windows 7 - Skype doesn't always sign me in automatically

02
2013-08
  • oscilatingcretin

    I have Skype set up to sign me in automatically on startup, but it doesn't always do so. Sometimes, it opens and just sits at the login screen until I find out about it a few hours later when my co-workers start asking me why I'm not online.

    What could be causing this random behavior? I am using Windows 7 32-bit.

    Edit: I will also add that I am often greeted with the message Your session has timed out. Please try again. when attempting to sign in after a failed auto-sign-in. My retry attempt is always successful.

    Edit 2: It appears I've stumbled into another one of those issues that have tons of other people asking questions, but not a single person giving any answers.

    http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/expired-session/td-p/1346292 http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/Your-session-has-timed-out-Please-try-again/td-p/1530251 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071126163051AAoDec0

    Does SE have what it takes?

    Update: I believe I have a theory and it involves shutting down Skype improperly (ie, terminating the process either through task manager or logging off Windows and telling Windows to close the program). I just terminated the process and restarted it and was asked to sign in. My theory is that, when the Skype process is terminated, the app closes, but the session still somehow remains open. After so long, it expires. The next day when Skype opens, it attempts to use the same session since it wasn't shut down properly. This results in the "session expired" message. The reason why it works the second time is because now it knows to start up a new session. Again, it's only a theory, but I am going to test it by terminating Skype before I leave and then expecting the issue to occur tomorrow morning.

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    Related Question

    windows 7 - How to sync stored Skype conversations between machines?
  • ProfKaos

    Skype stores recent IM conversations on the local machine. I find this very inconvenient when I have a Skype conversation with someone on my work machine, get home, and the history of that conversation is no longer available.

    Is there some tool that can sync conversation histories, for the same account, between two or more installations of Skype on different machines? Or must I write one myself?

    I'm using Windows 7.


    • Related Answers
  • BillP3rd

    If you know where the Skype conversations are stored, it's a simple matter to synchronize them betweeen machines using a tool such as SyncToy. I use it for synchronizing all manner of files, documents, logs, etc. between my work laptop, my home laptop, my desktop, and my server. It falls into (for me) the "mandatory install on new computer" category.

    For your purposes, you could use a flash drive as an intermediary transport.

  • Dominik

    Here's an example for Linux using Dropbox: http://blog.andreaolivato.net/open-source/sync-skype-chronologies-using-dropbox.html You didn't write which OS you're using but the approach should also work on Windows and Mac OS. Check the Dropbox-Wiki for details.

  • Spaceploit

    http://raanan.com/2009/06/22/sync-skype-on-multiple-machines-with-dropbox/

    Good tut, with usefull comments as well.