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Drop Task Scheduler; autostart without administrator rights

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Register-ScheduledTask failed with Access denied (0x80070005). Writing to the
root task folder needs elevation, so the claim that this install needed no
admin was simply wrong. Rather than demand UAC, use two mechanisms that need
no privileges at all:

- a Startup-folder entry (AutoFirmer.cmd) runs start-all.bat at logon
- PM2's own --cron-restart with --no-autorestart drives the 5-minute update
  check, so PM2 owns the schedule it was already going to resurrect anyway

Both still run in the logged-in interactive session, which is the requirement
that ruled out a Windows service in the first place: the clicker sends real
input and needs a desktop.

pm2 save now runs after the updater is registered, so `pm2 resurrect` brings
back all three processes rather than two.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Brandon Li
2026-08-30 18:24:47 -05:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 7e4714c33d
commit 724ba5581c
2 changed files with 63 additions and 49 deletions
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README.md
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@@ -161,10 +161,10 @@ or after declining:
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\install-autostart.ps1
```
That registers PM2 for both processes and two scheduled tasks — one to start
everything at logon, one to check `master` for updates every 5 minutes. It needs
no elevation and is safe to re-run; it replaces the tasks rather than stacking
them up.
That puts the dashboard, the clicker and an update checker under PM2, adds a
Startup-folder entry so PM2 comes back at logon, and lets PM2's cron restart run
the update check every 5 minutes. It needs no administrator rights, changes
nothing machine-wide, and is safe to re-run.
```powershell
pm2 list # what is running
@@ -172,11 +172,14 @@ pm2 logs autofirmer # dashboard output
pm2 logs clicker # runner output
```
**Why scheduled tasks and not a Windows service.** The clicker sends real mouse
and keyboard input and has to own a desktop. A service runs in session 0, which
has none, so the clicks would go nowhere. Both tasks therefore run as you with
"run only when user is logged on" — which also means an unattended reboot leaves
the instance down until somebody logs in.
**Why not a Windows service.** The clicker sends real mouse and keyboard input
and has to own a desktop. A service runs in session 0, which has none, so the
clicks would go nowhere. Everything therefore runs in your logged-in session —
which also means an unattended reboot leaves the instance down until somebody
logs in.
To stop it starting at logon, delete the `AutoFirmer.cmd` shortcut from your
Startup folder (`shell:startup` in the Run dialog).
To start everything by hand without waiting for a logon: