UltraVNC 1.02 with echoWare repeater

[sbest]

Heyaz. We just finished integration of the echoWare DLL with the recent UltraVNC 1.02 release: the result is EchoVNC 2.0. You can download the installer or download the source from our FTP site.

As many of you know...echoWare is the essential component of EchoVNC, allowing firewall-friendly access to VNC Servers behind unconfigured firewalls, routers or web-proxies. As EchoVNC really just creates tunnels to existing VNC installations, it makes sense to integrate echoWare directly with VNC viewers and servers. But echoWare just helps with the connection -- everything you can do with a "direct" UltraVNC connection, you can also do with an echoWare-assisted one.

More information about the open-source echoWare DLL is available in the echoWare SDK.

To get it all working ... simply load an echoServer entry into either the viewer or server GUI -- on the server, it's underneath "Admin Properties" when you right-click on the service-tray icon. On the viewer (both the traditional viewer and the tabbed viewer), it's in the Options screen. By default, echoWare will use our free demo echoServer at "demo.echovnc.com". Or you can download your own, for Windows, Linux, or FreeBSD.

Hope you find it all useful!

-Scott

[MrChris]

Are there any limitations when connecting/using the demo.echovnc.com server such at 30min limits?

Regards,

MrChris

[sbest]

MrChris:

Nope, it's "free" as in beer, with no time limits. It's sort of an ongoing reliability experiment.

cheers,
Scott

[MrChris]

After playing around with a few of your apps, I must say pretty nice, this is what I have been looking for is a solution for NAT2NAT and VNC that works and EchoServer and EchoWinVNC looks like what I am looking for.

But how can I configure EchoVNC's vncviewer.exe to connect to the echoWinVNC while utilizing Screen Scaling as I often connect to desktops that have very high resolutions and I hate scrolling up/down and left/right?

Many thanks,

MrChris

[sbest]

MrChris:

EchoVNC is really just a "GUI wrapper" built around echoWare -- it helps to create connections, but pretty much leaves it up to VNC after that. So if the VNC viewer that EchoVNC "auto activates" supports screen-scaling...then it should work as requested.

Alternatively, don't use EchoVNC at all. Now that echoWare is built right into th UltraVNC Viewer, just start the Viewer like normal, and connect to your targets with that. That was the whole point of this release, after all...

cheers,
Scott

[MrChris]

Yes I just found the RC of UltraVNC with EchoVNC built into it but after I posted that question about auto scaling. But thanks for the reply.

I noticed that the uvnc was acting a little weird in a sence that when winvnc.exe is stated via a service and then stoped it did not close TCP port 5900 and or 5800 it kept them open via the system process. as shown below.

This is a screen shot from systernals tcp port monitor after closing winvnc.exe from both a GUI and or stoping winvnc.exe -service. So when I try to start the service again it says winvnc.exe is already running when it is not.



MrChris

[MrChris]

On a different note

As far as the UltraVNC with EchoVNC built into it. I found the Reg Key that stores the settings for the EchoServer in it but noticed that it is a Binary string. Is there any way to change it to a REG_SZ Value so that everything but the Machine name is imported?

Reason is if I recompile a installer with it to auto populate that data every machine that it gets installed in will have the same machine name. Make sense?

This is sweet stuff. I might just be able to ditch my www.gotomypc.com account now and just purchase a license for EchoServer.

Thanks again,

MrChris

[Sparad0x]

It looks very interesting!!!
I would like to be sure: does the EchoServer just help to establish the connection, or does it establish the connection then is used for the whole session (remote control + File Transferts)?

[rmoller]

>This is a screen shot from systernals tcp port monitor after closing winvnc.exe from both a GUI and or stoping winvnc.exe -service. So when I try to start the service again it says winvnc.exe is already running when it is not.

You had connections to/from localhost in TIME_WAIT. This is normal, but sometimes annoying Windows behaviour when closing TCP connections. They will be gone in a few minutes. Did you have an open Browser/Java VNC connection at the time of shutting down the service?

[MrChris]

Yea I found that by waiting a few minutes it did close and all is well now.

Thanks,

MrChris

[sbest]

Sparad0x:

Heya. Sorry for the late reply. Yes, similar to a VNC Repeater, all data between the Viewer and the Server is relayed thru the echoServer. Makes for more reliable connections.

