softsqueeze as a Windows XP service

[andlauer]

Hello,

I am trying to run softsqueeze as a Windows XP service. I have defined a service using INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE, and specified softsqueezeHeadless.exe as the application. The service starts and remains active, which is a good sign. But SlimServer does not find softqueeze. Every time the service starts up, it creates a error.log file requesting 'Please include the slimserver address on the command line'. I have tried to specify -Dslimserver=localhost in AppParameters key, but the symptoms remain.

So here are my questions:

Q1: Is there a known way to start softsqueeze as a Windows XP service? If so, where is it documented?
Q2: Has anyone here experienced and solved the above problem? If so, how?
Q3: Is squeezeslave and alternative to softsqueeze as a Windows XP service?

Thank you in advance for your support, and regards.

[mherger]

> Q3: Is squeezeslave and alternative to softsqueeze as a Windows XP
> service?

Yes, though I don't know the current state of squeezeslave. SqueezeSlave
is a command line client without a GUI and is IMHO developped in C. It
should therefore use less memory than SoftSqueeze

--

Michael

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http://www.herger.net/SlimCD - your SlimServer on a CD
http://www.herger.net/slim - AlbumReview, Biography, MusicInfoSCR

[NigelMSB]

Q1: Is there a known way to start softsqueeze as a Windows XP service?

This isn't a service but the effect is similar. You could try using Windows Task Scheduler (Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks). Something like this should work:

- Create another user on the computer (doesn't have to be an administrator) and log on as it.
- Configure Softsqueeze as you want it and confirm that it works.
- Close Softsqueeze and start SoftsqueezeHeadless and confirm that it works too.
- Close SoftsqueezeHeadless (from Task Manager), log off and log back on as an administrator (make sure it's a different user to the user you created in the first step).
- From Scheduled Tasks, create a new task to run start at system startup. Configure it to run SoftsqueezeHeadless.exe and log on as the user you created in the first step.
- Right-click the new task and select run.
- Softsqueeze should now work.

[JJZolx]

Q1: Is there a known way to start softsqueeze as a Windows XP service? If so, where is it documented?
Q2: Has anyone here experienced and solved the above problem? If so, how?

I'm doing this on my PC at work. A couple of important steps:

- Run the service logged in under a user account, not the Local System account.

- Run the non-headless version of SoftSqueeze to configure it with the necessary information regarding the SlimServer location, ports, etc.

[JJZolx]

I believe my last replay wasn't completely correct. I just finished playing with this again tonight and think I've figured it out a little better.

One of the problems is that when SoftSqueeze is run on Windows apparently neither the two SoftSqueeze EXEs nor the application in the Java .jar, accept command-line options. SoftSqueeze get its settings strictly from the registry. I don't think this is documented anywhere.

The second problem is that when you run SoftSqueeze and configure it with the server IP address, the settings are saved in the registry only for the current user. They're not system-wide settings. So if you try to run the service under another account SoftSqueeze won't find the necessary registry hive and it shuts down and records the address error in the error log.

The solution is to create a user account on the machine. Log in to the machine using that user account. Run SoftSqueeze and configure it with the IP address of the server and set any other settings, such as buffer size. Then have the service log on with that account.