Start Power Automate Desktop Flows Without Login

[NilsRuehmann]

Hello PAD Community,

I'm in need of your expertise as I'm searching for a way to use Power Automate Desktop (PAD) Flows without having to log in on each machine repeatedly. Despite my efforts, I haven't found a way to execute flows through the command line without an active Power Automate login.

While it's possible to start flows via the command line when logged in, there seems to be no direct method to do so without the need for a Power Automate login. Are there any APIs with an authentication that I might be overlooking, allowing me to run flows without prior login? I'm wondering if there's a solution to my problem that I might have missed.

Any Ideas or solutions you can provide would be appreciated.

[Nived_Nambiar]

Hi @NilsRuehmann 

did you meant login to the machine ?

Thanks & Regards,

Nived N 🚀

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[NilsRuehmann]

@Nived_Nambiar no, I'm not referring to the machine login. I mean the login required within PAD to execute a flow or add the machine to the machine group. I am looking for alternatives to bypass this step and run flows directly with a command, for example, through the URL, like "ms-powerautomate:/console/flow/run?workflowName=[workflowName]" wich requires the PAD login. I am looking for some kind of a way to execute this command with an authentication, eliminating the need to be logged in to PAD on the machines.

[Agnius]

That's not possible, as far as I know. If you run your flows from the cloud, you only generally need to login to PAD and the machine runtime app once - when you set it up. Then, even if PAD is signed out of, as long as the machine remains registered to an environment, cloud flows within that environment can call desktop flows on this machine.

But if you want to run the flow via a direct command from within your network, that will likely not work. 

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[NilsRuehmann]

@Agnius it doesn't need to be direct commands that run the flows, there may be other solutions from Microsoft that I simply don't have in mind. However, it must be a solution that works 'pre-installed' on the maschine so that no further steps are required. Otherwise, I am practically forced to write a small script that logs in and out on each machine independently to add the machine to a group, which is a security issue because malware can manipulate my flows with this given data. Apart from that, it is also a solution that's hard to maintain.

I have already tght to subscribe a second time to share the flows with a new account for use only, so that they cannot be edited. However, the problem remains that it is extremly difficult to maintain and scale, for which a solution is needed anyways.

[Agnius]

As mentioned, you need to do it once and then it will work fine if you run your flows from the cloud. Until you specifically change the registration of the machine, it will be registered and will allow flows to run, even if the user gets signed out of PAD after an update, a reboot or whatever.

So, it is something you do once when setting up the machine and leave it as it is without any scripts needed. But it still needs to be done once. No other way.

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If I have answered your question, please mark it as the preferred solution. If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.

I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.