Keep Tailscale running when I'm not logged in to my computer

On Linux, Tailscale runs as the system, and is available even when no users are logged in.

For other platforms Tailscale runs as the logged in user, not as the system. This means that if a device is restarted, or multiple users are logged in at the same time, Tailscale won't automatically connect.

On Windows, you can solve this by using "Run Unattended" mode. This configures Tailscale to run as the system instead of the currently logged in user. For example, a machine running Windows Server Edition might want to enable this to permit multiple users to connect via RDP at once.

On macOS, there's no ability to run as the system just yet. You can follow this GitHub issue for updates.