make screenpipe not requiring admin right on windows ($200)

[louis030195]

/bounty 100

definition of done:

• screenpipe works without admin right on windows

references:

• https://github.com/nashaofu/xcap/issues/152

[linear[bot]]

MED-98 make screenpipe not requiring admin right on windows ($100)

[algora-pbc[bot]]

💎 $100 bounty • Screenpi.pe

Steps to solve:

1. Start working: Comment /attempt #320 with your implementation plan
2. Submit work: Create a pull request including /claim #320 in the PR body to claim the bounty
3. Receive payment: 100% of the bounty is received 2-5 days post-reward. Make sure you are eligible for payouts

Thank you for contributing to mediar-ai/screenpipe!

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[louis030195]

/bounty 200

[kerosina]

Hello, running the example code for screen capture for xcap on windows didn't require admin. what specific feature of it does screenpipe use that requires admin?

[kerosina]

I tried out the code at https://github.com/mediar-ai/screenpipe/blob/main/screenpipe-vision/src/capture_screenshot_by_window.rs with a few alterations:

use image::DynamicImage;
use std::error::Error;
use std::fmt;
use std::println as error;
use std::time::Duration;
use tokio::time;
use xcap::{Monitor, Window, XCapError};

#[derive(Debug)]
enum CaptureError {
    NoWindows,
    XCapError(XCapError),
}

impl fmt::Display for CaptureError {
    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
        match self {
            CaptureError::NoWindows => write!(f, "No windows found"),
            CaptureError::XCapError(e) => write!(f, "XCap error: {}", e),
        }
    }
}

impl Error for CaptureError {}

impl From<XCapError> for CaptureError {
    fn from(error: XCapError) -> Self {
        error!("XCap error occurred: {}", error);
        CaptureError::XCapError(error)
    }
}

pub async fn capture_all_visible_windows(
    monitor: &Monitor,
    ignore_list: &[String],
    include_list: &[String],
) -> Result<Vec<(DynamicImage, String, String, bool)>, Box<dyn Error>> {
    let mut all_captured_images = Vec::new();

    let windows = retry_with_backoff(
        || {
            let windows = Window::all()?;
            if windows.is_empty() {
                Err(CaptureError::NoWindows)
            } else {
                Ok(windows)
            }
        },
        3,
        Duration::from_millis(500),
    )
    .await?;

    let focused_window = windows
        .iter()
        .find(|&w| is_valid_window(w, monitor, ignore_list, include_list));

    for window in &windows {
        if is_valid_window(window, monitor, ignore_list, include_list) {
            println!("Got valid window {}", window.app_name());
            let app_name = window.app_name();
            let window_name = window.title();
            let is_focused = focused_window
                .as_ref()
                .map_or(false, |fw| fw.id() == window.id());

            match window.capture_image() {
                Ok(buffer) => {
                    let image = DynamicImage::ImageRgba8(
                        image::ImageBuffer::from_raw(
                            buffer.width() as u32,
                            buffer.height() as u32,
                            buffer.into_raw(),
                        )
                        .unwrap(),
                    );

                    all_captured_images.push((
                        image,
                        app_name.to_string(),
                        window_name.to_string(),
                        is_focused,
                    ));
                }
                Err(e) => error!(
                    "Failed to capture image for window {} on monitor {}: {}",
                    window_name,
                    monitor.name(),
                    e
                ),
            }
        }
    }

    Ok(all_captured_images)
}

fn is_valid_window(
    window: &Window,
    monitor: &Monitor,
    ignore_list: &[String],
    include_list: &[String],
) -> bool {
    let monitor_match = window.current_monitor().id() == monitor.id();
    let not_minimized = !window.is_minimized();
    let not_window_server = window.app_name() != "Window Server";
    let not_contexts = window.app_name() != "Contexts";
    let has_title = !window.title().is_empty();
    let included = include_list.is_empty()
        || include_list.iter().any(|include| {
            window
                .app_name()
                .to_lowercase()
                .contains(&include.to_lowercase())
                || window
                    .title()
                    .to_lowercase()
                    .contains(&include.to_lowercase())
        });
    let not_ignored = !ignore_list.iter().any(|ignore| {
        window
            .app_name()
            .to_lowercase()
            .contains(&ignore.to_lowercase())
            || window
                .title()
                .to_lowercase()
                .contains(&ignore.to_lowercase())
    });

    monitor_match
        && not_minimized
        && not_window_server
        && not_contexts
        && has_title
        && not_ignored
        && included
}

async fn retry_with_backoff<F, T, E>(
    mut f: F,
    max_retries: u32,
    initial_delay: Duration,
) -> Result<T, E>
where
    F: FnMut() -> Result<T, E>,
    E: Error + 'static,
{
    let mut delay = initial_delay;
    for attempt in 1..=max_retries {
        println!("Attempt {} to execute function", attempt);
        match f() {
            Ok(result) => {
                println!("Function executed successfully on attempt {}", attempt);
                return Ok(result);
            }
            Err(e) => {
                if attempt == max_retries {
                    error!("All {} attempts failed. Last error: {}", max_retries, e);
                    return Err(e);
                }
                println!("Attempt {} failed: {}. Retrying in {:?}", attempt, e, delay);
                time::sleep(delay).await;
                delay *= 2;
            }
        }
    }
    unreachable!()
}

