A reverse connection sound notification built into VNCviewer would be a handy option to alert the helpdesk of a support request. Given an option to run a chosen batch file upon connection, would be even better.
In the meantime, here is a working method to optionally receive a sound notification and/or an email alert upon a reverse connection being “connected”. I find this helpful if I am not watching the screen or when I am not in the same room. I’m sure there are probably easier ways to do this. Maybe others will find this helpful?
Overview: Set VNCviewer.exe to record a log file. A small 3rd party program monitors the log file for the word “Connected” to appear and when it does the 3rd party program can play a sound and/or send an email alert.
This is for VNC viewer running on a Windows 10 PC and requires VNCviewer.exe to either be ran as an Admin (if located in the default program files location) or install VNCviewer to a location like C:\UltraVNC so it doesn’t need admin rights… and there may be other ways.
Getting VNCviewer to record a log file add -loglevel 1 -logfile vncviewer.log
Example: C:\UltraVNC\vncviewer.exe -listen -quickoption 3 -scale 8/10 -password yourpassword -loglevel 1 -logfile vncviewer.log
Next I’m using a small open source program (under 1MB) called SnakeTail to monitor the logfile. See
http://snakenest.com/snaketail I put a SnakeTail subfolder inside the UVNC folder along with a few batch files and “laser.wav” from windows.
SnakeTail needs a couple files for its “external tools” and they can be created in many ways.
I used a Sound.vbs file with the help of a google search. A batch could be used instead.
Example: In a text file put the following and then save it as Sound.vbs.
Set Sound = CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX.7")
Sound.URL = "LASER.WAV"
Sound.Controls.play
do while Sound.currentmedia.duration = 0
wscript.sleep 100
loop
wscript.sleep (int(Sound.currentmedia.duration)+1)*1000
(Don’t forget to put your wave file in the same folder as the vbs.)
Example: SoundandEmail.bat - (Makes a sound and sends an email alert)
start /min Sound.vbs
Powershell.exe .\SendEmail.ps1
For the SendEmail.ps1, I used the directions from this website.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Automa ... Batch-Fil/
In Snaketail create and save a session with the following...
Edit… view options...External Tools. Add two tools… #1 Sound.bat or Sound.vbs to play a sound, and #2 SoundandEmail.bat (if you want to have the choice to email alerts as well.)
Edit… view options… “Configured view”… keyword “Connected” with the Launch External Tool selected and pointing to which tool you want to run #1 or 2 from above. I set the “log tab” to my vncviewer.log and the timers to every 10 seconds. Don’t forget to choose File…Save Session and name it something like. VNCviewerSoundAlert.xml
Create a shortcut on your desktop for SnakeTale.exe as follows with your xml in the target.
C:\UltraVNC\SnakeTail_SoundAlert\SnakeTail.exe VNCviewerSoundAlert.xml
With the above in working order… Launch VNCviewer first and then Snaketail with the parameters given above. Optionally, create a batch file to launch them both. When someone needs help on the server side and starts a reverse connection, you will be alerted on the viewer side via a sound or email
This takes some effort, but it works reliably for me.
It would be great to have an easier option within the VNCviewer to run a batch file on a reverse connection when the status = “connected”. Then the user can have control of the type of notification(s).
Having this built into VNCviewer will make it easier for anyone to do this and require less processes running on the system. For example: VNCviewer knows when status=connected instead of having a 3rd party program monitor and checking the log file continuously.
Thanks for UltraVNC
CPC
