A new command line switch to grant the service user access to the current desktop was introduced.
When stopping a group of services, an alert is no longer shown when a long-lived service exceeds the 1-minute time limit.
If necessary, the service account is now granted full access to the window station and desktop objects when starting in the current session.
As usual, please review the version history for the full list of features, fixes and improvements included in this release.
Upgrading to AlwaysUp Version 10
As per our upgrade policy, customers who purchased AlwaysUp 9 (after September 2014) can upgrade to version 10 at no additional cost. Just download and install “over the top” to preserve your existing applications an all settings. Your registration code will continue to work.
Automatic software updates are usually very welcome. You get bug fixes, security enhancements and the latest and greatest features, all without lifting a finger!
But automatic updates have a dark side as well. What happens if an update, which usually involves shutting down the software, takes place at a “bad” time and interrupts the application when it is busy with an important task? Or worse — what if a newly updated version introduces a defect that causes the software to fail in the wee hours of the morning when no one is there to fix it? The potential for problems like these should give anyone operating a 24×7 environment serious pause when weighing the pros and cons of automatic updates!
Such is the dilemma facing our customers running OneDrive 24×7 as a Windows Service with AlwaysUp. As seen in the screenshot of the OneDrive installation procedure above, OneDrive is free to download and install updates whenever it likes. But perhaps we can do something about that…
OneDrive is Auto Updated by a Scheduled Task
A little detective work using Microsoft’s excellent autoruns utility led us to realize that OneDrive installs a scheduled task called OneDrive Standalone Update Task v2 to perform its updates. Here it is in the Task Scheduler — configured to run “OneDriveStandaloneUpdater.exe” once daily when the Administrator is logged on:
The task’s history confirms that the update check is indeed firing at a random time each day:
This is how OneDrive updates itself!
Disable the Scheduled Task to Prevent OneDrive Auto Updates
To prevent OneDrive from automatically updating itself, simply disable the scheduled task. Right-click on the entry in the Task Scheduler and select Disable from the context menu to do the trick:
With the task disabled, the auto-update will no longer run and you will be stuck with the version of OneDrive currently installed. Great!
Now please don’t forget to update OneDrive occasionally — to get those important bug fixes, security enhancements and exciting new features. But do so in a safe, controlled environment at a time of your choosing, when you can perform the necessary testing and avoid unwelcome surprises.
May 2024 Update
The current version of OneDrive still installs a scheduled task to automatically update OneDrive. But, as described in the documentation from Microsoft, the OneDrive executable now downloads and installs updates automatically:
The OneDrive sync app checks for available updates every 24 hours when it’s running. If it stops and doesn’t check for updates in more than 24 hours, the sync app checks for updates as soon as it starts.
As a result, disabling the scheduled task will only prevent automatic updates when OneDrive isn’t running.
Having an issue with Google Drive where the sync doesn’t seem to take place right away. Any thoughts on what would cause this? I really need the sync to happen like it would normally when a file hits the folder it syncs.
Now problems like this can be difficult to troubleshoot when the application is running invisibly in the background (in Session 0). We advised Jeremy to restart Google Drive in the current session — to show Drive’s tray icon and windows on his desktop.
But Drive still refused to sync. It threw up a curious error:
After some detective work, Jeremy found the problem. A recent automatic software update had broken the Drive desktop client!
Beta Version of Google Drive Released By Mistake
Here is what the king of search reported on its status dashboard at 2:41 PM Eastern:
We’re aware of a problem with Google Drive affecting a significant subset of users. The affected users are able to access Google Drive, but are seeing error messages and/or other unexpected behavior. We will provide an update by 3/16/17, 3:41 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.
Some users of the Google Drive Sync client will be receiving the error message “Sorry, Backup and Sync needs to quit.”
We have identified the root cause of the issue and are implementing a potential fix now.
So it seems and a buggy version of the Drive desktop client (soon to be renamed “Backup and Sync”?) was inadvertently pushed out to thousands of computers. Ouch!
Thankfully the disruption only lasted until 7:22 PM EDT. Again, from the status page:
The problem with Google Drive should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support.
