Java application running as a Windows service cannot see files following unattended Windows update

The short version: After large Windows updates, certain files are unavailable to my Java applications running as a Windows service under a non-privileged account. I have to establish a desktop session before the system returns to completely normal operation, i.e. providing all necessary files to my application even when run as a service. How do I mitigate this? The long version: I'm maintaining a Java application (providing an API over HTTP) which, in production, runs on a Windows 11 device as a Windows service (by virtue of Apache Commons Daemon procrun ). This device is configured for unatte

Question by Alexander Leithner on Super User, licensed CC BY-SA. We show a short excerpt and link to the original thread as credit.