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Will (or can) Live Mesh run as a service so that it automatically connects after a reboot? RRS feed

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    Is there a way now, or is there a plan to implement, starting Live Mesh automatically at boot time, by making it a service? Right now, as far as I can tell, I have to log in to a machine to then have the Live Mesh software start. If I have a remote device (say my PC at home) that reboots for some reason during the day, then right now I'm disconnected from it, and it isn't downloading/synchronizing.

    In my current setup, that's not bad. But I'm thinking down the road where I can envision using Live Mesh to handle several machines in some different locations and have them doing some "kiosk" functions where the files are synchronized from my "master" machine. Having to visit to connect would be a pain. 
    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 2:40 PM

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    To clarify, there are two different types of accounts you must distinguish between.

    When I say Live ID, I mean the Windows Live ID account you sign in with on https://login.live.com/.  This is, for example, business@hotmail.com and personal@hotmail.com.  Each Live ID is associated with one Mesh.

    An NT account, on the other hand, is the account you use to sign in to your Windows box.  Ctrl+Alt+Del.

    The Live Mesh client installs under user credentials on an NT account.  ie. Someone must have logged in to the Windows machine to install.  When you "add" a device to your mesh, you are adding it under the context of some Live ID + NT account.  More than one Live ID may add that device (ie. NT account) to its Mesh.  As a result, when that NT account signs in to that PC (since the client does not run as a service), it may start synchronizing with multiple Live ID's meshes at once--regardless of which Live IDs are signed in.

    Is that clearer at all?
    Richard Chung [ Live Mesh ]
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:26 PM
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    Hi Justin,

    Live Mesh install is per-user, so you will need to install it separately for each of your NT user accounts.  This is by design to support non admin-install - a non-admin can’t install software to someone else’s account.


    So, you can install the Live Mesh software under a non-admin account.  If you want the Live Mesh Remote Desktop enhancements, though, you will need to enter admin account credentials as you suggest.

    I hope that helps,

    Ben.

    Monday, June 23, 2008 7:09 PM
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    As Scøtt mentions, the Live Remote portion of the Live Mesh client installs as a service.  Note that if you're on Vista, you'll need to elevate in order to install these Remote Desktop enhancements.  The MOE portion of the Live Mesh client only starts when the user is logged in with his/her NT account.  It will begin synchronizing regardless of whether or not you've signed in with your LiveID.

    Thanks,
    Richard
    Richard Chung [ Live Mesh ]
    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:44 PM
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    Once the NT account has been logged in, the Live Mesh client will synchronize *ALL* LiveID accounts for that NT account, regardless of whether or not the LiveID is currently logged in--ie. this device (NT account) only needs to have been added to a user's Mesh at some point in the past for it to synchronize.
    Richard Chung [ Live Mesh ]
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 12:24 AM
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    Live Mesh already does run as a service. Well, by that I mean the Remote Desktop side does. So if the machine does reboot, you can always just connect to it and log in.

    Don't get me wrong though, I understand what you mean, as you might not always have access to a computer when your computer reboots :) But it's an option.
    SL - Windows Live Platform MVP
    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 2:56 PM
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    Hmm... Maybe I don't have things set up properly. I just rebooted the machine beside me (now it _is_ on a corporate network) and waited until it was at the "Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to sign in" screen. It shows up in the notifier as "Offline", and when I click on "Connect to device", I get the window showing the attempt, but I never connect.

    I don't have the machine set to sign in automatically when Live Mesh starts once I log onto the PC. Is that part of the problem?

    If I log onto that PC from its keyboard and sign in to Live Mesh, I can go back to my first PC and establish a remote desktop session.
    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 3:11 PM
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    As Scøtt mentions, the Live Remote portion of the Live Mesh client installs as a service.  Note that if you're on Vista, you'll need to elevate in order to install these Remote Desktop enhancements.  The MOE portion of the Live Mesh client only starts when the user is logged in with his/her NT account.  It will begin synchronizing regardless of whether or not you've signed in with your LiveID.

