{"id":6181,"date":"2019-04-26T20:58:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T20:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.use-snip.com\/kb\/?post_type=ht_kb&p=6181"},"modified":"2021-06-22T08:47:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T08:47:04","slug":"autostart-snip-at-login","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.use-snip.com\/kb\/knowledge-base\/autostart-snip-at-login\/","title":{"rendered":"Autostart SNIP at login"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recommendations for automatically starting the SNIP<\/strong><\/span> NTRIP Caster application once the user has logged in.\u00a0\u00a0 How to setup auto log-in<\/em> to a given account is also covered.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Aside<\/strong><\/span><\/em>: It is preferred to have SNIP<\/strong><\/span> run as a service<\/em> and then start that service before any party was logged in.\u00a0 However, because SNIP<\/strong><\/span> uses the desktop GUI, there are technical and security issues that prevent this solution at this time.\u00a0 The SNIP<\/strong><\/span> development team is still working to create a true service-based solution.]<\/p>\n

Why do this<\/h2>\n

Why do this?\u00a0 If you have mounted SNIP<\/strong><\/span> on a machine that runs unattended, and one that may be restarted, and you ALWAYS want SNIP<\/strong><\/span> to start and run, you will want to use a solution such as this.\u00a0 [This article pertains to running SNIP<\/strong><\/span> in the Windows environment]<\/p>\n

How to do this<\/h2>\n

This solution requires two additional steps beyond simply installing SNIP<\/strong><\/span> on the target machine.<\/p>\n

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  1. You must have the machine auto log-in to a given user account, the one that you routinely use to run SNIP<\/strong><\/span>. Because SNIP<\/strong><\/span> is being run as a desktop application<\/em> and not a service<\/em>, an active user logon is required in order to access the desktop services (and hence show the GUI display). You may wish to use an account created specifically for this purpose.<\/li>\n
  2. You must create a shortcut in the startup folder for that account (or for all accounts if you prefer) to run the provided utility tool “SNIPserviceMon.exe<\/strong>” which is a console application we have created that checks to ensure SNIP<\/strong><\/span> is running and will restart SNIP<\/strong><\/span> if it finds it; a) not running or b) it is not responsive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When the user first logs on, the SNIPserviceMon<\/strong> tool is started.\u00a0 It then checks the state of the SNIP<\/strong><\/span> application every 5 seconds thereafter.\u00a0 When the SNIPserviceMon<\/strong> tool sees that SNIP<\/strong><\/span> is not running, it starts the program\u00a0 (simpleNTRIP.exe). The small console window that shows the status of this can be minimized, but must remain running for the monitoring to continue.\u00a0\u00a0 If you were to stop SNIP<\/strong><\/span> by hand, will will be restarted as long as this program is active.\u00a0 If you wish to no longer run SNIP<\/strong><\/span>, simply kill this program before<\/em> exiting SNIP<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

    From SNIP<\/strong><\/span> release 2.09 onward (due to be released in May 2019) some additional functionality has been added to support this process as well.\u00a0 In particular when a forced shutdown occurs (Windows resetting, often due to service upgrades) SNIP<\/strong><\/span> now saves various intermediate files without operator intervention.<\/p>\n

    How to do this, step by step<\/em><\/h2>\n

    In the example that follows we have used a Windows 7 machine for the example, other models of Windows are similar.\u00a0 The SNIPserviceMon<\/strong> tool is available for download at the link below for existing users, and will be bundled with all copies of SNIP<\/strong><\/span> from release 2.09 onward (May 2019 release).\u00a0 [Aside<\/strong><\/em><\/span>:\u00a0 This tool uses a simple console (in English: like SNIP<\/strong><\/span>, it has a GUI), therefore it cannot be run as a service and will fail if you try to run it in that manner.]<\/p>\n

    Note: This solution is intended for Windows 7, 8, and 10 users.<\/p>\n

    Set Auto Logon<\/h3>\n

    In order for this to work, a user must be automatically logged in when the machine starts.\u00a0 There are many guides on how to do this for different widows platforms, here are several good ones:<\/p>\n