as easy as checking the "Allow Service to Interact with Desktop" and then logging in as /console or /admin (console 0)

After reading up some documentation this is no longer possible with Windows 2008. However according to this article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb756986.aspx

Claims the following:

Remedies
Quick solution:

If the application's service uses a UI, a built-in mitigation in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 allows the user to interact with the Session 0 UI in a special desktop. This desktop will make available the UI specific to the application, rather than the entire Session 0 desktop.

Is there any way to access this special desktop? OR Is there some other way to temporarily access an interface of a service?

Answer : How to view Session 0 Applications in Windows 2008?

Hey there ultramoo,

You should be able to still get the notifications from your Session 0 applications by starting the UI0Detect service on the server, then restarting the particular application which is running in Session 0.

The UI0Detect service (which is listed, using its friendly name, in the Services panel as 'Interactive Services Detection') gives you the ability to interact with any applications or services which are running in Session 0. It should be what you need to enable to sort this problem out.

Don't forget, though, that this feature is temporary, and with the second release of Vista / Server 2008 (Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2) this feature will be removed. It would be expected at the point of release of the next operating systems for all applications to run correctly and interface with the new session format in the correct manner.

-Matt