Windows automatically start if program fails

quinnd6

On windows how do I get the system to automatically start a program if this particular program fails or stops running?

Is there a way to do that?

seamus

Not really for bog standard programs.

Windows runs a number of services - these are programs which run in the background and work away doing their thing. Windows maintains a list of these services - what they're called, where the executable is, whether they get started at boot time, or on demand, etc etc.

A particular windows program called the Service Host, monitors and controls these services. So if you can get your program to run as a service, then you can tell the service host what actions to take in the event that the program crashes or stops running. This includes running another program.

You can use the sc command to create a windows service from an executable:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/251192

There are no doubt a number of criteria that the program must have to run as a service - usually these programs must be completely autonomous - i.e. you can't have a service with a GUI.

Evil Phil

This really belongs in the Windows forum.

quinnd6

The program in question is a perl script though so not sure if I could make that a service

Tom Dunne

quinnd6 wrote:

The program in question is a perl script though so not sure if I could make that a service

One option would be to have a scheduled task that checks if the perl script is running and restart it if it isn't.

quinnd6

I dont know how to get scheduled tasks to check if a program is already running and if it isnt run it.
Would I have to use a batch file to do this?

Tom Dunne

quinnd6 wrote:

Would I have to use a batch file to do this?

You could set up a batch file to run at certain intervals, say every 10 minutes to see if the other script is running.

In fact, you could have a batch file to call a perl script to check if the original perl script is running.

quinnd6

Only problem is I dont know perl and dont know too much about batch files either.

seamus

If you could compile the perl script into an executable, then in theory you could use that to create a service.

Tom Dunne

quinnd6 wrote:

Only problem is I dont know perl and dont know too much about batch files either.

Well now is a good time to learn.

Look for pstools on Microsoft's website. Use the pslist command, in a batch file, to check for an instance of perl.exe running. If it is not running, start up the perl script that you require.

Start off by using pslist on it's own (i.e. at the command line, not in a batch file). When you get that working, then put it into a batch file and schedule it as required.