    Thanks,
    Richard
    Richard Chung [ Live Mesh ]
    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:44 PM
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    I finally was able to connect to my laptop as a test. Took a couple of tries, and I'm not sure that it wasn't related to the corporate network I'm on (hitting the XP SP3 laptop from an XP SP3 desktop sitting next to it). So I'm very glad to realize that the remote access feature is available after a restart.
    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 6:56 PM
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    I'm the only user of my home computer.  Is there a way I can set it up to sync my files even if I'm not logged on?
    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:59 PM
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    aatreya said:

    I'm the only user of my home computer.  Is there a way I can set it up to sync my files even if I'm not logged on?



    Why not just stay logged in, but hit ctrl-alt-del and "Lock this computer"?
    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:32 PM
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    aatreya said:

    I'm the only user of my home computer.  Is there a way I can set it up to sync my files even if I'm not logged on?

    See this ... emphasis is mine...

    DevDuck said:

    As Scøtt mentions, the Live Remote portion of the Live Mesh client installs as a service.  Note that if you're on Vista, you'll need to elevate in order to install these Remote Desktop enhancements.  The MOE portion of the Live Mesh client only starts when the user is logged in with his/her NT account.  It will begin synchronizing regardless of whether or not you've signed in with your LiveID.

    So it sounds to me like it should start synchronizing, but I don't know how it would know which account to use. Maybe the use of secure desktop is involved with this? I'd like to see an answer on this, too.
    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:55 PM
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    Once the NT account has been logged in, the Live Mesh client will synchronize *ALL* LiveID accounts for that NT account, regardless of whether or not the LiveID is currently logged in--ie. this device (NT account) only needs to have been added to a user's Mesh at some point in the past for it to synchronize.
    Richard Chung [ Live Mesh ]
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 12:24 AM
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    WilliamStacey said:

    aatreya said:

    I'm the only user of my home computer.  Is there a way I can set it up to sync my files even if I'm not logged on?



    Why not just stay logged in, but hit ctrl-alt-del and "Lock this computer"?


    Well, I was hoping that this would be able to run on a home server computer (not necessarily windows home server) as well, where a user isn't always logged on.
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 2:51 PM
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    DevDuck said:

    Once the NT account has been logged in, the Live Mesh client will synchronize *ALL* LiveID accounts for that NT account, regardless of whether or not the LiveID is currently logged in--ie. this device (NT account) only needs to have been added to a user's Mesh at some point in the past for it to synchronize.

    Richard Chung [ Live Mesh ]



    Now I'm confused again...

    If I have 2 accounts - business@hotmail.com and personal@hotmail.com - and I get an invite to one, and then invite the other, then I have 2 meshes, right? A "business" mesh and a "personal" mesh?

    Are these, either one or both, associated with the ID/credentials that I log into the various PCs I use? Basically, can I be signed into my PC as "pcuser", and establish 2 connections to Live Mesh, one for business@hotmail.com and one for personal@hotmail.com? Or is it an either/or thing?

    I suspect I could sign into www.mesh.com twice with two different ids and see Live Desktop. But I'm not sure about the system tray tool...
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 3:32 PM
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    As I understand the previous information, your scenario would indeed mean that you can have two (or more) LiveIDs on a single PC that are synchronizing to two (or more) unique meshes if they were both used to share data from the PC to the cloud under that PC login ID.
    -steve
    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare Forum Moderator
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 6:03 PM
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    To clarify, there are two different types of accounts you must distinguish between.

    When I say Live ID, I mean the Windows Live ID account you sign in with on https://login.live.com/.  This is, for example, business@hotmail.com and personal@hotmail.com.  Each Live ID is associated with one Mesh.

    An NT account, on the other hand, is the account you use to sign in to your Windows box.  Ctrl+Alt+Del.

