backburner as a service only when logged out of windows

[powerandrubber]

I read somewhere saying this is possible but I can't seem to find it. Basically I want backburner (as a service) to run on user computers only when they are logged out of windows. This way when they log in backburner does not interfere with there work or computer performance. At the end of the day instead of shutting the computer off, they can log out and backburner turns on and cranks out frames. (getting them to start and stop backburner has proved futile) We're running a simple network with no domain, 1 shared file server. Win2K

[jonahhawk]

I second this request as we have 50+ nodes scattered over three floors and two buildings. Starting them all by myself sux.

[DaForce]

I would be interested to see if that works.... I dont initially see how it can.

It seems you might be able to run a script at log off. Which might be able to start the service???
Have a look in START -> RUN -> gpedit.msc -> OK
Then under user configuration, under windows settings there is a thing called scripts (logon/logoff)
You can add a script in there that starts the BB service on logoff and stops it on logon.
Dont know if BB will actually run without the computer being logged in tho, as it need permissions and stuff at access the network shares.

I guess another option is getting the user to log back in with a render only user account when they go home for the day. But they probabaly couldnt handle that either.

[Dynedain]

Run it as a service, but use my low priority script (you can find it on scriptspot) so that it doesn't interrupt the users.

[powerandrubber]

I was thinking that the service would start upon booting and then kill when logging in. I'm going to look into logging scripts and see if that's possible. Dynedain even if the service ran as low priority wouldn't it still try to render in the background and consume computer resources? The office drones wouldn't like that.

[Dynedain]

Dynedain even if the service ran as low priority wouldn't it still try to render in the background and consume computer resources? The office drones wouldn't like that.

Yes, but they probably wouldn't even notice. The other thing you could try doing is using the scheduling features in backburner.

[powerandrubber]

I've done some looking around for info on scripting and I found some code that is supposed to stop a service but I can't get it to work.

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strComputer = "."
strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colServices = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("SELECT * FROM Win32_Service WHERE Name = 'serversvc'")
For Each objService in colServices
errReturnCode = objService.StopService()
Next
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Feel free to play with this. Basically save it as a .vbs file and execute it from a dos window using the cscript command. <example "cscript scriptname.vbs"> Should be easy to assign it to a login profile if we can get it to work, from the windows help file...
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To assign a logon script to a profile
Open Computer Management.
In the console tree, click Users.
Where?

Computer Management
System Tools
Local Users and Groups
Users
Right-click the user account you want, and then click Properties.
On the Profile tab, in Logon script, type the file name and location of the script.
For a network path, use the following form:

\\ServerName\ProfilesFolderName\UserProfileName

For example:

\\Puma\Profiles\Clerk

Notes

To open Computer Management, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
If the logon script is stored in a subdirectory of the domain controller's logon script path (Sysvol\DomainName\Scripts), precede the file name with that relative path, such as:
clerks.bat or admins\lauraj.cmd
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[sea2stars]

eh.. you could give this a try too, it's a little farther down. I've tried it before but didn't have too much luck. Well.. not enough patience/time to make it work.

http://discussion.autodesk.com/threa...hreadID=456140

[powerandrubber]

The info on that link works perfect! Install backburner as a service "serversvc -i" from the backburner folder in dos. I went into administrative tools>services and changed backburner to manual instead of automatic but I don't know if that makes any difference. Do this exactly...
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You'll start by creating two batch files.

Open a text editor such as Notepad and enter the following line:
net start backburner_srv_200
Save this as a text file named Netstart_BK_Server.bat.

Create a new file containing the following line:
net stop backburner_srv_200
Save this as a text file named Netstop_BK_Server.bat.

Next, you'll to edit the logon and logoff policy for the system.
Browse to the c:\WINNT\system32 directory and find gpedit.msc.
This is the file that edits and manages the Group Policy for the system.
Right-click the file and then choose Open.
The Group Policy dialog appears.
In the dialog, expand User Configuration > Windows Settings, and then click
Scripts (Logon/Logoff).
The right-hand pane lists Logon and Logoff.
In the right pane, right-click Logon and choose Properties.
In the Properties dialog, click Add, click Browse, and browse to the
Netstop_BK_Server.bat file you created. Click OK twice to close the Logon Properties dialog.

Similarly, open the Properties dialog for Logoff and specify the Netstart_BK_Server.bat file.
Close the Group Policy dialog.

You have now set up the system to stop the backburner service at any user logon, and to start it at any user logoff.
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Only problem with this is that backburner doesn't see my network paths because it's not logged in. Hopefully I'll find a fix for that, I'll post if I do!

[Dynedain]

BTW, setting up login/logout scripts is a lot easier if you move your setup to a domain instead of standalone machines. Note that this doesn't mean that you have to implement network homes.

[DaForce]

powerandrubber:
In the services window you can specify a user/pass to login with when the service is started.
So if you can tie that in with the scripts it sounds like your good to go

[powerandrubber]

Woo hoo! Thanks DaForce that works. I specified my administrator name and password and it renders logged out of windows and still finds all the network resources. Perfect!

[DaForce]

Sweet

So works well hey. I imagine this would be helpfull for alot of places that dont have specific render nodes as such.