HS2 as a Service?

[jimwayda]

Is it possible to run HS2 as a service so that it will start without having to log into the computer? If so, how do I do this and what are its limitations? What will I loose? How will the main HS2 window that comes up be displayed? Is there a faq on this topic?

Thanks,

-jim

[Moskus]

It's possible. But NOT recommended.

However, you can create a virtual machine using e.g. VMware Server 2 (which is free), and the VMware service will start without you logging in.


There's also software that turns applications into services, and some users have used such softaware with good results, I believe.

[langenet]

I use FireDaemon to run HS as a service. Works beautifully!

Robert

[mhn]

Hi.

Maybe I don't understand you question but:

When I start my HS2, there is a service button.

I use that, it works OK. There are some trouble with stopping it, but then I use service manager.

Regards
Morten

[Moskus]

Yes, HomeSeer has a service option. However, it's not working "perfectly". Actually, if you report a bug the first thing support asks is "Are you running HS as a service? If you do, then don't".

Plugins such as the Windows Media Player or iTunes are examples of plugins that doesn't really play nice when run as a service.

[langenet]

add Netcam, ACRF-2 as well. All run fine under FireDaemon...

[Moskus]

I'm not trying to knock FireDaemon, but the built-in service option.

[Guest]

Strangely enough, 'running as a service' has been the preferred way of running for years....

[Krumpy]

There is a limitation with audio and speech. Make sure that the speaker app runs as a foreground application. Limitation is with the Microsoft code and how it routes audio....

[Guest]

Homeseer can run perfectly as a service. It is Windows, which needs a logged on user for both speech and audio. Therefore, the speaker-app has been separated from the base application.

No logged on user, no speech or audio, that's all...

[jasdev]

I'm a newbie to HomeSeer, so please bear with me if these questions have already been answered.

1. Why is it not recommended to run HS as a service?
2. What is a typical way to run HS if you have a headless box.

Thanks.

[mterry63]

Others can offer details, but I think the most important answer is that Homeseer wasn't DESIGNED from the start to run as a service. It can be done with various work-arounds that effectively make it mostly a background process, not a service. You have to configure the service to run as a real user, not the SYSTEM account, you have to allow the service to interact with the desktop to support audio, etc, etc.

Even then, dispite the fact that HS runs most of it's configuration as a web interface, it's only about 80%. There are numerous plugins and functions that have Windows UI components that aren't web enabled and require configuration directly from the desktop. Even the updater frequently forces you to login directly to the desktop to complete some install/update action.

It's just one of the things you have to deal with. I don't believe there is any roadmap to fix these limitations, at least in version 2.

The real 'rub' is that Homeseer is a complex App with tons of plugin options and dependancies. It supports dozens of hardware components that have their own software/firmware dependancies. What works for some people won't work for others as most people don't have the same combination of plugins, scripts, hardware, etc. It's a challenging support process because to troubleshoot you have to practically have the same hardware, which again would be rare.

As to the headless question, I run HS on W2K3 as a normal app with auto-login and auto-run enabled. When I want to manage it I use Terminal Services to the Console session (not a normal terminal session, this will try to start HS a second time). There is a bat file somewhere here in the forums that allows you to disconnect the console session cleanly, it used to break audio functions if you didn't. I don't know if it's still needed, but I still use it.

Good Luck. As always YMMV.

[Guest]

Others can offer details, but I think the most important answer is that Homeseer wasn't DESIGNED from the start to run as a service.

Whoah, what is this? I do remember vividly that THE sole reason for the development team to start builing HomeSeer 2.0 was that 2.0 was intented to run as a service! Without this change in design, the team would have developed 1.8 after HS 1.8 instead of 2.0.

So, yes, HomeSeer 2.x was designed to run as a service!

However, Microsoft made some awkward decisions with their Windows operating service. Sound is only possible when there is a valid user interface, and a valid user interface is only present when there is a user logged on. So, as a result, the speaker client was separated from the main program, all to make it possible to run HS as a service.

Somewhere between HS 2.2 and 2.4 (if I recall correctly) the 'official' advice changed from 'run preferably as a service' to 'run preferably as a program', unfortunately.

Personally, I am running HS under the 'local system' account, as a service.

[jasdev]

Thanks mterry63. I'm going to use TweakUI to setup auto login. I need to create a user account that will be dedicated to running HomeSeer. Any suggestions on the permissions I should grant this user?

[jasdev]

Ok, I just saw Richard's response... I would prefer to run as a service. I believe that it offers better security.

Richard, how do you setup Windows to run HomeSeer as a service under the local system account?