xplanet and Windows XP

I always wanted to have xplanet running as a background process like I used to on Linux. Here’s how I did it:

1. Download and install the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools
2. Create the xplanet  service: ‘instsrv xplanet “C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\srvany.exe”‘
3. Modify the registry (using regedit) entry for the xplanet service:
   – go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\xplanet
   – add new key ‘Parameters’
   – add new string value in Parameters, ‘Application’, set it to: ‘C:\Program Files\xplanet-1.2.0\xplanet.exe’
   – add new string value in Parameters, ‘AppParameters’, set it to: ‘-fork -searchdir C:\”Program Files”\xplanet-1.2.0\xplanet -wait 600 -lat 51.89 -lon -8.49’ (that will set your point of view right over Cork)
4. Make sure your service is set to start automatically, ‘services.msc /s’, …

Don’t forgot to improve xplanet by using the nice pictures from Visible Earth