Running DeviceHub as a Windows service in PitneyShip, PitneyShip Pro, or PitneyShip Enterprise

There are certain circumstances under which you may want to run DeviceHub as a Windows service.

When to run DeviceHub as a Windows service

You may want to run DeviceHub as a Windows service if:

• You have multiple locations with multiple networked printers and you want to centrally manage DeviceHub.
• You have a virtualized desktop infrastructure where each desktop workstation is recreated every day and the name of computer changes every time a user logs in.

Notes:

• The user that DeviceHub is running as must have all of the printers configured.
• The DeviceHub Windows Service running and the desktop DeviceHub cannot run at the same time.
• A Windows administrator must run the DeviceHub Windows Service.
• DeviceHub will not have any user interface (UI) when running as Windows service.
• When running as a Windows service, DeviceHub will work the same as if locally installed (DeviceHub Agent). The only difference is that it runs as a background service (visible in services.msc) and has no visible UI.

Installing DeviceHub as a Windows service

1. Install DeviceHub using the msi or exe installer. See:
   • • Installing DeviceHub
2. At the end of the installation, do not run DeviceHub . Uncheck the Run DeviceHub box and click Finish.
   
3. Run Powershell v.6 or higher as an Administrator.
4. Make sure that Powershell is allowed to run scripts.
5. Go to /programdata/pb/devicehub/devicehub_v1/ and run ./install_service.ps1.
6. When prompted for the username and password, enter the user context that DeviceHub will use to know which printers and scales are available.
   • The username must be in the format: {domain}\{username}
   • This will install and start DeviceHub .
   • To uninstall the service, run ./install_service.ps1 -u.
7. Remove DeviceHub as a startup app.