Apache Tomcat can be run either from the command prompt or as a Windows service ( or Daemon process in Linux ).  Tomcat includes required components to run Tomcat as a Windows service.  There are several advantages to running Tomcat as a service. These are:

 

1. Automatic startup of Tomcat when the server starts - this is very helpful when you have to reboot the Windows server either for maintenance or for software installs.

2. Able to run Tomcat without requiring an active user login - In a data center, it is not possible to expect to have an active login on the system for it to run Tomcat. In fact, Tomcat is often run on blade servers that may not even have an active monitor connected to them.

3. Run it under a special system account, which is isolated and protected from rest of the user accounts. If you run Tomcat as an administrator, and if there is a vulnerability in one of your web applications, it can make the whole server vulnerable to hackers. By running Tomcat under System service account, you reduce this risk, as Windows isolates the System account.

 

Despite these advantages, there may be scenarios in which you have to run Tomcat from desktop. Apache Tomcat includes required batch files to run it from desktop. However, if you choose the service install distribution of Tomcat, it will not include the batch files required to start Tomcat from desktop. For this reason, you are better off using the zip distribution and then following the instructions to install Tomcat as a Windows service.