    The Live Mesh client installs under user credentials on an NT account.  ie. Someone must have logged in to the Windows machine to install.  When you "add" a device to your mesh, you are adding it under the context of some Live ID + NT account.  More than one Live ID may add that device (ie. NT account) to its Mesh.  As a result, when that NT account signs in to that PC (since the client does not run as a service), it may start synchronizing with multiple Live ID's meshes at once--regardless of which Live IDs are signed in.

    Is that clearer at all?
    Richard Chung [ Live Mesh ]
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:26 PM
    Answerer
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    DevDuck said:

    Is that clearer at all?



    Absolutely!  Outstanding answer. Thanks a lot!!
    Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:57 PM
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    Does that mean that there is actually a very simple way to circumvent the 5 GB limit? Just create as many Live IDs as you need, and then assign your folders to different Live IDs (each one of course has to be <5 GB). Given that more than 1 Live ID can sync at the same time, you can essentially sync as much stuff as you want to the cloud, correct? In general I have always found that many of these limits are hard to enforce in practise and have always wondered whether it isn't a better strategy to offer an "official" way around limits, maybe even charge for it, instead of giving incentives to people to do silly stuff like the way I just outlined.

    Also, how is the 5 GB limit actually accounted for? If user A has a 5 GB folder, and shares that with user B, but user B already has 5 GB in her own folders, what happens? Are the GBs accounted for the ID that created them? Or the owner? But right now we are all owners, right?

    Cheers,
    David

    Monday, May 26, 2008 1:30 PM
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    Hi David,

    Increasing the 5GB limit is a popular request (feel free to add your vote for this to the Wish List, if you haven't do so already), but we're not ready yet to say what sorts of scenarios we might have in the future. :)

    As for how the 5GB is accounted for: A folder's size only counts against the quota of the person who originally created it, not any other members (even if they're owners).  So your first guess was the right one.

    Hope that helps,

    Ben.
    Thursday, June 19, 2008 4:44 PM
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    A quick question, while on this topic. Does this mean that I need to install Live Mesh twice if I have two NT user accounts that I regularly use? To be more specific, I actually follow the traditional advice of having a separate administrator account, and my 'normal' account is a standard user.

    Also, doesn't LiveMesh require an admin account to install? Or would it simply ask for the admin credentials, then install under the user account?

    Thanks,
    ~Justin
    Thursday, June 19, 2008 7:15 PM
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    Hi Justin,

    Live Mesh install is per-user, so you will need to install it separately for each of your NT user accounts.  This is by design to support non admin-install - a non-admin can’t install software to someone else’s account.


    So, you can install the Live Mesh software under a non-admin account.  If you want the Live Mesh Remote Desktop enhancements, though, you will need to enter admin account credentials as you suggest.

    I hope that helps,

    Ben.

    Monday, June 23, 2008 7:09 PM
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    Me too - I am looking for a way for a Windows Home Server that is running a video surveillance app to be able to synchronise with an off site account so that video feeds are securely stored off site.

    At the moment the app I use for surveilance won't run as a service, so I have to leave the WHS logged on (which I hate doing).  So I can use Mesh as the mechansism of synching offline.  However I am waiting for the next version of the app that runs as a service.

    When that arrives it would definitely be useful to have Mesh running as a service (linked to a specific User ID, ok, but running with no account logged on, in order to preserve video feeds off site.

    Stephen Oliver
    Sunday, September 5, 2010 9:38 AM
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    Stephen, since this beta is no longer being updated, you should post your wish to the Sync forum over at www.windowslivehelp.com which is where discussion of the current Live Sync beta (to be renamed as Live Mesh) is discussed and supported.

    -steve

    ~ Microsoft MVP Windows Live ~ Windows Live OneCare| Live Mesh|MS Security Essentials Forums Moderator ~
    Tuesday, September 7, 2010 4:34 PM
    Moderator