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() {
    let monitors = Monitor::all().unwrap();
    for monitor in monitors {
        let res = capture_all_visible_windows(&monitor, &[], &[])
            .await
            .unwrap();
        println!("Took picture of {} window(s)", res.len())
    }
    println!("Finished");
}

and it worked without admin:

Attempt 1 to execute function
Function executed successfully on attempt 1
Got valid window Task Manager
Got valid window Visual Studio Code
Got valid window Windows Explorer
Got valid window Discord
Got valid window Vivaldi
Took picture of 5 window(s)
Finished

are you sure its required?

[louis030195]

Try to build the app

[kerosina]

Try to build the app

when running it, all seems to be well, except after downloading models I get this error: thread 'tokio-runtime-worker' panicked at C:\Users\makedon\.cargo\registry\src\index.crates.io-6f17d22bba15001f\tokio-1.40.0\src\runtime\blocking\shutdown.rs:51:21: Cannot drop a runtime in a context where blocking is not allowed. This happens when a runtime is dropped from within an asynchronous context. If I restart it, I get the same panic once I try accessing the HTTP API.

I'll try looking into it tomorrow.

[kerosina]

Try to build the app

when running it, all seems to be well, except after downloading models I get this error: thread 'tokio-runtime-worker' panicked at C:\Users\makedon\.cargo\registry\src\index.crates.io-6f17d22bba15001f\tokio-1.40.0\src\runtime\blocking\shutdown.rs:51:21: Cannot drop a runtime in a context where blocking is not allowed. This happens when a runtime is dropped from within an asynchronous context. If I restart it, I get the same panic once I try accessing the HTTP API.

I'll try looking into it tomorrow.

I have found a fix for this runtime error and have opened a PR for it ( #330 )

[kerosina]

Are you sure this makes screenpipe not work on Windows? looking at xcap code:

        let file_version_info_size_w = GetFileVersionInfoSizeW(pcw_filename, None);
        if file_version_info_size_w == 0 {
            log_last_error("GetFileVersionInfoSizeW");

            return get_module_basename(box_process_handle);
        }

if getfileversioninfosizew fails, it logs the error but runs get_module_basename:

fn get_module_basename(box_process_handle: BoxProcessHandle) -> XCapResult<String> {
    unsafe {
        // 默认使用 module_basename
        let mut module_base_name_w = [0; MAX_PATH as usize];
        let result = GetModuleBaseNameW(*box_process_handle, None, &mut module_base_name_w);

        if result == 0 {
            log_last_error("GetModuleBaseNameW");

            GetModuleFileNameExW(*box_process_handle, None, &mut module_base_name_w);
        }

        wide_string_to_string(&module_base_name_w)
    }
}

since it doesnt log any error for GetModuleBaseNameW, I assume it worked. This shouldn't affect screenpipe

[louis030195]

yes i have a windows computer and screenpipe fails if not ran as admin

[kerosina]

yes i have a windows computer and screenpipe fails if not ran as admin

Weird

at what step does it fail? what are the last log lines when it fails?

[louis030195]

https://github.com/nashaofu/xcap/issues/152

[louis030195]

when i start

[louis030195]

and starting the app as admin does not solve the issue (e.g. only when starting the CLI as admin), basically app only works in CLI atm, since we switched to window capture instead of just capturing the screen

[louis030195]

oh wait

so i have 2 windows:

• one is a cloud azure VM, no audio device -> not affected by this issue strangely
• one is a windows 11 pro physical device (bought to dev screenpipe $600) - facing this issue

so this issue is only on my windows machine, and i don't recall if anybody else faced this

[teromene]

Hello

Are you sure that you are not running other programs with administrator access ? Windows will not allow you to record windows started by other users with higher permissions. It works for the whole screen though.

Here is a quick reproduction:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/53bd5e2b-07bc-4e64-a500-d23fd614d0be

[gitSambhal]

Hi @louis030195 Try running the app with elevate, it doesn't require admin privileges, it might solve the issue