Chris Blankenship's Ramblings

Some of you have read my previous post about running FolderShare as a Service.  Since that post Microsoft retired the FolderShare name and switched the product over to Windows Live Sync.  This change was not a big one, but required an update to the original post in order to continue to run as a service. So with this post I will update the instructions to ensure that you are able to run Windows Live Sync as a service.

One thing worth mentioning is that a slight difference exists when running Live Sync on a 64-bit vs. 32-bit operating system.  This is due to the different folder paths that are present between the operating system versions.  If you are running 64-bit you should use the Program Files folder path of C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Sync instead of the 32-bit path of C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Sync.

IMPORTANT:  Be sure you have already installed Windows Live Sync, that you have logged on and configured it for synchronization of the desired folders, have disabled the option to auto-start on login, and have stopped Windows Live Sync application. 

IMPORTANT:  If you aren’t able to run Windows Live Sync in an interactive session then running it as a service will not work.

IMPORTANT:  The account you logged into your workstation with and configured Windows Live Sync must be the same account used to run the WindowsLiveSync service.  If the accounts are different then the Windows Live Sync service will not work.

Here are the updated installation steps:

Download both instsrv.exe and srvany.exe (read more details at Microsoft’s site) and save into the C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Sync folder

Execute the following syntax to register the srvany.exe application as a service:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Sync\instsrv" WindowsLiveSync "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Sync\srvany.exe"

Execute the the following syntax to update the registry with the Application setting:

reg ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WindowsLiveSync\Parameters /v Application /D "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Sync\WindowsLiveSync.exe"

Execute the following syntax to update the registry with the Application Parameters:

reg ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WindowsLiveSync\Parameters /v AppDirectory /D "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Sync"

After running the above command line syntax you need to open up the services console (services.msc) and edit the properties of the WindowsLiveSync service you just created.  In the properties pane you need to configure the service to run under the user account that you used when you initially setup Windows Live Sync.

After you click OK or apply you might be informed the your account has been delegated “Logon as a Service” right.

You should be able to start the service (net start WindowsLiveSync) and verify on the Windows Live Sync website that your service is running and logged into the Windows Live Sync Servers.

That should just about do it for you.  Be sure you don’t have the client console launch while your server is running the WindowsLiveSync service or the service will stop working until you perform a WindowsLiveSync restart.

If you have any problems feel free to drop me a line for help…