iCloud keeps mail, contacts, and calendars up to date between your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Windows PC, and lets you share calendars and task lists. The application can be run as a Windows Service using FireDaemon Pro, which allows you to have the application start automatically at boot prior to login, start multiple instances of the application and more. This HOWTO will show you how to set it up. You can also use Fusion to manage FireDaemon and other Windows services via a web browser.

iCloud Control Panel Setup Under FireDaemon Pro

Download the latest iCloud Control Panel files from the Apple website.

Install the iCloud application. By default it installs to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Internet Services.

Run the application at least once to change any settings.

Download and install FireDaemon Pro into the directory of your choice, typically C:\Program Files\FireDaemon.

Next start the FireDaemon GUI from the desktop shortcut. Click on the "Create a new service definition" button in the toolbar (or type Ctrl+N) and enter the information into the fields as you see below. Adjust the paths to suit your installation. Note that no parameters are required.

Now click on the Settings tab. If you DON'T want to see iCloud Control Panel running, uncheck the Interact with Desktop check box & select "Hidden" from the "Show Window" dropdown. You must run iCloud Control Panel as the user you installed it as. In the Logon Account field type your username (eg. Administrator) and then enter the user's password twice in the Password and Confirm fields. You must set the job type to "Global" so that child processes are terminated properly when the service is stopped or restarted. You can change the Process Priority to allocate more CPU time to iCloud or specify which CPU or core iCloud will run on (in the case of multi-processor, hyperthreaded or multi-core CPUs).

Now click on the Lifecycle tab. Uncheck Graceful Shutdown as it can slow the shutdown of iCloud Control Panel.

Now click on the OK button to install and start iCloud Control Panel!