According to Deployment

Action	Service Mode Robot	User Mode Robot
Attended Execution
Unattended Execution		1
Concurrent Job Execution
Automatic Session Management
High-Density Deployment
Stop Service on Tray Quit
Single Machine - Multi-User Deployment

1 Unattended execution with the User Mode Robot is only possible under a locked screen while the user is logged in.

Service Mode Robot

The Service Mode Robot is best suited in unattended automation scenarios and large-scale platform deployments. When a process is executed, the Robot Executor runs with the same rights as the user under which it is registered.

The Robot Service is launched by the Windows Service Control Manager under the Local System. It can open interactive Windows sessions, and has all the rights of a machine administrator. As such, it enables automatic session management (such as log on and log off) for unattended jobs. It is recommended to use the Service Mode Robot for large-scale platform deployments.

Installing the Robot using UiPathStudio.msi and selecting the Unattended Robot option deploys the Service Mode Robot by default. It can also be installed from the Command Prompt.

A Service Mode Robot can be easily updated or converted to a User Mode Robot.

Note: When converting the Robot from Service-Mode to User-Mode, the Robot might not be able to access the .xaml files from original NuGet Packages folder. For details on how to resolve this, please read this guide which offers more details on this specific scenario.

In this deployment type, the Robot is listed under Windows services in services.msc.

Jobs can be started from Orchestrator even if a user is logged in or not.

The Service Mode Robot gets installed for all users on that machine. When the Service Mode Robot is installed on Windows Server machines, you can run concurrent unattended jobs with automatic session management. This represents a seamless unattended automation scenario. You can have concurrent jobs with the User Mode Robot on a Windows Server, but not automatic session management. You can find out how to set up a Windows Server for your Robots on this page.

The UiPath.settings file is installed in the %ProgramData%\UiPath folder.

Packages are downloaded in the %userprofile%\.nuget\packages folder by default. However, you can specify a custom location when you install Studio from the Command Prompt. If you are not connected to Orchestrator, the packages you publish from Studio are saved in the %ProgramData%\UiPath\Packages folder, and become visible in the Robot Tray. Find out more about Managing Packages.

User Mode Robot

The User Mode Robot is best suited to attended automation scenarios. It runs under the user that starts it, and has the same rights as that particular user.

Choosing the quick install option in the .msi installer deploys the robot in user mode by default.

A User Mode Robot can be updated, or converted to a Service Mode Robot.

In this deployment type, the Robot is not listed under the Windows services.

In order to start a job from Orchestrator, the user must be logged in.

The UiPath.settings file is installed in the %LocalAppData%\UiPath folder.

Please note that for the Service Mode Robot deployment, the .xaml files are only readable by the user that executes them.

By default, packages are downloaded in the %userprofile%\.nuget\packages folder. This location can be specified when you install Studio from the Command Prompt. If you are not connected to Orchestrator, the packages you publish from Studio are saved in the %ProgramData%\UiPath\Packages folder, and become visible in the Robot Tray. Find out more about Managing Packages.

Please note that packages downloaded by the Service Mode Robot cannot be run by the User Mode Robot.