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Support for connecting to a headless endpoint (windows computer without a monitor plugged in).

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joelcrburgess
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  • Pending Review

Currently there is no support for connecting to a headless endpoint (windows computer without a monitor plugged in). This is a big problem, as we are in the middle of moving from Bomgar to Control and now we realize that we can't support many of our client's servers or even Win10 computers who are headless. Even though the client has no monitor connected, we should still be able to see the Explorer GUI, other remote support apps certainly can do this. This is a HUGE feature-lack.

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0
Jcmccabe
Quote from Sean White

Support for headless machines is outlined in this article:
Connect to a headless Windows machine - ConnectWise

Generally if there is a video card output we will be able to capture the screen, in some cases where video is outputting a dummy plug may be needed.

Well, after looking for a viable solution, it looks like I'm going to cancel my subscription. This has become a big deal for me. I manage exhibits all over the country and many of the things I need to do are done after hours. Introduce control systems such as AMX/Crestron/OvRC or the like that can kill power to displays to save power per LEED requirements, I'm stuck getting the work I need to get done. While I can wake machines, often the control for powering things on like displays isn't granular enough with control systems. Or if it was, you would be powering both devices on and off and not able to take advantage of WoL features in AMX/Crestron. So what you have with CWControl simply a Managed Service Providers helpdesk tool. It's too bad. Been with CW for nearly 3 years and I'm hitting a wall with this issue. With nearly 100 client computers and two thirds of them inaccessible under a headless condition, it's time to jump ship. 

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0
Zanthexter
Quote from Dan Hess

reboot the end point machine with out a monitor plugged in and it will work ok to access remotely without a monitor left hooked up

Most of the time with the ones that have problems, it will not.

You will see the Windows desktop. But try opening settings or using the start menu and it fails.

The situations it fails are so common that it's not a usable product for an MSP.

You just cannot count on an end user keeping their laptop lid open.

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0
Zanthexter
Quote from Jcmccabe

Well, after looking for a viable solution, it looks like I'm going to cancel my subscription. This has become a big deal for me. I manage exhibits all over the country and many of the things I need to do are done after hours. Introduce control systems such as AMX/Crestron/OvRC or the like that can kill power to displays to save power per LEED requirements, I'm stuck getting the work I need to get done. While I can wake machines, often the control for powering things on like displays isn't granular enough with control systems. Or if it was, you would be powering both devices on and off and not able to take advantage of WoL features in AMX/Crestron. So what you have with CWControl simply a Managed Service Providers helpdesk tool. It's too bad. Been with CW for nearly 3 years and I'm hitting a wall with this issue. With nearly 100 client computers and two thirds of them inaccessible under a headless condition, it's time to jump ship. 

Other MSP tools have addressed the problem, because it's a hard stop when it comes up.

So, no, I wouldn't rate it as "simply a Managed Service Provider helpdesk tool". Because it fails at that. At least as a primary tool. I have kept my perpetual self hosted going as a backup to the ones I use daily. Nothing is perfect, everything breaks at some point.

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0
Dave73

Again - this doesn't address the point that you cannot 'see' the remote computers screen in ScreenConnect if the monitor is simply turned off. 

Eg, right now my Windows 11 box at home has its monitors turned off but is left running 24/7. If I remote into it via ScreenConnect right now I'll get a Grey screen on this end. I can even click randomly on the grey and it will click and run button and icons on the actual PC and launch stuff. Get someone to physically turn the monitor ON and hey presto - remotely display works fine in ScreenConnect.

For the same reason - I have to leave my work monitors on 24/7 so I can remote into my work machines if I need to from home/working elsewhere. 

These are not 'Headless Machines'. They already have video cards and monitors plugged in ... ScreenConnect just displays a Grey Screen on Connect to them IF the monitor is turned off on that device.

This issue only started a few versions ago, worked fine with monitors off before then.

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1
NameNotImportant

1) There are at least 3 implementations of ScreenConnect and this thread easily confuses them all. Automate, screenconnect.com (subdomain), and the adhoc client (subdomain of hostedrmm.com).

2) Having used these services in a MSP environment I know Automate will work with a headless machine no problem. The adhoc client I have not tested. screenconnect.com will have issues.

3) With screenconnect.com's agent, I was able to initially use the service and get into a headless PC. This PC has a ASUS B650E-E motherboard with onboard video and a GPU installed as well. Based on the default screen resolution of the window, it must be pulling the onboard video up. It has a glitch where most display changes related to Explorer will not update on the screen. For example if you click the start button, the menu will not appear. But if you click in the search bar, the window appears. If you right click on the task tray, you will see the options for Task Manager or Taskbar Settings (win11), but if you click on one of them, you won't see the window appear. Fix: send a CTRL + ALT + DEL after every request, hit esc to cancel, and the window refresh will appear. However, this won't work for right clicking task bar icons so you cannot unpin them. I ran into a UAC firewall issue, the screen locked up (no cursor or window updates including Ctrl + Alt + Del). So I rebooted. Now the mouse won't work so I can't get back into the machine. It takes me to the clock display, then I hit Ctrl + Alt + Del and it shows the login prompt, but I can't click into it to put a password. It appears that a ghost monitor device would be best. Will test with a monitor for now and see what happens.
Edit: hooking up a monitor fixed the GPU problem as expected. But mouse and keyboard was still unresponsive until I plugged in a mouse and keyboard.

Other notes: Remember to bypass consent, set power settings to not sleep, and disable UAC (if not on a domain).

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0
Mayfield
Quote from NameNotImportant

1) There are at least 3 implementations of ScreenConnect and this thread easily confuses them all. Automate, screenconnect.com (subdomain), and the adhoc client (subdomain of hostedrmm.com).