The Windows client will automatically update with this fixed version within the next 10 hours. Alternatively, affected users can download the updated version of the client from https://www.google.com/drive/download/. Affected Windows 10 users may be required to sign in to their Google account within the client.
A Cautionary Tale If You Need Google Drive To Stay Up 24/7!
Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that automatic updates have caused trouble for our customers using Google Drive. This article describes similar adventures that occurred in June of 2013.
But this most recent episode reminds us of the perils accompanying automatic updates. Despite the best of intentions, the same powerful system that distributes important security fixes and improvements will happily deliver corrosive bugs and destabilize your previously working software. For this reason, automatic software updates should be viewed with skepticism in professional environments where downtime is costly. Indeed, we recommend disabling updates for your mission-critical programs and scheduling manual upgrades during a safe maintenance window.
Sadly Google Drive doesn’t offer an easy way to avoid auto updates. Disabling a few scheduled tasks should stop the madness but we’ll do some digging and let you know if we come across a less intrusive method.
When you use AlwaysUp to launch your mission-critical application as a Windows Service, your program will likely run invisibly in the background (on the isolated Session 0). No windows or familiar tray icon will appear on your desktop — which can make it tricky to confirm that your application is truly running!
Fortunately the Windows Task Manager, which lists every application running on your computer, can come to the rescue. Follow these steps to find your application in Task Manager.
Find your Application’s PID in AlwaysUp
Each application that is running on your computer is backed by a “process”. And each process has a numeric identifier — a process ID, or PID for short.
To find the PID of the application that AlwaysUp has started, simply click the green “Running” circle to summon a helpful tooltip with the PID (and several other relevant tidbits):
Make note of the PID. It is 4728 in the screenshot above, which shows an installation running Dropbox as a service on Windows 10.
Find that PID in Task Manager
Next, let’s locate the process in Task Manager.
Please:
Start Task Manager by right-clicking on the Windows task bar and selecting Task Manager from the context menu:
If you see More details in the lower left of the window that comes up, click that text to reveal additional tabs:
Switch to the Details tab:
Note: We’re running on Windows 10, which lists all processes by default. If you are running on an older version — like Windows 7 or Server 2008 — you may have to click the Show processes from all users button (or checkbox) in the lower left to ensure that you see everything running on your PC:
Click on the PID column to sort. Then simply scroll to find your identifier from step one.
Here we’ve located our PID 4728, the instance of Dropbox started by AlwaysUp:
Posted onFebruary 10, 2017 (Revised March 27, 2022)
MetaTrader 4 (affectionately called MT4) is a very popular Forex trading platform. Several of our customers run the MT4 client as a Windows Service with AlwaysUp, ensuring that their trading platform operates continuously during trading hours.
Automatic Updates can cause Trouble!
MetaTrader will automatically update itself on your PC whenever the folks at MetaQuotes Software produce a new and improved version. This is a great feature when you start and run MT4 normally on your desktop, but the situation is a bit more complicated when MT4 is launched unattended in the background by software like AlwaysUp.
What happens if there is a problem updating and MT4 becomes corrupted?
Or suppose the update happens at an inconvenient time and causes you to miss an important trade?
Or maybe you’ve heard some horror stories about the new version and you want to stick with what you already have!
For these and other reasons, uncontrolled updates should be viewed with suspicion in your 24×7 environment. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Disable Auto-Updates when Starting MT4 from AlwaysUp
Fortunately there is an easy way to prevent MetaTrader from automatically updating itself. Simply invoke it with the “/skipupdate” command line parameter.
To achieve that in AlwaysUp:
Open your MT4 application settings in AlwaysUp (by double-clicking on the entry or selecting Application > Edit from the menu).
On the General tab, in the Arguments field, enter /skipupdate:
Save your settings.
That’s it. Next time AlwaysUp starts MT4, it will no longer attempt an update.
Now don’t forget to update MT4 manually every now and then — but at an appropriate time when the markets are closed.
(888) 881-CORE
The OneDrive sync app checks for available updates every 24 hours when it’s running. If it stops and doesn’t check for updates in more than 24 hours, the sync app checks for updates as soon as it starts.
