Flowheater Server Installation Fails

Attempted FH Server installation on Windows 10 Pro v.1607

The program installed but the service did not. I ran the setup.exe as admintstrator.

The install log file and the text from the error thrown are attached.

I am not familiar with a "technical user account". It does not appear that a user account was created.

Hi Joe,

There ist currently a issue in the Server Setup. When you try to install the service without correct (technical) user logon data the installtions ends successfully but the service wouldn´t isntalled on your compter.

Please try to run the Server setup again. Now type the administrator logon details in the service logon dialog. For the user type .\administrator and the current password.

The service should now registered successfully on your computer. If you want you may change the user account to another technical user but its not necessary.

I followed your instructions. The service installed, but will not run. Windows says:
"Error 1069: The services did not start due to a logon failure"

It shows that the logon user is .\administrator

Hi Joe,

I suppose your user is a domain user account? In this case please try to use domainname\administrator instead of .\administrator.

No I do not have a domain login.
The account I log on as is a local Administrator Account.

Hi Joe,

Ok, please try the follows. Create a new local user and put them to the local administrators group. Please be sure that the use never must change the password. Try to logon on this machine with this new user. If this works fine logoff and logon with your normal administrator user. Now start the installtion again and use this new user account in the “Set Service Logon” dialog. Note you have to use .\newuseraccountname for a local user account!

In case you receive also an error please post the the logfiles again.

That seems to have worked. Interestingly, during the install, I entered the newly created user account in the "Set Services Logon" dialog, and the services did not start. The service "Log On" property still showed the user I had entered during the previous installation. I changed it to the newly created logon, and Windows returned the message "the account ./New Account has been granted the Log On As A Service right.", and the service would then start.

So apparently the installation process did not create a user account that Windows allowed the Log On As A Service right.

Not having any success running tasks in the FH Server. I have one task, running a .fhd. The definition runs in 10 seconds when run in FlowHeater Designer. The task is set to stop after 1 minute. It triggers with a file monitor.

It successfully triggers when I drop a file in the folder. But the task just keeps running. I can't terminate it by right click > terminate. If I try to stop the service in the Server Manager using the Stop button, the Server Manager stops responding, and the service hangs, trying to stop. The only way to recover is re-boot.

Hi Joe,

I see that you try to import a Excel (.xslx) file. Excel automation is a bit tricky, but is posible. This is related to MS Office/Excel and Windows.

First you need to logon with the service account user on the machine and start once Excel manually. Here you have to agree the user information dialog.
Afterwards logon with a administrator user account and create two directories.

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop (only on 64 bit operating systems available)
and
C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop

You´ll find more information about excel automation here.
Open method of Workbooks class failed
Excel 2007 automation on top of a Windows Server 2008 x64

Now the excel automation should work.

I followed your instructions. No change. I don't see anything in the links you sent that provides any additional help.

I really need this to work with Excel files.

This does not appear to be related to reading from an Excel file.

I set up a test task in FH Server, using HelloWorld1.fhd, which I set up to create HelloWorld.txt in a local folder.

When executing HelloWorld1.fhd in FH Designer, it works as expected.

In FH Server, it has the exact same result as the previous attempts using the Excel read adapter. The Server stops responding, and I can't stop or start the service through Windows Component Services or Task Manager. I have to re-boot to recover.

Here is a text file with the error that the FH Server generated.

Hi Joe,

That´s really strange. This is the first time with such hugh problems. I guess to solve this it would be necessary to have a look to your installtion. I’ve send you a invitation for a scheduled online meeting.

Problem solved!

After a couple of one-on-one troubleshooting sessions with Robert Stark, it turned out to be a permissions issue with running the Flowheater Server as a service in Windows 10. The service was running, but apparently Windows did not grant it all the permissions required for the tasks to execute.

Thanks to Robert's relentless effort, the Flowheater Server is performing flawlessly.