Running Sympholight as a service and disable autologin

DISCLAIMER: This is a feasibility study. Wrong usage of the nssm tool can lead to a malfunctioning operating system! A backup of the system should be done before using it! Traxon e:cue doesn't take any responsibility for issues caused by applying the changes described in this article!


Autologin for user on LCE is not always desired because of security concerns.
But without a logged in user Sympholight can’t start.
This article describes how you can install the Console Version of Sympholight as a Windows service and add a show file as an attribute. Afterwards, an instance of the Sympholight Console Version is started as a service directly after bootup. The showfile, which is set as an attribute, is the file that will be loaded by this service. A login by a user is not needed anymore.

The steps described in this article have been tested on a LCE3 with the October 2021 Release Image.


What you’ll need:
- Console Version of Sympholight (tested with Sympholight Console 5.2.2053.2510) 
- Non-sucking-service-manager (see attached nssm-2.24 ZIP File)
- a showfile located in a non-user-exclusive path
NOTE: Sympholight standard installer doesn't contain Console Version, Console Version can be provided on request!

Step by step:

  1. Unzip the contents of your Sympholight Console Version ZIP File to C:\Program Files\ecue\Sympholight Console 5.2.2053.2510\ (foldername might differ, if you use a different version)

  2. Unzip the contents of nssm-2.24.zip to C:\Program Files\nssm-2.24\

  3. Place the showfile, that you want the service to use, in a non-user-exclusive path (in this example it will be directly on C:\)

  4. Open cmd with elevated rights and navigate to the nssm folder, subfolder win64, and execute “nssm install SympholightConsole”


  5. nssm Service Installer Window will show, with the Servicename already set as “SympholightConsole”.


  6. Navigate to SympholightConsole.exe in the Field “Path”, Field “Startup Directory” will be filled out automatically. Leave it unchanged.

  7. Paste the location of your showfile to the Field “Arguments”, in this case C:\TickTock.lprj


  8. Click on “Install Service” and confirm the following popup, that will notify you of the successful operation

  9. Exit the cmd prompt. There should now be a service SympholightConsole when you check in services.msc


  10. Execute netplwiz and activate “User must enter a username and password to use this computer” to disable autologin


  11. Restart the machine. Autologin is now disabled and the SympholightConsole service will start automatically after bootup and load the specified show file. You can check this by using a different machine that can reach the machine, which is running the service, and navigate to IP-address:8081 and see if Sympholight loads.



What if I want to change the showfile?

You can either replace the existing showfile with a new one with the exact same name, so you don’t have to change any settings regarding the service. If you want a different showfile name you need to delete the existing service (see steps below) and reinstall the service by following the steps 3. to 9. above.


How do I remove the service?
1. open cmd with elevated rights

2. execute command “SC STOP SympholightConsole”

3. execute command “SC DELETE SympholightConsole”

4. confirmation [SC] DeleteService SUCCESS should be shown, service is now deleted






Attached Files
nssm-2.24.zip
404kb