Running FaD as a service

[Fardringle]

I apologize if this has been answered already, but I've searched here and on the FaD forums and can't find a solid answer.

As some of you already know, a moronic contractor killed my FaD install at one of the offices I take care of, and even though the boss said I could put it back, I know the idiot contractor will try to zap it again and I can't tell the boss to sack the contractor because he's a close family friend of the boss. :disgust:

So....

I want to install FaD using the new version's ability to run as a service, but I have a couple of questions first:

1) If I do a centralized install on the server can I still run the client as a service on the workstations considering the fact that users have to be logged in to the domain to access files there? Workstation policies are set up so that users have to be logged in to the domain to access local and shared network resources on the workstations as well so putting the 'server' on a PC would have the same restrictions. I'd really like to stick with a server install since that makes it extremely easy to track the progress of all of the clients using FADSpy (individual installs would mean I have to share folders on each of the individual workstations, which I'd rather not do if I don't have to).

2) Regardless of whether I put the client on each individual PC or put it on the server, can the service be configured to not show up in Task Manager so the moron can't see that it's running and try to remove it again? If it can't be completely hidden, can it be set up as a system service so that it can't be killed from within Task Manager?


I'd really like to get the 20 PCs at this office up and running again, so I'd appreciate any input you can give me.


Thanks,
Fardringle

 

[Freewolf]

I don't know the answers but I posted the questions on the Find Drug forums so someone should be able to help

 

[Fardringle]

Thanks. I can browse there but the forums won't let me create an account to post it myself (the ONLY email I have that I'd be willing to use on a forum is my Hotmail account, and they won't accept it).

 

[Silverthorne]

I just noticed the other day that Think had updated itself to 1.30c because I could not see it running in the tray but it was running as a process. I then noticed that it had been set up as a service also, strange thing is that I didn't think it would update itself. Now it just causes problems with Fadspy.

 

[Freewolf]

Here is what Think said

"When configuring the networked clients by running \\server\share\fadsetup (where share is the share name on server), you must specify the username and password. You may need to use the username@domain syntax (1.30c does not support domain\username).

The service processes are visible and can be stopped in the task manager if the user has administrator privilege."

 

[office boy]

I'm running the old 1.25g and it's not a "service" but it's not very visible to any end users.
I just have a scheduled task launch think.exe from a shared folder on the server (aka \\server\FaD\think.exe)
The schedule is to start FAD on startup, so it runs the whole time the PC is on, even when the user is logged off.
Just be sure to run the task as a user that has administrative privileges.

One nice thing is that scheduled tasks is a network resource that is available as standard.
And if your users don't have admin access and you install/run as admin, they won't be able to stop it from the task manager either.

 

[Smoke]

I have installed FaD on approximately 7 computers so far and I must admit I'm a little confused.

I checked "beta" in the Projects area of the "setup", then I went to "queue" and clicked "receive". This seemed to download some jobs but also appeared to download a different version of "think". I cannot verify this but I think I saw something named "beta" download? This may be a new version that incorporates running "think" as a service because sometime later (after a couple of days and several reboots) I noticed the "think shortcut" no longer appeared in my "startup". I checked my "services" and found Fad listed. So somehow FaD is now running as a service on four machines?

Where can I check the version I'm running?

I tried to duplicate my actions when installing on other computers but could not seem to find the magic key or routine again. The last three machines appear to have "think" located in their "startup". Maybe they will magically appear as a service in a couple of days? lol

Just wanted to post my experience to date ...

 

[Freewolf]

Originally posted by: Smoke
I have installed FaD on approximately 7 computers so far and I must admit I'm a little confused.

I checked "beta" in the Projects area of the "setup", then I went to "queue" and clicked "receive". This seemed to download some jobs but also appeared to download a different version of "think". I cannot verify this but I think I saw something named "beta" download? This may be a new version that incorporates running "think" as a service because sometime later (after a couple of days and several reboots) I noticed the "think shortcut" no longer appeared in my "startup". I checked my "services" and found Fad listed. So somehow FaD is now running as a service on four machines?

Where can I check the version I'm running?

I tried to duplicate my actions when installing on other computers but could not seem to find the magic key or routine again. The last three machines appear to have "think" located in their "startup". Maybe they will magically appear as a service in a couple of days? lol

Just wanted to post my experience to date ...

When you check the beta box Think will download the latest beta version of the software which has a default service install. When the beta becames none beta and becomes the latest regular version of the software it is then downloaded to all machines and they are updated. I believe that version is now 1.30c
None of my machines have been updated other then the ones I have set to recieve betas.
bty to remove the icon from the taskbar just uncheck the box in setup.

