How to Run a Microsoft Access 2007 Database as a Windows Service with AlwaysUp

Access is Microsoft's popular, pseudo-relational database platform.

Note: Microsoft cautions against running any program in its Office suite as a Windows Service. However the most notable problems arise when running in the LocalSystem account and AlwaysUp can get around that. Nevertheless, please be sure to thoroughly test your setup to ensure that Access works as expected.

To configure Access 2007 with AlwaysUp 8.5 and later:

1. Download and install AlwaysUp, if necessary.

2. Install and configure Access 2007, if necessary. Please make a note of where you installed it as this will be used in a later step.

3. Start AlwaysUp.

4. Select Application > Add to open the Add Application window:

   

5. On the General tab:

   • In the Application field, enter the full path to the Access executable, MSACCESS.EXE. If you installed Access in the default location, this is:

     C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\MSACCESS.EXE

   • In the Arguments field, enter the full path to your Access database file (*.ACCDB/ACCDE/MDB). For this tutorial we'll use this freely available Access payroll system, which we have placed in C:\Access\PayrollSystem.accdb. Be sure to enclose the path to your file in quotes if it contains a space!

     Note that Access supports several command line switches and you can add those as arguments here as necessary. For example, you can pass a user name and password if your database is protected, etc.

   • In the Name field, enter the name that you will call the application in AlwaysUp. We have used Access DB but you can specify almost anything you like.

   

6. Click over to the Logon tab and enter the user name and password of the account in which you installed and configured Access (or Office). Access 2007 must run in this account so that it can find its settings.

   

7. Click the Save button. In a couple of seconds, an application called Access DB will show up in the AlwaysUp window. It is not yet running though.

   

8. To start your application, choose Application > Start "Access DB". In a few seconds, the state should transition to Running.

   On Windows 8/7/Vista and Server 2012/2008 (or when connecting via RDP), you will not see the Access GUI because your application is running in the background in Session 0. Choose Application > Start "Access" in this Session if you wish to start Access on your desktop, or select Tools > Switch to Session 0 to visit the isolated Session 0 desktop (pictured here running our sample payroll database):

   

9. That's it! Next time your computer boots, your Access 2007 database application will start up immediately, before anyone logs on. We encourage you to edit the entry in AlwaysUp and check out the many other settings. For example, add a delay on the Startup tab if Access must wait for other applications to start at boot, or boost the priority to give Access more CPU.

Access 2007 not working properly as a Windows Service?

• From AlwaysUp, select Application > Report Activity > Today... to bring up a HTML report detailing the interaction between AlwaysUp and your application. The AlwaysUp Event Log Messages page explains the more obscure messages.
• Running Access in the background unattended can be tricky, especially when it throws up a prompt that interrupts the action. If these can not be eliminated you may want to investigate using an automation script/program to automatically dismiss the pesky windows. Please see the Automate tab (or the AlwaysUp User's Manual) for additional information on automation.
• Consult the AlwaysUp FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions and troubleshooting tips.
• Contact us and we will be happy to help!