When installing the Shiptheory Print Client on a Windows PC, one of the options you are presented with is whether you would like to install it as a Windows Service or not. Depending on your situation, this may be something of which you would like to do.
Advantage of running it as a Windows Service:
- Only one instance of the Shiptheory Print Client will run on a given machine, no matter how many user accounts are logged in at one point.
Drawbacks of running it as a Windows Service:
- As the Print client will be running as the 'LocalSystem' account, it will not use your default printer preferences and settings. This can result in labels being produced in corrected when printing through the Print Client.
- The Print Client is not as easily accessible to you, making it more difficult to provide support if something goes wrong.
In most cases, we recommend you install the Shiptheory Print Client as an application. This is because as an application, it uses your computers already set Printing Preferences, resulting in labels successfully printing out on initial setup.
How do I know if I am using it as a Windows Service?
You can check if you are using the Shiptheory Print Client as a Windows Service by opening your web browser and going to http://localhost:8888
If when you go to that link you are given a page where it says you are connected to your Shiptheory account, you are using it as a Windows Service. To stop this, simply go to the Account tab and click the Logout button. This will break the connection with your Shiptheory account.
To then download the Print Client as an application, you can simply install it again, making sure not to tick the Windows Service option.
Have any further questions about the Shiptheory Print Client? One of our Support Team would be happy to give you a hand!