Setup ACCELQ Agent as scheduled task – ACCELQ

This article explains how to configure the ACCELQ Agent Dashboard to automatically start on system startup. Once you have configured the Task Scheduler to start the agent automatically as explained in this article, you don't have to physically log in to the machine to start the agent. Instead, the Task Scheduler will automatically start the agent on system reboot.

Important: The ACCELQ Agent is a single-user installation. Only the Windows user who installed the agent can start or manage it. Neither the SYSTEM user nor any other Windows user is authorized to operate the agent.
For instance, if the ACCELQ Agent was installed while logged in as the Windows user John.Todd, the agent software will be associated with that specific Windows user profile. Only John.Todd should start or manage the agent process. Other users must not attempt to start the ACCELQ agent or manually launch the ACCELQAgentDashboard.exe from the installation directory. This ensures proper functionality and maintains security protocols.

Prerequisites for setting up a Task Scheduler task to start the ACCELQ Agent Dashboard:

You must have the ACCELQ Agent installed already. If not, follow this article:
Installing Local Agent (using Install wizard)

Note: During the installation make sure to install the agent under the default location which is usually "C:\Users\<username>\ACCELQAgent"
Ensure the Windows user who installed the agent has permissions to create and start Task Scheduler tasks. If not, consult your IT administrators for assistance.
To access the ACCELQ Agent Dashboard, use Windows search to find "ACCELQ Agent Dashboard". Open it, and the dashboard will automatically load in your default web browser.
Note: Bookmark/copy the dashboard URL for later use.
Click on the icon from the system tray and disable "Autostart on system startup"

Task Scheduler Setup

Press Windows + R to open the Run window. Enter taskschd.msc in the input box and click OK.
Right-click on "Task Scheduler Library" in the left side section and click "Create Task..."

Settings in General tab:

Name the task "ACCELQ Agent"
Enable the checkbox "Run whether user is logged on or not"
Click "Change User or Group"
Enter the username that was initially used during the ACCELQ Agent installation and click the "Check Names" button. If clicking the "Check Names" button resolves to an underlined ID, usually in the format <domain>/username, click the "OK" button.

Settings in the Triggers tab:

Navigate to the Triggers tab and click the "New..." button.
Select the "At startup" option in the "Begin the task" dropdown.
Under "Advanced settings" section, enable the "Delay the task for" checkbox and set the delay time to "1 minute". Click the "OK" button.

Settings in the Actions tab:

Navigate to the Actions tab and click "New..." button.
Select "Start a program" from the "Action" dropdown.
Click the "Browse..." button and navigate to ~\ACCELQAgent\Dashboard\ACCELQAgentDashboard.exe in the agent installation folder.
Enter "startup" in the "Add arguments" field.
Provide the path of the folder where ACCELQAgentDashboard.exe resides (~\ACCELQAgent\Dashboard\) and click the "OK" button.

Settings to configure in the Conditions tab:

Navigate to the Conditions tab, make sure to uncheck all checkboxes

Configurations in Settings tab:

Navigate to the Settings tab and enable the checkbox "Allow the task to be run on demand"
Disable the checkbox labeled "Stop the task if it runs longer than." Leave all other checkboxes disabled and click "OK"

Finalizing the changes:

If you have done everything correctly until the previous step. You will be prompted to enter the password for the username that was configured in General Tab step 4.
Then click "OK"

Testing if the Task Scheduler task created is working fine

Right-click on the task created named "ACCELQ Agent" and click "Run"
Go to your browser and load the dashboard URL that was previously bookmarked (during the prerequisite step). If the task was started from Task Scheduler properly, you will be able to see the dashboard page as shown below
Now restart the machine where this Agent is installed. The Task Scheduler should have automatically started the ACCELQ Agent Dashboard. Verify if you are able to see the agent in the ACCELQ page(Resources > Local Agents)

Configuration for Web Automation

Once the agent is set to automatically start from Task Scheduler, the agent process runs in the background and does not have a display resolution associated with it. This is a challenge for web browsers to launch themselves for automation since web browsers are dependent on the machine's display resolution. To overcome this, you must always execute test runs on an agent that is configured to start from Task Scheduler in headless mode. You can use the web driver profile below to perform web automation in headless mode.

For Chrome and Edge:

{
"headless": "new",
"args": [
"window-size=2000,1600",
"--no-sandbox",
"--disable-dev-shm-usage",
"--disable-gpu",
"--ignore-certificate-errors"
]
}

For Firefox:

{
"headless": true,
"args": [
"--height=1600",
"--width=2000"
]
}