Effortlessly Install Popular Applications as Windows Services — With Expert Advice

The AlwaysUp Application Advisor guides you step-by-step, to quickly set up Dropbox, OneDrive, Java, Python, and more as 24/7 services

What applications does the Advisor support?

As at December 2023, the Application Advisor understands fourteen prominent programs:

	Dropbox: A popular cloud storage service that lets you save files online and sync them to your devices.
	OneDrive: Microsoft's premier cloud storage service that allows you to sync and share files between your computers and mobile devices.
	Batch files: Script files containing a series of commands to be executed by the Windows command-line interpreter.
	Google Drive for desktop: An easy way to access your cloud files from a drive letter on your computer.
	Emby Server: Your own media server that automatically converts and streams your media on-the-fly to play on any device.
	InfluxDB: A robust, open-source time series database designed to handle high write and query loads.
	Java JAR files: Java is a popular cross-platform programming language and application environment supporting millions of devices worldwide.
	Kibana: An open source data visualization plugin for Elasticsearch.
	Node.js scripts: Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Google Chrome's JavaScript engine.
	PHP scripts: PHP is a popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development.
	Plex Media Server: A global streaming media service and a client–server media player platform.
	Python scripts: Python is one of the world's most popular general-purpose programming languages.
	VMWare Workstation Player: A free desktop virtualization package.
	Windows Forms (WinForms) programs: WinForms is a widely-used GUI API included with Microsoft's .NET Framework.

Is your favorite program missing? Please let us know and we'll try to add it in a future release.

How to use the Application Advisor

1. You can start the Application Advisor by:

   1. Clicking the "magic wand" icon () on the toolbar, or

   2. Selecting Advisor from the Application menu.

   The self-explanatory welcome page will greet you. Click Next to get started:

   

2. On the next page, select the application you'd like to run as a Windows Service. Feel free to expand the drop-down to see the choices available:

   

   Click Next to continue.

3. On the following pages, the Advisor will ask you questions to set up your specific application as a service. It should only take you a few seconds to complete the process.

How to install a Java JAR as a Windows Service

1. Start the Advisor and select Java (JAR/WAR) from the list of applications:

   

2. The Advisor will work for a few seconds, gathering information from your system. It's checking that the JAVA_HOME environment variable is set, finding the location of Java.exe, and more.

   

3. Next, enter the full path to your JAR (or WAR) file you want to run as a Windows Service:

   

   Click Next to continue.

4. Java must run in your Windows account so that it can find its environment variables and other settings. For that purpose, you'll have to enter your password:

   

5. The Advisor has completed its work. Click Next to move past the summary screen and open the Add Application window with all the recommended settings to run your Java app 24/7 as a Windows Service:

   

6. In the Add Application window, click Save:

   

And that's it. In a couple of seconds, AlwaysUp will confirm that it's added your new Java service:

How to install OneDrive as a Windows Service

1. Start the Advisor and select OneDrive from the list of applications:

   

2. After gathering OneDrive information from your PC, the Advisor asks you to enter the credentials for the Windows account where you installed OneDrive. Click Next after you've supplied that information:

   

3. And on the final step with the Advisor, click Next to move past the summary screen and open the Add Application window with all the recommended settings to run OneDrive 24/7 as a Windows Service.

4. Next, in the Add Application window, click Save to create your new service:

   

5. And finally, now that OneDrive is installed as a service, start OneDrive normally on your desktop and update its preferences as described:

   

6. Click Done to complete the process.