GUI when running as a Service or background Process

I have a Unity application that I'd like to automate in the manner of Chef, Puppet or PowerShell DSC. This usually involves running the application as a Windows Service or as a background Process, with no GUI. However, when I try to run my application in this manner, it seems that Unity fails to acquire a GPU device.

The output_log shows stuff like this:

 Direct3D:
     Version:  Direct3D 11.0 [level 11.0]
     Renderer: Microsoft Basic Render Driver (ID=0x8c)
     Vendor:   Microsoft
     VRAM:     128 MB
 FMOD failed to get driver capabilities ... Error initializing output device.
 
 <snip>
 
 IndexOutOfRangeException: Array index is out of range.
   at UnityEngine.Display.RecreateDisplayList (System.IntPtr[] nativeDisplay) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
 
 <snip>
 
 desktop: 1024x768 60Hz; virtual: 1024x768 at 0,0
 Switching to resolution 1024x768 failed, trying lower one
 All resolution switches have failed
 Screen: DX11 could not switch resolution (1024x768 fs=0 hz=0)

Is there any way to force Unity to acquire the GPU device (beyond the command line arguments, which don't seem to work at all), or is this a fundamental problem with the way Windows Services and Processes work?