2) Having used these services in a MSP environment I know Automate will work with a headless machine no problem. The adhoc client I have not tested. screenconnect.com will have issues.

3) With screenconnect.com's agent, I was able to initially use the service and get into a headless PC. This PC has a ASUS B650E-E motherboard with onboard video and a GPU installed as well. Based on the default screen resolution of the window, it must be pulling the onboard video up. It has a glitch where most display changes related to Explorer will not update on the screen. For example if you click the start button, the menu will not appear. But if you click in the search bar, the window appears. If you right click on the task tray, you will see the options for Task Manager or Taskbar Settings (win11), but if you click on one of them, you won't see the window appear. Fix: send a CTRL + ALT + DEL after every request, hit esc to cancel, and the window refresh will appear. However, this won't work for right clicking task bar icons so you cannot unpin them. I ran into a UAC firewall issue, the screen locked up (no cursor or window updates including Ctrl + Alt + Del). So I rebooted. Now the mouse won't work so I can't get back into the machine. It takes me to the clock display, then I hit Ctrl + Alt + Del and it shows the login prompt, but I can't click into it to put a password. It appears that a ghost monitor device would be best. Will test with a monitor for now and see what happens.
Edit: hooking up a monitor fixed the GPU problem as expected. But mouse and keyboard was still unresponsive until I plugged in a mouse and keyboard.

Other notes: Remember to bypass consent, set power settings to not sleep, and disable UAC (if not on a domain).

Not sure what you mean by "3 implementations of ScreenConnect". It's all the same ScreenConnect agent regardless of where the ScreenConnect server is hosted. The only differences in agents are between releases of the product (e.g. 23.2 vs 23.3)

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4
Tier3supdude
We found running this in Powershell will fix the issue. You can connect to backstage to run the powershell commands, and then swap to the console and the display should be responsive.

mkdir C:\temp
cd C:\temp
Invoke-WebRequest https://www.amyuni.com/downloads/usbmmidd_v2.zip -O usmb.zip
tar -xf .\usmb.zip
cd .\usbmmidd_v2\
.\deviceinstaller64.exe install .\usbmidd.inf usbmmidd
.\deviceinstaller64.exe enableidd 1
Avatar
0
Alex Heylin
Quote from NameNotImportant

1) There are at least 3 implementations of ScreenConnect and this thread easily confuses them all. Automate, screenconnect.com (subdomain), and the adhoc client (subdomain of hostedrmm.com).

2) Having used these services in a MSP environment I know Automate will work with a headless machine no problem. The adhoc client I have not tested. screenconnect.com will have issues.

3) With screenconnect.com's agent, I was able to initially use the service and get into a headless PC. This PC has a ASUS B650E-E motherboard with onboard video and a GPU installed as well. Based on the default screen resolution of the window, it must be pulling the onboard video up. It has a glitch where most display changes related to Explorer will not update on the screen. For example if you click the start button, the menu will not appear. But if you click in the search bar, the window appears. If you right click on the task tray, you will see the options for Task Manager or Taskbar Settings (win11), but if you click on one of them, you won't see the window appear. Fix: send a CTRL + ALT + DEL after every request, hit esc to cancel, and the window refresh will appear. However, this won't work for right clicking task bar icons so you cannot unpin them. I ran into a UAC firewall issue, the screen locked up (no cursor or window updates including Ctrl + Alt + Del). So I rebooted. Now the mouse won't work so I can't get back into the machine. It takes me to the clock display, then I hit Ctrl + Alt + Del and it shows the login prompt, but I can't click into it to put a password. It appears that a ghost monitor device would be best. Will test with a monitor for now and see what happens.
Edit: hooking up a monitor fixed the GPU problem as expected. But mouse and keyboard was still unresponsive until I plugged in a mouse and keyboard.

Other notes: Remember to bypass consent, set power settings to not sleep, and disable UAC (if not on a domain).

The SC bundled with Automate is the exact same build as the standard self-hosted build. The license comes via the LabTech (Automate) license. Nothing special here except some common config options which are used to tie SC to LT.

However, the hosted product while the same software build has some different server config (which CW are annoyingly refusing to support self-hosted using) which allows both web and relay to use the same port (443 I think). It's the same code, but with some non-standard config hacked into it which makes it different enough to be worth noting.

Adhoc is just a license. The software is the same.

Avatar
0
Adam King
Quote from Tier3supdude
We found running this in Powershell will fix the issue. You can connect to backstage to run the powershell commands, and then swap to the console and the display should be responsive.

mkdir C:\temp
cd C:\temp
Invoke-WebRequest https://www.amyuni.com/downloads/usbmmidd_v2.zip -O usmb.zip
tar -xf .\usmb.zip
cd .\usbmmidd_v2\
.\deviceinstaller64.exe install .\usbmidd.inf usbmmidd
.\deviceinstaller64.exe enableidd 1

This worked great for me (July 2023). I needed a headless connection and these steps got me up and running. If you're spooked about downloading a random zip, here's there root site:
https://www.amyuni.com/downloads

and here's another set of instructions describing the same fix:
https://www.amyuni.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3030

Thank you for posting your fix!

Avatar
0
Ron Redmond
Quote from Adam King

This worked great for me (July 2023). I needed a headless connection and these steps got me up and running. If you're spooked about downloading a random zip, here's there root site:
https://www.amyuni.com/downloads

and here's another set of instructions describing the same fix:
https://www.amyuni.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3030

Thank you for posting your fix!

Everything was good until I got to here.

This worked ok

cd .\usbmmidd_v2\



This Failed. just say Failed.

.\deviceinstaller64.exe install .\usbmidd.inf usbmmidd
.\deviceinstaller64.exe enableidd 1



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