Hi all,

I recently installed BOINC 6.10.58 on two Windows 7 systems and I am running SETI and MILKYWAY. The issue I am having is getting the BOINC manager to launch when a user is not logged into the system or has "switched users" but not logged out. M$ in their infinite wisdom disabled the screen saver in this situation and the systems just sit there at the logon icon screen. In order to enable the screensaver you have to hack the registry like so:

Open regedit32 and goto the following folder:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

Add the following lines by right clicking in the right pane and click on New.
Each line select "String Value".
Each new String Value should case sensitive so use both capitals and lower case.

ScreenSaveActive
ScreenSaverIsSecure
ScreenSaveTimeOut
SCRNSAVE.EXE

Change the value of each as follows by double clicking, change the value and choosing OK. DO NOT INCLUDE THE QUOTATION MARKS WITH THE VALUES.

ScreenSaveActive "1" - This turns on the screensaver

ScreenSaverIsSecure "0" - This requires password for screensaver. Since you are at the logon screen it is not necessary.

ScreenSaveTimeOut "600" - This is the number of seconds before the screensaver is activated. 600 being 10 minutes.

SCRNSAVE.EXE "C:\Windows\system32\mystify.scr" - you can change the name of the screensaver to which ever screensaver you want to use that is located in the System32 folder.

Exit out of registry editor and you're done.

The question I have is twofold. Will enabling the screensaver to run from the logon screen start BOINC and if so what is the name of the screensaver launch file? I have looked for a .scr and there doesn't appear to be one.

Is this all a waste of my time and I should just install BOINC as a service? Is there a thread on this process that I couldn't find?

Thanks and sorry for the noob questions.

The question I have is twofold. Will enabling the screensaver to run from the logon screen start BOINC and if so what is the name of the screensaver launch file? I have looked for a .scr and there doesn't appear to be one.

boinc.scr lives in C:\Windows\

But it's better, if it's possible, to start boincscr.exe (which will start boinc.scr automatically). This file lives in your BOINC Programs directory (together with boinc.exe, boincmgr.exe etc.) in the C:\program Files\BOINC\ or C:\program Files(x86)\BOINC\ directory. (Depending on if you installed 64bit or 32bit BOINC)

Is this all a waste of my time and I should just install BOINC as a service? Is there a thread on this process that I couldn't find?

Don't be sorry, there are no noob questions. :-)

I have a FAQ here with pictures, showing how to install BOINC as a service. Do know, that when you're using the GPU (ATI or Nvidia) for calculations (on various projects), that you cannot install BOINC as a service, as then BOINC won't be able to find the GPU when it starts up.

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Do know, that when you're using the GPU (ATI or Nvidia) for calculations (on various projects), that you cannot install BOINC as a service, as then BOINC won't be able to find the GPU when it starts up.

Apparently my GPU's (both are newer ATI's) are not supported. I'll try installing it as a service and see how that goes.

Thanks

I got it installed as a service. It works but the screen saver won't launch. I edited the registry as above and the screen saver tries to start but is stuck in a window and doesn't launch completely. All I am getting is the BOINC splash screen and it doesn't go beyond that.

Excuse me, I was a bit off here. It's boinc.scr that starts boincscr.exe, not the other way around. Boincscr.exe will start the various project screen savers, though.

So, all you should be able to set is this:

Scrnsave "C:\WINDOWS\BOINC.scr"

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Scrnsave "C:\WINDOWS\BOINC.scr"

We have a winner. This process has enabled the BOINC client to run and the screen saver to engage outside of the logon process on WIN 7 64 bit.