This is generally how I've approached this problem as well. I like using the `ServiceController.ExecuteCommand` method and just send some integer value from the

This is generally how I've approached this problem as well. I like using the `ServiceController.ExecuteCommand` method and just send some integer value from the client -> server...and the server maps the integer value to a pre-determined command. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.serviceprocess.servicecontroller.executecommand?view=dotnet-plat-ext-6.0 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.servicepr... You've definitely outlined the risk clearly of allowing a client to specify anything arbitrarily. I once wrote a sudo implementation for Windows Vista / Windows 7 and first attempt used named pipes communicating to a windows service that did some token manipulation to execute things as the user (but with elevated token attached as well). There be (security) dragons. I like using named pipes and they are a great IPC mechanism for communicating amongst processes of the same privilege level. I would not use them for message passing between processes of different privilege levels.