Auto-start at boot issues

For discussion of the Poker Mavens server module and other administration topics
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Grim
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:11 pm

Auto-start at boot issues

Post by Grim »

I'm using CertBot to update my certificates and it's a bit paranoid in regards to who has access to my files so I need to run PMavens as administrator for it to access the cert files. However, when I set the program's properties to run as administrator, the auto start at boot doesn't work.

I've turned off/all the way down UAC so it shouldn't be a problem. I checked event viewer but couldn't see anything interesting there. From what it looks like, it doesn't even try to start up. I tried setting auto start in PMavens to no, reboot and back to yes but with the same result. I don't see PMavens in Services but I'm not sure it's supposed to be there. I also tried to use Task Scheduler to start it up at boot for me, but that didn't happen either. Any idea what windows voodoo I should do?
Kent Briggs
Site Admin
Posts: 5878
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Auto-start at boot issues

Post by Kent Briggs »

Poker Mavens won't be listed in Services because it's just a regular app, not a service. When you enable "Auto start server at bootup" it creates this entry in the Windows Registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Poker Mavens 6 Server = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Briggs Softworks\Poker Mavens 6\PMServer.exe" -autostart

So confirm that entry is there via regedit:

Windows Start button -> Run -> regedit

Note that the program minimizes immediately to the system tray in the bottom right corner so you won't see anything after boot up. Double-click the the little green club icon in the Windows system tray to restore the Poker Mavens interface.
Grim
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:11 pm

Re: Auto-start at boot issues

Post by Grim »

Yup entry is there in regedit, and I also check systray for the icon but it doesn't start up.
Kent Briggs
Site Admin
Posts: 5878
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 pm

Re: Auto-start at boot issues

Post by Kent Briggs »

Try adding a shortcut to PMServer.exe in the regular Startup folder:

https://www.howtogeek.com/208224/how-to ... ndows-8.1/

Modify the command line to include the -autostart parameter like was done in the registry.
Grim
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:11 pm

Re: Auto-start at boot issues

Post by Grim »

That didn't help either. I tested some more and if I removed run as administrator it tried to start it up twice. Once from the registry and one from the startup folder, I guess.

Apparently Windows doesn't allow programs which start up at boot to run as administrator so I turned off auto-start at boot in the PokerMavens software, set the program to run as administrator, then made a VBS script that I placed in the startup-folder and that did the trick.

I'm adding the script here if anyone else needs, but bear in mind that you don't really need to run PMavens as administrator. I only have to so it's allowed to read the SSL certificates as I'm using a paranoid program to update them for me.

Code: Select all

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell" ) 
WshShell.Run """C:\Program Files (x86)\Briggs Softworks\Poker Mavens 6\PMServer.exe"" -autostart", 0
Set WshShell = Nothing
Please note that your folder path might be different.
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