Trying to start Shutter for Windows without logging in

robardin · 2025-01-03 22:32

I had first used Shutter Pro about 2 years ago on a Plex server PC install, to have the ability to use the web interface to remote reboot the machine.

This was very useful because for one reason or another on that install, Plex would sometimes hang and need to be killed/restarted; if I wasn't at home and wanted to access my Plex server, I could (and did) remote reboot the PC completely, with me having set up Plex to run on startup via the Windows Task Scheduler.

But, I need to be able to configure Shutter to start on PC startup without a logon action. The option in the options menu only launches Shutter on logging in (even though the option says "on startup/logon", it is really just "logon", which of course you can only do after a startup, but I want to do it on startup WITHOUT a logon action).

In Task Scheduler, I remember that did the same thing with Shutter as for Plex: set up a "task" that executed "on startup" that ran as me, with admin privileges, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Shutter\Shutter.exe"

However, that PC fried its motherboard. And in setting up a new Plex server, I found I had to upgrade to the latest version of Shutter.

And now this command does not work via Task Scheduler! That, or I had some other step to take that I didn't write down and don't recall.

The PC reboots, but my remote web interface does not connect to anything (times out) until/unless I logon. Then it comes alive.

How can I run Shutter WITHOUT LOGGING ON, something I had successfully figured out before?

den4b · 2025-01-04 21:08

You are talking about running Shutter as a service, without any user logged in.

This isn't officially supported, but there are ways of achieving this if you feel a bit advantageous.

This should get you started: https://www.den4b.com/wiki/Shutter:Run_as_service

robardin · 2025-01-05 00:19

I know running it as a service isn't supported; I'm talking about running it as a user process, but via Windows Task Scheduler such that it runs as my userid (with admin privileges) upon system starting up, without a logon action.

And somehow I have gotten it working again! I may have had to UN-check the "start on startup/logon as user" option in Shutter, as the key thing... I thought I'd tried that earlier, but I was also having issues with Windows Firewall setup and was changing multiple things at the same time.

Maybe also disabling the tray icon? I have disabled it, and it works, I just don't know if that's part of what got it to work. Maybe?

And of course, as normal for being able to use Shutter to do stuff on my PC from outside, I enabled the Web Interface listening to 0.0.0.0 (from everywhere) on port XYZ, configured my Internet router to pass through that port to my PC server on its local IP address (fixed), and also the Windows Firewall on this PC to pass through this port as an Inbound rule.

(And, to change these settings in Shutter, I ran it with "Run As Administrator" even though my user account has administrator rights.)

To do the "start Shutter on this host without logging in":

I created a "Basic Task" in Task Scheduler called "Powerup - Shutter" that would run as me, "Whether user is logged in or not", with "highest privileges" just in case (my user account has admin privileges - this required me to enter my password on setting up the Task, but not every time it fires):

With a Trigger of "At system startup",

With an Action to launch Shutter.exe,

And disabling the default setting to kill it after 3 days:

And I can confirm, if I reboot my PC (as with Shutter, remotely, without being at the computer to logon), after giving it 30 seconds or so to complete the boot-up, I can use the Web Interface again through the configured port from the Internet to see the menu (with a login/password).

Last edited by robardin (2025-01-05 00:45)

den4b · 2025-01-06 11:45

Thanks for documenting your setup.

The built-in options in Shutter simply register it to automatically start on logon either for all users and just the current user.

This is achieved by adding an entry to the following Windows Registry location:

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

You would be asked to launch Shutter as an administrator in order to change this setting for all users, but otherwise Shutter should run under a normal user.

However, you don't want these options in your setup because you are using the Task Scheduler to control the startup.

I wonder if it would be easier to set up Shutter as a service, for example via NSSM, instead of running it via the Task Scheduler. Maybe that's a task for another day.

den4b Forum

#1 2025-01-03 22:32

Trying to start Shutter for Windows without logging in

#2 2025-01-04 21:08

Re: Trying to start Shutter for Windows without logging in

#3 2025-01-05 00:19

Re: Trying to start Shutter for Windows without logging in

#4 2025-01-06 11:45

Re: Trying to start Shutter for Windows without logging in

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