AutoStart under Windows

[stevendt]

Hi,
I have just downloaded the latest version of CumulusMX and am trying to get it set up under Windows

The program will run on a machine that runs other Weather Software, currently, everything is running through VirtualVP and started/monitored by StartWatch.I would like Cumulus to auto-start on Windows startup, but I am struggling to get StartWatch to do this. Can anyone help please?

I have seen that Cumulus needs to run as Administrator but I can't find a way for StartWatch to do that. I tried enabling "Run this program as Administrator", but this brings up the UAC dialog which I don't want and StartWatch fails to run the program. I also saw that I can enter a netsh command to allow Cumulus to run without Admin privs. I did that and StartWatch can start the program and the web pages can be used locally and remotely, but the data is not being saved, i.e., the data logs are not being updated so the graphs are not being updated.

Can anyone help me set this up please?
regards
Dave

[stevendt]

Hi,
an update . . . .

It seems that my lack of logging was due to errors on my station hardware. I am in the middle of repairing some problems and installing Cumulus was something that I have started to do as part of the bigger task of getting the station all operational again. I turned on debugging and saw that the errors in the data seemed to be stopping Cumulus from logging (by design). I found the NoSensorCheck .ini file option and that seems to have got rid of the lack of logging/trending issue. (I will turn it off when I get the station repaired).

I still need to know the best way to do unattended startup of Cumulus though.

regards
Dave

[sfws]

Just to say that MX does not have to run as administrator on Windows. It does have to be given permission to create the web server that runs the admin interface. Please see https://cumuluswiki.org/a/Cumulus_MX#Re ... on_Windows for the relevant documentation.

I have to say that I am struggling with automatic unattended start-up of MX myself on Windows, because of a couple of factors not directly related to MX, these are my web server no longer starting unattended and interruptions to my power supply by a contractor working on cables.

As elsewhere in that Wiki documentation states, I was previously successfully starting MX by an entry in the startup folder windows uses for each user. But I also run my own web server, and if MX starts without that apache server running correctly, it used to be okay. For some reason I don't understand, that Apache server is now displaying a prompt every time it is automatically asked to start, and does not actually start until the okay on that message has been clicked, so it will not work unattended! If MX needs to do a FTP to my web server before Apache is actually running there will be a failure.

All went wrong when I set MX to update the standard monthly database table, as it tries to do that as soon as it starts, consequently an automatically started MX crashes with a message "Please zip up your MXDiags and press ENTER to close". I have not mentioned this issue before, because I took the MX out of the start-up folder and started to start MX manually. That way it works perfectly, but I now have to remember to restart it if my PC has been off for any reason (and I'm having my home rewired which does not help).

[Phil23]

I have to say that I am struggling with automatic unattended start-up of MX myself on Windows,

I've always had Cumulus start unattended from the XP/Cumulus1 days.

From memory MX has run here on Vista?, Win7 & Currently Win8.

Win8 presented issues with using the Startup Group due to UAC, but I got past that by launching it with Task Scheduler.
For a period I did need to run the task with administrative privileges, but that period now seems to have passed.

The task is set to run at logon (with delay from memory) & I have AutoAdminLogon configured on that PC.
In my case I also have addition triggers for my daily restarts.

For a long time the program to run was simply C:\CumulusMX\CumulusMX.exe,
but during the last week I have changed it to the way Mark recently suggested.

Essentially:-

C1.JPG

C2.JPG

C3.JPG

At this point I can probably reduce my Shutdown/Restarts for WeatherLink to once a day.
Only thing is that would require some timing changes as the download time for WeatherLink to retrieve data would be increased.

Edit:- I also have my Desktop Icon for CMX pointing to the Scheduled Task rather than the CMX exe as this allows it to be always started with the same window properties.

[Phil23]

Further to the above,

Details on using AutoAdminLogon can be found here.

Also the Primary noticeable between staring it with just the CumulusMX.exe Vs Cmd.exe as Mark suggested is how the task behaves.

With the first method the Task stays in the running state, So last Run Status alwasy shows as 0x41301 (Running) instead of the Task showing the completed status of 0x0.

Phil.