Automatically Starting Eclipse Classic

Eclipse-COMM must be running in a logged-in Windows user session. When Eclipse Classic is installed on a virtual machine, or in a computer locked in an office, it is important that Eclipse-COMM can automatically start when the computer is started.

Note: We are aware that it would be preferred to run Eclipse-COMM as a Windows Service. Unfortunately, this is currently not possible. We have tried a number of utilities that launch applications as a service but none have been able to run Eclipse-COMM in a supported manner.

Automatically Login to Windows PC

The master Windows user should be configured to automatically log into the PC when it starts. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using the Autologon tool from Microsoft.

Autologon allows you to easily configure Windows’ built-in autologon mechanism. Instead of waiting for a user to enter their name and password, Windows uses the credentials you enter with Autologon, which are encrypted in the registry, to log on the specified user automatically.

You can download the Autologin tool and setup instructions here.

Automatically Start Eclipse-COMM

The Eclipse Master user account should be used when configuring this task. Eclipse Classic has a utility executable, xlstartup.exe, that will start Eclipse Classic and Eclipse-COMM in a controlled manner. It takes the following command line arguments:

Start Eclipse Classic

• T = start
• F = don't start
• R = rebuild indexes, then start

Start Eclipse-COMM

• T = start
• F = don't start

For example, to launch both Eclipse Classic and Eclipse-COMM, you would use the command xlstartup.exe T T

It is recommended to launch this application from the Windows Task Scheduler. Navigate to the Windows Start menu and search for Task Scheduler.

Create a task:

Name the task according to function, such as “Start Eclipse” or “Auto-Start Eclipse.”

Set the trigger for the task:

Select “Start a program” as the action for your task. Then browse to the xlstartup.exe program in the Master Eclipse folder (typically C:/Eclipse).

You have now configured the Eclipse PC to automatically log in a user and automatically start Eclipse and Eclipse-COMM.