Subject: Windows service fails auto-boot when RAM disk is set as system temp folder

[ersafmorten]

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Feature Request

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Hi Sunshine dev team,
I set up a RAM disk drive F: and configured Windows system environment variables to route all system & app temporary cache to this RAM drive. My goal is to reduce unnecessary write cycles to my NVMe SSD and extend its lifespan, since solid-state storage has limited write endurance.
However, this setup breaks Sunshine’s automatic startup as a Windows background service.
The root cause: The Windows service sunshinesvc.exe loads very early during system boot, before my RAM disk F: finishes mounting. The service tries to access the temp path F: defined by system TEMP variables, cannot find the folder, and crashes immediately.
I have tried all available workarounds to force Sunshine to store its cache and logs entirely on local C drive, isolated from the RAM disk temp directory, but none work permanently:

1. Adding custom config path arguments to the service launch command — the custom path resets automatically after reboot or opening service properties.
2. Writing fixed cache_dir and log_path values inside sunshine.conf — the service ignores these lines and still falls back to system TEMP on F:.
3. Creating system-wide environment variable SUNSHINE_CONFIG_PATH pointing to a C-drive folder — only the desktop GUI recognizes this variable; the background service completely ignores it.
   Right now, Sunshine cannot launch automatically after powering on my PC. Every time I reboot, I have to manually open Windows Services and start Sunshine Service by hand if I want to stream games via Moonlight.
   I sincerely request a native, reliable configuration option within Sunshine that lets users fully separate the program’s own cache/log storage from Windows global TEMP/TMP directories, so the background service will only read & write files on a fixed physical hard drive path and avoid relying on late-mounted RAM disks during boot.
   My environment: Windows 11 23H2, Sunshine running as LocalSystem service, F: RAMDisk loads after core Windows system services.
   Thank you so much for your continuous hard work on this amazing open-source streaming tool! I really appreciate all the features you’ve built for Moonlight users. It would be a huge quality-of-life improvement for RAM disk users if this custom storage path feature could be implemented. Looking forward to your reply!