How to run Microsoft Word 2021 as a Windows Service

Start Word 2021 automatically whenever your PC boots — without having to stay logged on. Keep it running 24/7 in the background.

Word is Microsoft's flagship word processing software. Word 2021 is a main component of the popular Office 2021 suite of productivity applications.

Note: Microsoft cautions against running any program in its Office suite as a Windows Service.

Having said that though, the most notable problems arise when running in the LocalSystem account — which has not been configured to run Word. And AlwaysUp can get around many of those issues.

Nevertheless, please be sure to thoroughly test your setup to ensure that Word can do everything you expect when it's running as a service with AlwaysUp.

To install Word 2021 to run as a service with AlwaysUp:

Install and configure Word (or Office) 2021, if necessary.

Ensure that Word is licensed and that you can run it on your desktop.
Download and install AlwaysUp, if necessary.
Start AlwaysUp.
Select Application > Add to open the Add Application window:
On the General tab:
- In the Application field, enter the full path to the Word 2021 executable, WINWORD.EXE. If you installed Office/Word in the default location, this is:
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE
- In the Arguments field, enter any command line switches you use to start Word the way you like. For example, to launch Word with an existing file, add the -t option and specify the full path to your file. Please be sure to enclose the path in double quotes (") if it has at least one space.
- In the Start the application field, select Automatically, but shortly after the computer boots. That tells AlwaysUp to start Word a couple minutes after your computer boots — after important services are up and running.
- Finally, in the Name field, enter the name that you will call the application in AlwaysUp. We have specified Word 2021 but you can enter another name if you like.
Click over to the Logon tab and enter the user name and password of the account in which you installed and configured Word (or Office) 2021 — probably the account you're logged in to right now. Word must run in this account so that it can find its configuration & settings. It won't run correctly if you don't set an account here!
Click the Save button. In a couple of seconds, an application called Word 2021 (or whatever you called it) will appear in the AlwaysUp window. It is not yet running though. The State column will say "Stopped".
To start Word 2021 as a Windows Service, choose Application > Start "Word 2021". In a few seconds, the row's state should transition to Running and Word will be working in the background. Click on the green circle to see some details on the running process:

Note that Word will be running in the Isolated Session 0 — not on your desktop. If you wish to see Word on your desktop — perhaps to troubleshoot an issue — choose Application > Restart "Word 2021" in this session from the menu. After a few seconds, Word will open on-screen.
That's it! Next time your computer boots, Word 2021 will start immediately, without anyone needing to log on first.

We encourage you to edit the entry in AlwaysUp and check out the many other settings available. For example, send an email whenever Word crashes or stops, restart Word weekly to cure memory leaks, and much more.

Word 2021 not working properly as a Windows Service?

Consult the AlwaysUp Troubleshooter — our online tool that can help you resolve the most common problems encountered when running an application as a Windows Service.
From AlwaysUp, select Application > Report Activity > Today to bring up an HTML report detailing the interaction between AlwaysUp and Word. The AlwaysUp Event Log Messages page explains the messages that may appear.
Browse the AlwaysUp FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions and troubleshooting tips.
Contact us and we will be happy to help!