-Scott

[Sparad0x]

Thanks for your answer.
So the EchoServer establish the connection then is used for the whole session (remote control + File Transferts).
Si you need to use it on a high bandwich server, right?

Regrads,

Sparad0x

[MrChris]

I was under the impression that the NAT2NAT connectors are only used to establish the connection and once that is done then all data goes right from the client to the server by-passing the NAT2NAT connector.

Does the EchoServer not act this way?

MrChris

[MrChris]

Since the value used in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\UltraVnc\EchoServer is a Binary String how can I make the EchoServer UserID in it be Dynamic as I am trying to create a AutoIT installer that installs UltraVNC server via a Single file and stays installed after a reboot allowing me to reconnect without a user allowing me connection?

I could do this in AutoIT if it was not a Reg_Binary value but rather a Reg_SZ value for each value independently.

The SC version of EchoWinVNC does not work well if remoting to a server that requires a reboot and does not have a person in front of it at the time. That is why I wanted to repackage UltraVNC with EchoServer support but having a pre-defined connection to a EchoServer but have the UserID in it be what ever the host name is or a Dynamic Value.

Make sense?

Regards,

MrChris

[MrChris]

Ok Im confused where does UltraVNC store its EchoServer info at? I thought it was in the registry. But now it doesnt looks like it does.

NM I found it its in [HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3783412348-3147957303-627458716-1003\Software\UltraVnc

This makes it even harder to do what im after. Hmmmm..

MrChris

[sbest]

MrChris, Sparad0x:

Right, all of the data during the session goes thru the echoServer. We've made a lot of progress in keeping the additive latency to a minumum. Fortunately, VNC doesn't require a very high bandwidth connection. It will be slower than a "direct" connection, but not annoyingly so.

Regarding the echoServer data in the registry, the latest release is plain ASCII.

cheers,
Scott

[MrChris]

Regarding the echoServer data in the registry, the latest release is plain ASCII.

Where is it stored at? I think I found it in HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3783412348-3147957303-627458716-1003\Software\UltraVnc

Is that the correct location?

Regards,

MrChris

[MrChris]

OK I found it now its showing as being in HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3783412348-3147957303-627458716-1003\Software\ORL\WinVNC3\EchoServers\demo.echovnc.com:1328
with the values just like need them to be. Thanks for that. Allthough the Logged in User GUID is Dynamic per user, I might be able to get AutoIT to retrieve the SID/GUID from the machine and set that as a VAR to be used later on in an autoit script.

Thanks,

MrChris

[MrChris]

OK looks like I can now do what I was after and thought I would share it just in case anyone would/could use it in the future.

AutoIT code change EchoServer Data Dynamically

Code: Select all

; This will set the Users SID as a VAR
$oWMI = ObjGet("winmgmts://./root/cimv2")
$oUser = $oWMI.Get("Win32_UserAccount.Domain='" & @LogonDomain & "'" _
    & ",Name='" & @UserName & "'")
$sUserSID = $oUser.SID

; EchoServer Data
RegWrite('HKEY_USERS\' & $sUserSID & '\Software\ORL\WinVNC3\EchoServers\demo.echovnc.com:1328','ConnectionType','REG_DWORD','00000000')
RegWrite('HKEY_USERS\' & $sUserSID & '\Software\ORL\WinVNC3\EchoServers\demo.echovnc.com:1328','password','REG_BINARY','559954d2dc3a93e0')
RegWrite('HKEY_USERS\' & $sUserSID & '\Software\ORL\WinVNC3\EchoServers\demo.echovnc.com:1328','port','REG_SZ','1328')
RegWrite('HKEY_USERS\' & $sUserSID & '\Software\ORL\WinVNC3\EchoServers\demo.echovnc.com:1328','server','REG_SZ','demo.echovnc.com')
RegWrite('HKEY_USERS\' & $sUserSID & '\Software\ORL\WinVNC3\EchoServers\demo.echovnc.com:1328','username','REG_SZ',@UserName)

[MrChris]

OK. Im confused. Everytime I do a before and after Reg Compare when I add a echoserver to winvnc.exe I get different results. At one point It was showing as being stored in the above key and another time even after completely removing all evidence of VNC and Echoware from my system it now shows as being in a Reg_Binary string again. So I dont know what is going on. Is it me?

