How to Start, Stop, and Pause Personal Express

Overview: Starting, stopping, and pausing Personal Express

There are several ways that Personal Express can be started and stopped:

• You can start Personal Express by running the executable file pexpress.exe. This is the way that most client applications start Personal Express.

• You can explicitly start, stop, and pause Personal Express by using the Personal Express control as described in "Procedure: Pausing Personal Express".

• Personal Express automatically stops when the last client connection closes if you specify the AUTOSHUTDOWN startup parameter in the Windows shortcut for Personal Express.

What is the Personal Express control?

On the Windows Start menu, there is a Personal Express folder that contains a program named "Personal Express." This program is the executable for Personal Express. When you choose Personal Express, the Personal Express control is displayed. This control is the only visual representation of Personal Express.

You can use the Personal Express control to explicitly start, stop, and pause Personal Express.

Procedure: Explicitly starting Personal Express when it is stopped

If Personal Express is stopped, you can start it, as you would any Windows application, by choosing Personal Express from the Personal Express 6.3.x.x.x folder of the Windows Start menu.

Procedure: Pausing Personal Express

The Personal Express control provides the option of pausing Personal Express. You can initiate a pause whenever Personal Express is in a running state by taking the following steps:

1. Open the Personal Express control. The traffic light in the Current State box is green because Personal Express is running.

2. In the Select Desired State box, choose Paused and then Set State. The traffic light in the Current State box is yellow because Personal Express is paused.

Personal Express remains in a paused state until you either restart it or stop it.

Note: When you pause Personal Express, the current transactions are always completed before the pause goes into effect.

Procedure: Starting Personal Express when it is paused

If Personal Express is paused, you can restart it by taking the following steps:

1. Switch to the Personal Express control. The traffic light in the Current State box is yellow because Personal Express is paused.

2. In the Select Desired State box, choose Running, then Set State. The traffic light in the Current State box is green because Personal Express is running.

Procedure: Stopping Personal Express

If Personal Express is running, you can stop it, as you would any Windows application, by closing the Personal Express control.

If Personal Express is paused, you can stop it by taking the following steps:

1. Switch to the Personal Express control. The traffic light in the Current State box is yellow because Personal Express is paused.

2. In the Select Desired State box, choose one of the Stopped options:
   • Stopped (Do not interrupt running transactions)

   • Stopped (Interrupt running transactions)

3. In the Select Desired State box, choose Set State. The traffic light in the Current State box is red because Personal Express is stopping.

   Once Personal Express stops, the Personal Express control closes.

Handling transactions when you stop Personal Express

A transaction is a single exchange between a client and Personal Express. Whether Personal Express waits for current transactions to complete before it stops, depends on the Stopped option that is selected when you close the Personal Express control.

By default, when Personal Express stops, it waits for current transactions to complete. If you want Personal Express to interrupt current transactions by stopping immediately, change the default Stopped setting in the Personal Express control.