can't run ss gui when loaded as a service on win2k

I have screen scrapper running as a service on win2k server.

for learning and debugging purposes, using the screen scrapper gui is the way to go, but i get an error if i try to load this while the service is still running.

it means i have to shut down the service, run screen scrapper, then shut it down, restart the service, etc. a bit of a pain.

is this correct?

the error i get when i load screenscrapper when the service is still running is that there is already an instance running. i ignore the warning, press "yes", but then it gets really upset.

java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.screenscraper.util.DataMain.executeSelect(DataMain.java:189)
at com.screenscraper.util.DataMain.executeSelect(DataMain.java:205)
at com.screenscraper.data.DScrapingSession.getAllScripts(DScrapingSession.java:76)
at com.screenscraper.business.BScrapingSession.getAllScripts(BScrapingSession.java:54)
at com.screenscraper.scraper.ScriptManager.loadScripts(ScriptManager.java:140)
at com.screenscraper.scraper.ScriptManager.getScripts(ScriptManager.java:108)
at com.screenscraper.model.ModelMainFrame.handleAppEvent(ModelMainFrame.java:345)
at com.screenscraper.controller.ControllerMainFrame.handleAppEvent(ControllerMainFrame.java:306)
at com.screenscraper.controller.ControllerMainFrame.init(ControllerMainFrame.java:70)
at com.screenscraper.controller.ControllerMain.init(ControllerMain.java:71)
at com.screenscraper.controller.ControllerMain.(ControllerMain.java:51)
at com.screenscraper.controller.ControllerMain.main(ControllerMain.java:596)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(DashoA8113)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(DashoA8113)

is this expected?