Virtual Desktop Service starting without using the software...why?

[Michelangelo]

Hi Devs!

Today I found that the VirtualDesktop.Service.exe is starting automatically ...why is that?
It is really needed to have enable without even using the software?

[ggodin]

It is a background service and won't use any resources (except a megabyte or 2 of ram) until you run Virtual Desktop. It is used so that Virtual Desktop doesn't need to run elevated (as administrator)

[Michelangelo]

I could do that by just setting Properties - Compatibility - Run as Administrator.

So in that case I could just remove it to avoid another service to be loaded everytime.

Right?
It doesn't do anything else?

[ggodin]

Running Virtual Desktop as administrator causes a lot of issues: drag and drop doesn't work, it pops UAC prompts if you have those enabled, and a bunch of other side effects. This is why some of the functionality was moved to a service. But the service itself, like I said, doesn't use any resources when Virtual Desktop isn't running so I wouldn't worry about it. There are probably tons of other services that eat more ram/CPU in Windows.

[Just Another Gamer]

Michelangelo, It may not be practical, but depending on what I intend to do each time I boot up my PC determines which background services I disable for any given session. I was surprised to discover Virtual Desktop running as a background "service" as well and ever since its been getting disabled because I only use it with VR on occasion. So no matter what any tech type says, I don't want it running background always and forever more so I simply run task manager as an administrator then switch to services tab scroll down right click it and select disable. Only takes a second but has to be done every bootup.

[MayhemMike]

I found this today as well and would like to add that the service does not get uninstalled when you remove virtual desktop. It stays on the machine and keeps running until manually uninstalled through the Apps & Features panel.

[ggodin]

Btw, the service can be set to manual start and Virtual Desktop will start it on launch. Starting a Service however will trigger a UAC prompt (if you haven’t disabled them).

FYI, It should get uninstalled with an uninstall of the main app in Steam but the Oculus Store doesn’t have the ability to uninstall stuff yet.

[MayhemMike]

Originally posted by ggodin:

FYI, It should get uninstalled with an uninstall of the main app in Steam

Not in my case, I uninstalled the app yesterday and today the service was still there.

[ggodin]

I’ll look into it, thanks for the heads up Mike

[MayhemMike]

np, let me know in case you need some extra testing on this

[ggodin]

Originally posted by MayhemMike:

np, let me know in case you need some extra testing on this

Do you have it installed through the Oculus Store btw. I just tested this locally and it does uninstall it as long as it was installed through Steam first.

[MayhemMike]

nope only through Steam.

[ggodin]

Ah found out what’s wrong; it removed the service from Programs and Features but wasn’t uninstalling correctly. This will be fixed in the next update.