# NSSM windows service
**URL:** https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670
**Category:** Hardware Encoding
**Created:** [April 8, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670 "2018-04-08T20:12:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jriker1](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/Jriker1)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/1 "2018-04-08T20:12:13Z")
Probably wrong area but wasn’t sure where to put this. Will MCEBuddy work thru a Windows Service or making one with NSSM?
Thanks.
JR
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### Author:  [@Goose](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/Goose)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/2 "2018-04-09T16:03:30Z")
MCEBuddy Engine runs as a Windows Service when it’s installed by default. You can force it to run a user application by starting the MCEBuddy Engine from the Start Menu (it’ll shut down the Windows Service at start up and will restart the service at shutdown).
Don’t see why you need it as NSSM given you can run it as native Service or a User application.
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### Author:  [@Jriker1](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/Jriker1)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/3 "2018-04-09T22:30:09Z")
Thanks for the reply. Ahh did not notice that. Guess I was confused as when the GUI opened it was set to stopped. And I can start and stop buddy from it. So is the service stopping and starting or how does that work?
Thanks.
JR
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### Author:  [@Goose](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/Goose)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/4 "2018-04-09T23:13:20Z")
The “service” is always running (otherwise the GUI will show cannot connect to engine).
You can interact with the engine, start/stop conversions, settings etc from the GUI.
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### Author:  [@KaraokeAmerica](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/KaraokeAmerica)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/5 "2018-12-15T15:33:31Z")
> [@Goose](#):
>
> The “service” is always running (otherwise the GUI will show cannot connect to engine).
>
> You can interact with the engine, start/stop conversions, settings etc from the GUI.
I was looking for exactly this answer. So the GUI has nothing to do with the service? I can stop/start the GUI and it doesn’t affect whether MCEBuddy will continue to process in the background?
Also, I presume the service still pulls the settings from what we set in the GUI? For4 example, MCEBuddy was already running. I opened the GUI and added a custom naming option. Will the already running service automatically pull that info from what I did?
Thanks!
PS: I think this is one of the most useful programs for HTPC ever!
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### Author:  [@Goose](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/Goose)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/6 "2018-12-15T15:41:15Z")
> [@KaraokeAmerica](#):
>
> I can stop/start the GUI and it doesn’t affect whether MCEBuddy will continue to process in the background?
Correct, the GUI is just a user interface to configure the engine and to gets its current status.
All the settings are stored in the engine. The GUI is a way to retrieve those settings, modify them and send them back to the engine.
This is why the GUI (aka Remote Client) can be installed anywhere and you have multiple Remote Clients running at the same time across different machines. They connect to the core engine, retrieve the status/settings and display them.
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### Author:  [@KaraokeAmerica](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/KaraokeAmerica)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/7 "2018-12-15T15:52:15Z")
> [@Goose](#):
>
> This is why the GUI (aka Remote Client) can be installed anywhere and you have multiple Remote Clients running at the same time across different machines. They connect to the core engine, retrieve the status/settings and display them.
Woah…you mean I can have MCEBuddy running on two machines and it will take the settings across the network from a single GUI?
Can it do the dishes and order sushi for me too…😉
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### Author:  [@KaraokeAmerica](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/KaraokeAmerica)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/8 "2018-12-15T16:05:31Z")
Actually I found this so no worries:
> [@Licensed for multiple computers?](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/licensed-for-multiple-computers/1439):
>
> I searched for quite a while, but I found no mention if the premium version is allowed to be installed on multiple machines. I have two desktops, and would like to put both to work given the considerable time it takes to process these files.
This seems to cover my question since the SERVICE would have to be running on multiple machines to do this. I have it on my media server and access it remotely to do this. I was thinking I could maybe have it on my primary PC as well, sharing those settings so I could process the occasional local rip.
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### Author:  [@RBoy](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/u/RBoy)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/nssm-windows-service/1670/9 "2018-12-15T21:14:42Z")
To add to what @goose said, if you have the MCEBuddy engine running on, say, 3 machines (all headless or remote for e.g.), you can monitor all 3 from your laptop remotely. Install the Remote Client in 3 separate folders and have each connect to the 3 engines. Now you can see in real time what all 3 engines are doing remotely.
Also see this post regarding installing the engine on multiple machines:
> [@Licensed for multiple computers?](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/licensed-for-multiple-computers/1439/2):
>
> Each purchase gives you the license to install the engine one a single machine. You can install the remote client on unlimited machines.
You can also have multiple engines share a common queue and process files over a network/NAS drive. You can create separate folders for each engine or have different file filters so you can increase your processing power or use scripts for distributed processing:
> [@Distributed Encoding across Multiple Machines](https://discussion.mcebuddy2x.com/t/distributed-encoding-across-multiple-machines/61):
>
> Thanks to JoshDi for putting this together: I created a BAT file script to help coordinate distributed MCEBuddy conversions across my two machines: HTPC and HTPC-Bedroom (Bedroom) I run the following script every 5 minutes on both machines via task manager. No schedule is set (start stop) in MCEBuddy - the script handles the starting and stopping of MCEBuddy Conversions. Essentially the script does the following: Checks to see if Media Center or Kodi is running locally. If so, stop running M…