Bypassing the “Abnormal Shutdown” dialog box in FastLynx

A FastLynx user (let’s call him Steve) ran into an interesting problem. Steve’s application requires that FastLynx be running all the time. However, Steve’s computer suffers from semi-frequent power outages–sometimes at times when Steve is not around to restart FastLynx manually. So, Steve put FastLynx into the Windows Startup folder. Good solution…well, almost, and here’s why.

When FastLynx shuts down, it makes a note of which state it was in (Inactive, Listening, or Connecting) and makes a note of whether it was shut down correctly (not by flipping the breaker :)). If FastLynx shuts down improperly, then when FastLynx starts up again, the following nice little dialog box appears:

This poses a problem for Steve, since he would like FastLynx to simply start up without needing someone to click on anything. Furthermore, he needs FastLynx to start up in Listening mode. Here is the solution to his problem:

When FastLynx shuts down improperly (e.g., power outage), this fact is saved in one of two places: the registry or the fx.cfg file in the Program Files/FastLynx directory. When the Configuration Type (Configuration Menu) is set to User, then this data is stored in the registry. If set to Global, then it is saved in fx.cfg. So the solution follows these steps:

1. Make sure the Configuration Type is set to Global.
2. Close FastLynx properly (don't unplug the computer to close it :)).
3. Make a copy of fx.cfg (call it something like fxProperShutdown.cfg).
4. Write a batch file that runs in the Windows Startup folder. In it, first copy over fx.cfg with fxProperShutdown.cfg. Then start FastLynx.

When the batch file runs and FastLynx starts, it will look at the newly copied over fx.cfg which will tell FastLynx that it shutdown properly. This should get rid of the dialog box.