======================
 Starting the Service
======================

If you have already registered and configured the service, then you
can start it.  See also :doc:`register` and :doc:`config/index`.

Most typically you would probably just open the Windows Services
snap-in (``services.msc``), locate the Rattail File Monitor service in
the list, right-click that and choose Start.

You may encounter problems when first starting the service; if so see
the Troubleshooting section below.

If things are working "normally" then the filemon service should be
writing a log file (e.g. ``C:\ProgramData\rattail\log\filemon.log``),
so check that to be sure it's doing what you expect.


Stopping the Service
--------------------

As with starting, you probably just want to use the Windows Services
snap-in to stop the service.  Locate it in the list, right-click and
choose Stop.


Troubleshooting
---------------

Note that starting the service may fail, for any of a number of
reasons.  Here we list some we've encountered, with tips for fixing
each.

You may encounter other issues not addressed here; if so please file a
bug report at `<https://redmine.rattailproject.org>`_.


Error 5: Access is denied
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's possible this may occur due to multiple underlying issues, but at
least one of them has a straightforward fix.

If you did not install Python "for all users" but rather just clicked
through with the "default" install (see
:doc:`/base/install/windows/python`), then odds are the ``rattail``
user (or whoever the service runs as; see
:doc:`/base/install/windows/user`) does not have permission to invoke
the Python executable.

The fix in this case is to uninstall "everything" (i.e. "unwind"
everything you installed per this manual; see
:doc:`/base/install/windows/index`) and then re-install, this time
making sure to install Python "for all users".

Note that before uninstalling any software you should maybe unregister
the filemon service first; see :ref:`unregister-windows-filemon`.