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    Is there a way to make a plain vanilla program startup whenever the server boots up, kind of like when you put it in the startup folder and log in to that ID? Specifically, I'm trying to get the MagicJack client to startup without having to log on. It's a hassle to have to log in to restart when the server reboots from an update or a power failure (yes its on a ups already).  

    Monday, May 25, 2009 1:30 AM

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    • Log in to your server using e.g. Remote Desktop.
    • Click on the Start button.
    • Click on Run...
    • Type control userpasswords2 and press Enter.
    • Clear the checkbox next to Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. Click Apply.
    • A window will appear, prompting for a user name and password to use for autologin. Fill it in appropriately and click OK. Probably you will want to use Administrator as the user, in which case you will use the console password as the password.
    • Click OK.
    One alternative is to set up a batch file which will run as a scheduled task on system startup. You'll need to set that up to run as a user with sufficient privileges. Or you can use instsrv/srvany from the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit to set the program up to run as a service.

    As Olaf has mentioned, this is unsupported, in the sense that Windows Home Server is not designed to be modified in this way. Probably nothing bad will happen, but any unsupported access to your server or modification thereof is (obviously) at your own risk.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Monday, June 1, 2009 3:02 PM
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    Hi,
    wasn't this a kind of spyware, which not only wants to put advertisement on screen for the user (which would require the user to be logged in), but also analyzes the dialed telephone numbers to pinpoint the advertisements according to their EULA?
    I'm pretty sure, that I would not want to have such stuff running on a machine, which holds my important data.

    This being said - there exist tools, which allow to convert some programs to start as a service. Such like sc.exe with the create parameter or third party tools.
    But this will not work for programs, which expect a user desktop to present a GUI.
    You could also configure your server to autologon, using the control userpasswords2 command in Start/Run dialog on the desktop.
    Be aware, that both is not only unsupported and such usage of Windows Home Server desktop may violate the EULA, but you also are reducing the security of your server, as soon as it comes to local access or the software you are running includes other malware.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Monday, May 25, 2009 7:55 AM
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    Thanks for the advise, It think the autologin is probably the better option for me. But I can't find the options in the dialogue you pointed to or anywhere else in the control panel. Can you send a screen shot of the dialogue I can set that in?

    Monday, June 1, 2009 1:54 PM
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    • Log in to your server using e.g. Remote Desktop.
    • Click on the Start button.
    • Click on Run...
    • Type control userpasswords2 and press Enter.
    • Clear the checkbox next to Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. Click Apply.
    • A window will appear, prompting for a user name and password to use for autologin. Fill it in appropriately and click OK. Probably you will want to use Administrator as the user, in which case you will use the console password as the password.
    • Click OK.
    One alternative is to set up a batch file which will run as a scheduled task on system startup. You'll need to set that up to run as a user with sufficient privileges. Or you can use instsrv/srvany from the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit to set the program up to run as a service.

    As Olaf has mentioned, this is unsupported, in the sense that Windows Home Server is not designed to be modified in this way. Probably nothing bad will happen, but any unsupported access to your server or modification thereof is (obviously) at your own risk.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Monday, June 1, 2009 3:02 PM
    Moderator