 

[Freewolf]

I just checked on the dowload page and 1.25g is still the latest regular version. 1.30c is the latest beta.
to check your version go to the q window and click on the about box at the top

 

[Smoke]

Originally posted by: Freewolf
I just checked on the dowload page and 1.25g is still the latest regular version. 1.30c is the latest beta.
to check your version go to the q window and click on the about box at the top

Thank you for that.

I'm running "THINK v1.30c".

I think I've installed FaD identically on all of the machines so I wonder why the last three are running v1.25g? As I stated above, I have "beta" checked.

 

[Freewolf]

Originally posted by: Smoke

Originally posted by: Freewolf
I just checked on the dowload page and 1.25g is still the latest regular version. 1.30c is the latest beta.
to check your version go to the q window and click on the about box at the top

Thank you for that.

I'm running "THINK v1.30c".

I think I've installed FaD identically on all of the machines so I wonder why the last three are running v1.25g? As I stated above, I have "beta" checked.

If you want them to run the beta just click on the recieve button at the top of the q window and it should download and install .

 

[Smoke]

That is what I did but it did not seem to download the beta version on the last three machines? That's what has me stumped?

 

[Freewolf]

Originally posted by: Smoke
That is what I did but it did not seem to download the beta version on the last three machines? That's what has me stumped?

Have you rebooted the machines lately?

 

[Smoke]

The three machines in question are remote so they may not have rebooted lately. I'll check on that tonight.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: office boy
I'm running the old 1.25g and it's not a "service" but it's not very visible to any end users.
I just have a scheduled task launch think.exe from a shared folder on the server (aka \\server\FaD\think.exe)
The schedule is to start FAD on startup, so it runs the whole time the PC is on, even when the user is logged off.
Just be sure to run the task as a user that has administrative privileges.

One nice thing is that scheduled tasks is a network resource that is available as standard.
And if your users don't have admin access and you install/run as admin, they won't be able to stop it from the task manager either.

Would you mind sharing the steps to do this? I know how to set up scheduled tasks but I've never set one up to run before login. All users have local admin rights (required for the software they run) so they'll probably still be able to kill the service, but at least it won't show up in the start menu or the Run section of the registry where I had it set up before. And having it run at startup instead of after the users log in will be nice, too.

 

[office boy]

Originally posted by: Fardringle

Would you mind sharing the steps to do this?

For win2k

1. open up network share (\\computer name)
2. Go to scheduled tasks
3. Right Click and at the bottom go to new > then scheduled task
4. right click new task and go to Properties,
5. Add network path to think.exe in the Run box
6. Next tab over (schedule) Schedule task: "At System Startup" (third from the bottom)
7. Next tab over (settings) uncheck all the stop task boxes.
8. back to main tab, make sure the right user is listed, and then set the password for that user.
9. Hit ok
10. Right click on new task and select Run


For bonus extra easy points, just copy this newly created "file" to everyone else?s scheduled tasks.

 

[Fardringle]

Cool, thanks. I'll have to try that the next time I'm in the office.

 

[Smoke]

Originally posted by: Freewolf

Originally posted by: Smoke
That is what I did but it did not seem to download the beta version on the last three machines? That's what has me stumped?

Have you rebooted the machines lately?

Two of the remote machines after rebooting were running as a service.

The beta version must have downloaded in the last 24 - 48 hours on those systems. And as others have stated, the beta version (service) just takes care of things and installs itself.

 

[Freewolf]

Originally posted by: Smoke

Originally posted by: Freewolf

Originally posted by: Smoke
That is what I did but it did not seem to download the beta version on the last three machines? That's what has me stumped?

Have you rebooted the machines lately?

Two of the remote machines after rebooting were running as a service.

The beta version must have downloaded in the last 24 - 48 hours on those systems. And as others have stated, the beta version (service) just takes care of things and installs itself.

Cool beans

 

[JTWill]

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121132.html
[FaD] Information - TechIMO Forums


To install Find-A-Drug service:

1. Start menu -> Run...
2. Paste the following line and press [enter]:

sc create ThinkService binPath= "C:\Program Files\Find-a-drug\loader.exe" start= auto error= ignore DisplayName= "Find-a-Drug Think Service"

To Remove Find-A-Drug service:

1. Start menu -> Run...
2. Paste the following line and press [enter]:

sc delete ThinkService

 

[office boy]

'sc' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=251192
"To remotely create and start a service from the command line, you can use the SC tool (Sc.exe) included in the Resource Kit. "
So track down your resource kits.

 

[Freewolf]

There is a program here
http://www.fadspy.20gigs.com/

Called MKiller which stops find a drug when task manager is running.

 

[Fardringle]

That looks very interesting, Freewolf!

I'll have to test it out on my home PC in combination with the Scheduled Task install that office boy posted to see what happens (I'm leaning towards the Task method rather than the service to make it easier to run it from the server).