MrChris

[MrChris]

Not trying to be a pain or anything but...........

I figured out why the Reg Keys and Values where sometime showing up and sometimes not. The problem is the echoware server settings for ultravnc only get stored in HKey_Users\<USER_SID>\Software\ORL\WinVNC3\EchoServers\ in ASCII if winvnc.exe is run without any extra command line options. I was running winvnc.exe -service and when I opened up the echoserver dialog from the systray when launching winvnc.exe -service then running winvnc.exe -servicehelper it would store them in the old location which is REG_BINARY.

Problem is if I run winvnc.exe as a service the settings are stored in REG_BINARY and not ASCII in the new location. If I run winvnc.exe by just double clicking the single executable then it is in the new location.

Maybe its a Beta/RC bug?

Keep up the good work,

MrChris

[MrChris]

Just curious. I wonder if it would be possible to add EchoWare support to OpenVPN? I will have to look into it.

MrChris

[sbest]

MrChris:

Heya. Sorry, am not seeing the bug you describe. Am doing this:

1. Install UltraVNC with echoWare, register it as a service.
2. Delete all EchoServer keys in ORL\WinVNC3 for both HKCU and HKLM.
2. Restart.
3. In the service tray, right click on UltraVNC, select echoServers.
4. Should be empty (and is). Add an entry.
5. Restart.
6. In service tray, right click on UltraVNC, select echoServers again.
7. Should have one entry (added in #4) and does.
8. Check registry, echoServer entry in HKLM\Software\ORL\WinVNC3.

All of that looks correct when I tested it here. Can you describe the process you see that causes a binary encoded echoServer value to appear somewhere else?

thanks,
Scott

PS: For the VNC Viewer, of course, it's possible to get an echoServer entry added from the default .VNC file.

[MrChris]

OK This is bizZar, Now that I do it using your steps it working as I would expect it. Maybe I had different versions of winvnc and echware.dll. Who knows. I was up late working on a project of mine.

What I am trying to do is create my own version of a SingleClick using a normal winvnc.exe rather than the sc version of vnc since the sc vrsion does not allow for NT Authentication as far as I know. Not to mention SC is for temporary use and does no good if you need a reboot.

Im trying to repackage UltraVNC using AutoIT with some special prompts that ask for user input.

I will play around with this a little more and see what I come up with.

When I am done I will post my AutoIt code for anyone else to use if they find it usefull.

Thanks for the reply and sorry for being a pain the past few days.

MrChris

[sbest]

MrChris:

No hassle at all. Am eager to see what you come up with.

cheers,
Scott

[sgilbert92]

I'm a beginner with this--how do I start the echoWare?

The initial post said "add an entry" under Admin Properties...what does that mean?

I didn't see anything about echoware under Admin Properties or Properties.

I have release 1.0.2.

And under Viewer Options, I didn't see anything about echoware there either.

Stephen

[MrChris]

@ sgilbert92

In a nutshell.

After installing UltraVNC v1.0.2 with EchoWare support when you see the winvnc.exe systray icon in the systray if you Right Click on it you should see an option that says "EchoServer Properties" if you left click on that choice then that will bring up the dialog window where you can Add an entry for an EchoServer.

Hope this helps

MrChris

[sgilbert92]

Ah, sorry, I'm coming in late. I didn't realize this was separate software from UltraVNC itself.

I don't see an install for "UltraVNC with Echoware support" somewhere...do I install
EchoWare Remote Support System 1.2
from
http://www.echogent.com/download.htm
to pull this off?

Or am missing some UltraVNC plugins page?

Stephen

[redge]

sgilbert92

Or am missing some...
I don't see an install for "UltraVNC with Echoware support" somewhere..

you miss read the first post of this topic.

I think should coming soon officially, but, actually under beta stage, need stable before publish to official webpage ? Is is'nt good reason ?

beta files are available to everyone if you know browsing basis of ftp usage
ftp://ftp.echogent.com

[MrChris]

When using a config .VNC file to store settings for the vncviewer. How would I get the vncviewer to auto check the "Connect via EchoServer" check box before connecting? It doesn't look like it is!

All I can see is

count=1
server0=demo.echovnc.com:1328;pc19857hw;demo2005;
localproxy=:;;;

Thanks,

MrChris