How to Install Amazon Photos as a Windows Service with AlwaysUp

The Amazon Photos app synchronizes photos, videos and more between your PC and your Amazon Cloud Drive.

To set up Amazon Photos desktop to run as a Windows Service with AlwaysUp:

1. If necessary, download and install the Amazon Photos desktop application:

   

   Enable the sync feature (from preferences screen) and ensure that your Amazon Drive files are copied to your PC as expected. If Amazon Photos doesn't work here, it won't magically work as a service either!

2. Download and install AlwaysUp, if necessary.

3. Start AlwaysUp.

4. Select Application > Add to open the Add Application window:

   

5. On the General tab:

   • In the Application field, enter the full path to the Amazon Photos executable, AmazonPhotos.exe. You will find it in this default location, where <USERNAME> is the name of your Windows account where the program was installed:

     C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Amazon Drive\AmazonPhotos.exe

   • In the Arguments field, enter the full path to the --enable=Sync. That runs Amazon Photos with file synchronization enabled.

   • In the Start the application field, select Automatically, but shortly after the computer boots.

     This setting — which delays service startup by 2-3 minutes — should ensure that critical system services (like networking and domain authentication) are ready and waiting when AmazonPhotos.exe is launched in the background.

   • And in the Name field, enter the name that you will call this application in AlwaysUp. When you click into the field, the default will be set to "AmazonPhotos", but you can change that if you like.

   

6. Click over to the Logon tab and enter the user name and password of the Windows account in which you installed and configured Amazon Photos.

   

7. Click over to the Startup tab and:

   1. Check the Ensure that the Windows Networking components have started box. This informs AlwaysUp that Amazon Photos needs the TCP/IP networking stack to operate.

   2. And do you want to have only a single copy of Amazon Photos running on the PC? If so, check both the Stop all copies of the application running on this computer and the Also whenever the application is restarted boxes.

      

8. We're now done configuring the new service, so click the Save button. In a couple of seconds, an application called AmazonPhotos (or whatever you called it) will show up in the AlwaysUp window. It is not yet running though and the state will be Stopped.

   

9. Now that Amazon Photos is installed as a Windows Service, it will start automatically at boot and run invisibly in the background (in the isolated Session 0). Let's adjust the application's preferences to reflect that new context.

   1. Click the Amazon Photos tray icon (), click your account icon, and select Preferences from the menu:

      

   2. Uncheck the Show notifications and Enable notification badges boxes. You won't be able to see any notifications when Photos is running in the background.

      And uncheck the Start Amazon Photos on startup box as well. That option launches Photos when you log in, which is no longer needed now that AlwaysUp will start it earlier at boot.

      

      Click OK to save your changes.

   3. Close Amazon Photos. Click on the tray icon, then the account icon and select Exit Amazon Photos.

10. To start Amazon Photos, choose Application > Start "AmazonPhotos". The state should transition to Running after a few seconds and Amazon Photos should synchronizing your cloud files in the background. Copy a file to test!

    

11. That's it! Next time your computer boots, your Amazon Photos service will be launched immediately, before anyone logs on. Feel free to edit the entry in AlwaysUp and add more advanced options. For example, restart Photos if it uses too much RAM, send an email if the app fails, and much more.

Amazon Photos not working properly as a Windows Service?

• Consult the AlwaysUp Troubleshooter — our online tool that can help you resolve the most common problems encountered when running an application as a windows service.

• From AlwaysUp, select Application > Report Activity > Today to bring up an HTML report detailing the interaction between AlwaysUp and Amazon Photos desktop. The AlwaysUp Event Log Messages page explains the messages that may appear.

• Browse the AlwaysUp FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions and troubleshooting tips.

• Contact us and we will be happy to help!