Auto start Schedule+ via Windows Log In

Hi All,

I have a question relating to automatically starting up schedule plus, e.g. after a computer power failure.

I have followed the instructions on this, ( create desktop shortcut, drop shortcut into startup menu, add bits on end of shortcut to make CGate connect to CBus and to cause Sched+ to open in operation mode ), my problem occurs as the computer only does this after someone has logged it into windows. i.e. if there is a power cut in the middle of the night, it will reboot and stop at the windows log in point. Once logged in, it carries on with its automatic start of schedule plus.

There is an option to remove the need to log into windows, and have the computer automatically skip this process and log itself on. The problem with this is it removes our secure access.

1) Is there a way to have schedule plus run automatically after a restart, regardless of whether a user has logged the computer into windows?

or:

2) Is there a better way to secure access to the host computer, so that the need to log into windows is negated?

and on a related matter

3) Is it possible to have schedule plus automatically reconnect itself to C-Bus, if the user inadvertently disconnects it, or closes C-gate, or shuts down shedule plus?

or alternatively

4) Is it possible to prevent the user from closing schedule plus or cgate?

Any insights appreciated

Regards

Stephen Laidler
ECOsystems NZ

 

Hi Stephen,

I would recommend reading the following post:

http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3355

It discusses several ways of running any piece of software as a "service", which means that windows starts the program as soon as it has booted, before anyone has even logged on.
It also discusses doing a little hard-coding in the registry to get a program to run automatically, meaning that it wouldn't appear in the start menu's "startup" folder, but it would still only run once a user had logged in.

I would recommend running the program as a service, because unless you know a hell of alot more than an average user, it would be very difficult for a normal person to stop the program from running.

Hope this helps,
Darpa

 

Where's Phil.H???

Darpa,

I read that thread and that Phil.H bloke doesn't know what he's talking about! Amateur!

He used to be an integrator you know

Where is Phil anyway? I haven't seen him make any posts for a while

It's probably better that way

 

power start up

You also want to get into the bios and change the preference to auto start on power recovery. we did this several time so the if the user had any power failure the pc would reboot on power restoral to mains.

Ive also used a freeware app called tweak that has a pretty simple user interface to allow a straight up boot into the user with out log in etc.

 

I use FireDaemon Pro to start HomeGate after a power failure. It took some tweaking to get the timing right but it works every time.

Ingo

 

Nathan, you've just reminded me of another approach.

Steve, if the PC running HG is in a secure location, and it doesnt matter if it stays logged on all the time, you can download a free little utility from Microsoft for Windows 2000/XP/Vista called "TweakUI". Gives you lots of advanced options to change things in Windows, one of which is an "AutoLogon" option, meaning that you can set the computer to login to a particular user account every time the PC boots.
This would mean that you could just add HG to the start menu>Startup folder, and it would start every time the PC turned on and auto-logged-in, although this still wouldn't fix your issue of preventing users from shutting HG down.

Also, Nathan is spot on about going into the PC's BIOS and looking for something like "AC Power State Fail" or something along those lines. Some motherboard BIOS's have it, some dont. I know Dell computers, and Intel and ASUS motherboards generally all support it, but cant speak for others, but if your motherboard supports it, it means you can have the PC automatically turn on as soon as mains power is restored.

Darpa

 

You dont even need TweakUI...

From a command prompt type'

Control userpasswords2

(If Vista - you probably should start up the command prompt as a run as administrator option - right click on it to do so)

This brings up some properties not normally accessable in the control panel of XP or Vista.

So now its a simple matter of ticking the box or unticking the box to the question relating to 'Users must enter a username to use this computer'. If its unticked, when you close the dialogue box, you will be prompted to enter the user and password that will be automatically logged in.

Reference: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/tips/knox2.mspx

This method does not compromise security - everything remains as it is setup, its just like a ghost will be logging the user / password on as normal when the machine starts.

Other things to remember ->
- As above; change Bios setting to allow machine state to start automatically after power failure
- Screen Saver, if your using one, dont forget that you can set this up for a required password (I normally dont want a password here)
- Power state, if allowing standby or hibernation - again ensure that you set it so that the user is automatically logged on, or they need to logon (I normally set the operation for no userid / password)

Lastly, there are hacks available for both XP and Vista that allow multiple users to be logged on simultatously through remote desktop. Thus allowing a second user to be created on the machine, which you can always use as a remote user to do maintenance...

- Well thats the way I work with htpc machines, its the way I would set it up for cbus related PC... Maybe its helped someone?

Enjoy