Switch Service not compatible with (configurators for) desktop applications

Configurators that communicate with a desktop application won't work when running Switch as Windows service. This is due to a Windows limitation. Desktop applications cannot be started by a Windows Service, hence their configurators cannot be used either.

Configurators concerned

Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Acrobat Professional/Distiller
Microsoft Office configurators (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint)

Some background information

Since the introduction of Windows Vista, Microsoft no longer allows applications that run as a Service to interact with the desktop. This means for example that these applications cannot show any UI to the user. As desktop applications cannot function with this limitation, their configurators do not work either.

Note: This problem does not affect Switch itself, because the Switch Watchdog (which has no UI) - and not the Switch Designer - is set up as a Windows Service.

Remark

If you want to use the configurators for desktop applications, you must run Switch as a regular process and not as a Windows service. However, in that case, you may want Switch to start processing automatically when a user logs in. To do so, ensure that the preference Start Switch Server automatically at login is set to Yes (See Switch preferences: User interface). Remember that a user has to log in in order to start Switch, which is not necessary when running Switch as a Windows service.