Hi guys - first of all: This is one of the best wiki implementations that I came across so far - and I have looked at a lot of them lately to set up a proof-of-concept system (which might grow quite large eventually - I really do hope so!).

My issue:
How to start mindtouch.host.exe without logging on? I admit , I currently use WinXP SP2 with a WAMP server setup.

But since our systems receive automatic updates from SMS servers, they also restart automatically (sometimes) ... this means that the mindtouch.host.exe process that I started in the cmd window is gone after the restart - not helpful for a wiki that should be up 24x7.

Any suggestions?

Thanks much in advance
Stefan

The better solution is to transform this program to a service.
If you look for "instsrv srvany firedaemon" with Google, you'll find 2 answers to this question.

1 - instsrv and srvany are 2 Microsoft programs included into NT resource kit (they are in the attached file ).
These 2 programs install a generic service able to launch any Windows application!
- unzip into c:\temp directory for example
- instsrv Dekiwiki c:\temp\srvany.exe (will install an empty service named Dekiwiki)
- go to Control Panel, Admin tools, Services, and select your new Dekiwiki service
- into start parameters enter path to your host program, WITH DOUBLE BACKSLASH in this path
f:\\directory1\\directory2\\directory3\\mindtouch.host.bat
- click on start button, and your new service will start

Unfortunatly, these start parameters are not saved into registry. For this, we need to do a manual update of registry :
- launch regedit or regedt32
- go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Dekiwiki
- create a new key named "Parameters"
- inside this key we must create 3 strings entries
----- "Application" with value = "f:\directory1\directory2\directory3\mindtouch.host .bat"
----- "AppParameters" with empty value
----- "AppDirectory" with value = "f:\directory1\directory2\directory3"

The day you want to delete this service, execute "instsrv.exe Dekiwiki remove"

2 - Another shareware program is more simple, look at this link : Firedaemon

Finally, when you have created your service able to launch Dekiwiki, you only have to mention you want an automatic start into its properties
BTW, I have not personnaly tested all of that because I use a Linux wiki. Tell me if this correctly works

I've had luck on Windows Server 2003 running it as a scheduled task, with the schedule being "When my computer starts". I did set the task to run as a different user, because if I start up the job manually and it's running using my user, then it does not launch in the background.

Also, in order to stop it, I have to go into task manager to kill it. Stopping the scheduled task does not appear to kill the process.

Bizzz,

That looks pretty sweat. Thanks for sharing it!

Bizzz - Thanks SO much. That was _incredibly_ helpful information! I created a wiki page on OpenGarden based on your instructions.

Running Dekihost as a Windows Service

Bizzz - just awsome, your explanation :-) ... cant wait to try it next week (we have already weekend here in NZ).

PeteE - thx much for the wiki page ... I was looking for something like this for a couple of hours - before deciding it's just not there.

Great community you've got here!
I will let you know of my experience with Bizzz' suggestions ...

Thanks again!
Stefan

Many thanks, Bizzz - it worked just as expected and (almost) as you suggested :-)

The only comment that I have is that you need to point the start parameters of the Dekiwiki service to mindtouch.host.bat (not exe) ... but I just checked and it has already been updated on the wiki page.

Have a great day & thx again!
Stefan

Thanks for comments. I've edited my previous post and replaced .exe by .bat

By any chance, is there a similar approach for running a VMWare server...?

What do you want to do - run VMware without logging onto Windows, or run the script inside the (Linux) VM without logging onto the VM?

Both are equally possible - the first using VMware Server, rather than Player/Workstation, and the second happens already!