Easiest way to start application before login?
I would like to have an application restart automatically if a server crashes. It would have to restart without needing a user to login to an account. (run a program before login)
Based on my research I came up with a list of options
- Autologin to account + trigger application to start through windows service or task scheduler
- Wrap the application in a windows service
- Schedule application to be run when computer is powered on using windows task scheduler (Is this even possible?)
- Find a windows utility or free program that can do this
Are there any better ones? I just want the easiest solution to implement.
You can edit the local security policy to run a startup script. This runs when the system starts in 2003, 2008, XP and others. Also runs with elevated privileges
Run gpedit.msc and then go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts
There you will see Startup and Shutdown.
There are two ways I would do this:
The Proper Way - run the app as a service.
The Quick And Dirty Way - run the app as a scheduled task. One of the scheduling options is for when the computer starts.
Don't expect either of those solutions to work well with an app that needs to be interactive.