Bug (undocumented feature?) in Credential Provider subsystem

Has anyone here tried to write a custom Authentication Package and
Credential Provider on Vista? I'm trying to do this, but I've
encountered a bug (or an undocumented feature) in the Credential
Provider subsystem.

I can successfully log into an interactive session, but it seems that
the credential provider subsystem is trying to read my custom
authentication package's profile buffer. I don't place any meaningful
data in there, and the Authentication Package specs don't require me
to.

The credential provider subsystem randomly crashes depending on what
kind of data the auth package returns. And, when it doesn't crash, a
bubble appears in the task bar telling me that my user's account is
about to expire. My auth package works just fine on XP. It only does
this on Vista.

If any Microsoft dev people could help me find a workaround, it'd be
appreciated.

--
Peter Rutenbar

<> wrote ...
> Has anyone here tried to write a custom Authentication Package and
> Credential Provider on Vista? I'm trying to do this, but I've
> encountered a bug (or an undocumented feature) in the Credential
> Provider subsystem.
>
> If any Microsoft dev people could help me find a workaround, it'd be
> appreciated.



Hi Peter,

This microsoft.public.windows.vista.general group is not the best place for
your question. There are no Dev Support people from Microsoft active in this
newsgroup (almost no Microsoft staff at all, in fact); and most of the
posters are naive home or small business users, not programmers (ie, they
wouldn't know a Credential Provider, if they tripped over one).

You may get better results in one of the MSDN newsgroups, such as
microsoft.public.platformsdk.security; or a more focused Vista group such as
microsoft.public.windows.vista.security.

I don't know the answer to your question, but ... I'm assuming you're aware
the whole GINA architecture has changed in Vista? To create a Credential
Provider, you *must* use the Vista version of the Windows SDK. If you
haven't already, you might want to download and install the sample Vista
Credential Providers, to get a base-line of what works, and what doesn't:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Even in a relevant newsgroup, there's no guaranteed answer; if this problem
is on the critical path for your project you'll get faster results by
opening a Service Request with Microsoft PSS. Be ready to give them a short
repro of the problem (eg like a 20 line sample that they can compile and
debug).

Good luck with the project!
--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au