Running in Service Mode

NiceLabel Automation runs as a Windows service and is designed not to require any user intervention while processing data and executing actions. The service is configured to start when the operating system is booted and runs in the background for as long as Windows is running. NiceLabel Automation remembers the list of all loaded configurations and active triggers. The last-known state is automatically restored when the server restarts.

The service runs with privileges of the user account selected during the installation. The service inherits all access permissions of that user account, including access to network shared resources, such as network drives, and printer drivers. Use the account of an existing user with sufficient privileges, or even better, create a dedicated account just for NiceLabel Automation.

You can manage the service by launching the Services from Windows Control Panel. In a modern Windows operating system, you can also manage the services using Services tab in Windows Task Manager. You would use Services to execute tasks such as:

Starting and stopping the service.
Changing the account under which the service logs on.

Good Practices Configuring the User Account for Service

While being possible, it is considered a bad practice to run the service under the Local System Account. This is a predefined local Windows account with extensive privileges on the local computer, but is usually without privileges to access network resources. NiceLabel Automation requires full access to the account's %temp% folder, which might not be available for Local System Account.
If creating a new user account for NiceLabel Automation service, make sure that you log in Windows with this new user for at least once. This makes sure that the user account is fully created. E.g., when you log in, the temporary %temp% folder is created.
Disable the requirement to occasionally change password for this user account.
Make sure the account has permissions to Log on as service.
Run the Service in x64 (64-bit) mode.

Accessing Resources

NiceLabel Automation inherits all privileges from the Windows user account under which the service runs. The service executes all actions under that account name. Label can be opened if the account has permissions to access the file. Label can be printed if the account has access to the printer driver.

If using revision control system and approval steps inside Document Storage in Control Center, you have to make the service's user account a member of the 'Print-Only' profile, such as Operator. When done, configure access permissions for the specific folder to read-only mode or profile Operator. This makes sure that NiceLabel Automation only uses the approved labels, not drafts.

For more information, see section Access to Network Shared Resources.

Service Mode: 32-bit vs 64-bit

NiceLabel Automation can run on 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) systems natively. The execution mode is auto-determined by the Windows operating system. NiceLabel Automation runs in 64-bit mode on 64-bit Windows, and in 32-bit mode on 32-bit Windows.

Printing: There are benefits of running Automation as a 64-bit process, such as direct communication with the 64-bit printer Spooler service on 64-bit Windows. This eliminates the well-known issue caused by the SPLWOW64.EXE, which is a 'middleware' that enables 32-bit applications to use the 64-bit printer spooler service.
Database access: While running as a 64-bit process, NiceLabel Automation Service requires the 64-bit version of database drivers to be able to access the data. For more information, see section Accessing Databases.

Note

If you don't have 64-bit database drivers for your database, you cannot use NiceLabel Automation in 64-bit mode. You have to install it on a 32-bit system, or force it to run in 32-bit mode.

Forcing x86 Operation Mode on Windows x64

There might be reasons to run NiceLabel Automation as a 32-bit application on 64-bit Windows.

To force NiceLabel Automation into x86 mode on Windows x64, do the following:

Select Start > Run.
Type in regedit and press Enter.
Navigate to the key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\NiceLabelAutomationService

Change the file name to NiceLabelAutomationService10.x86.exe, while keeping the existing path.
Restart NiceLabel Automation service.

Warning

It is not recommended to change the NiceLabel Automation service mode. If you decide to change it anyway, make sure you perform an extensive trigger testing before deploying the configuration in production environment.