Windows 10 - Autostart MinimServer with Task Scheduler

[skeptic Mike]

(edited for clarity - mike)

(18-03-2017 04:44)kaycee Wrote:  

(18-03-2017 00:11)simoncn Wrote:  MinimWatch should show a tray icon if MinimServer isn't showing its own tray icon. Can you say in more detail what you did in Task Scheduler?

Hi Simon,

What I did in Task Scheduler was just to schedule a new task that will run "java -jar C:\Program Files\MinimServer\lib\mserver.jar" when PC boots and start in C:\Program Files\MinimServer\lib. In Task Configuration I chose the option to start it whether user is logged in or not and to trigger it at System Startup.

If I install Minimwatch on the same PC and start it, it does show up in tray icon. But it does not see the Minimserver running on the same PC (top menu items like Rescan etc are greyed out). I saw "Note: Instances of MinimServer running on the same computer aren't displayed as MinimWatch icons. This would be confusing, because they're already displayed as MinimServer icons". May be that is the reason Minimwatch does not see the Minimserver running on the same PC?


Thanks

This is an interesting idea, although I have some reservations about it.

If you're starting MinimServer in this way, then it should be running the necessary code to produce the MinimServer icon in the system tray. However, you won't be able to see it when you logon because it can't have set itself to appear in the system tray of a non-existent windows explorer. More generally, logging on as a batch service, which is what you are doing, doesn't expect to create any GUI.
The information I gave about running MinimService with a virtual service account (https://forum.minimserver.com/showthread.php?tid=3217) shows a command line that I inferred from the linux set up. This was chosen to stop any attempt to create the invisible GUI. Subsequently, in page 2 of https://forum.minimserver.com/showthread.php?tid=3607 Simon said that this wasn't supported, but that the option --set watch.view=log would be supported.

I can confirm that using the service technique I described does allow MinimWatch to run and control the MinimServer instance on the same PC.

Simon has confirmed that if you add the option to suppress the GUI, then MinimWatch would show the local MinimService.

However, I wouldn't recommend running MinimServer in this way. If you are using a conventional account (member of administrators), then you will have the right to logon as a batch service, which you need for this to work, but then you will be running MinimServer with full administrative rights. i.e. more rights than if you started it using the startup folder in your windows profile. This isn't desirable from a security point of view. If you are using Windows 10 Pro, then it is fairly straightforward to grant an ordinary (unprivileged) user account the necessary right, (using secpol.msc), but if you have Windows 10 Home, then it is very awkward - the only way that might work, other than writing your own program, is to use ntrights.exe from the Server 2003 resource kit.

Although it was fiddly to set up, I've been happy with the Service technique I described, and it has been reliable. Windows has automatically updated itself several times, and the service just runs.