Problem with UltraVNC Crashing IE at Client End

[cpgit]

Hi there,

Was wondering if anyone could possibly shed light on a problem I've encountered with UltraVNC.

I work for a Social Care Enterprise which has recently upgraded to Windows 7 across our entire estate with UltraVNC 1.1.9.3 as our remote viewing tool. UltraVNC works perfect which is great, but we have had one issue which is causing a problem for us.

We have a specific version of Internet Explorer (8.0.7601.17514) which has to be used in order to support the array of clinical systems that our staff are using. When our remote agents try to open Internet Explorer on the Client PC's connecting Via UltraVNC, we're finding that Internet Explorer opens briefly then completely crashes and cannot be opened until a system reboot or until the Internet Explorer folder located here is renamed C:\Users\*Username*\AppData\Local\Microsoft until the next time someone else remotely connects using VNC. This issue does not happen when the same operation is done at the client's end (locally). Has anyone else experienced this problem.

Sorry if anything is vague.

Thanks,

[windserpent]

We have seen the exact issue with IE 8 (8.0.7601.17514) here at our company. I have tested with the x64 and x32 versions of the Win7 1.1.9.3 server and both exhibit the same symptoms.

The specific symptoms are IE will open and then close within a second when using a shortcut to iexplore.exe (e.g. a shortcut on the taskbar, desktop, Start menu, or launching App Catalog through the SCCM 2012 client). IE will open if iexplore.exe is opened directly from the Internet Explorer application folder in Program Files or Program Files (x86). IE does not "crash", but appears to close out gracefully. There is no crash event in Event Viewer. We also observed that external sites are inaccessible (e.g. google.com) when this occurs. IE appears to freeze/become unresponsive for about 5 to 10 seconds while it attempts to contact the external site. Intranet sites appear to open fine. If you have a shortcut directly to a website (external or intranet) placed on the desktop or otherwise, IE appears to connect to the site normally.

Chrome does not appear to be affected by this issue. I have not yet tested with IE 9 or 10 or Firefox to see if the issue occurs with these browsers. We have a need for IE 8 to work, however. We have some sites that require IE 8.

We have also found that if the UVNC Service is left running after you close the initial VNCViewer connection, you can start a new VNCViewer session and IE with work without issues. The issue only seems to appear during the initial VNC connection after the UVNC service is started.

[windserpent]

Follow up:

I tested the 1.1.8.9 VNC server with the 1.1.9.3 vncviewer and saw the same issue. I am led to believe that the issue may not be specific to the 1.1.9.3 vnc server.

[Rudi De Vos]

what's the polling methods used

1) mirror driver ?
2) vnchook ?
3) schook ?

[windserpent]

I have tested with and without using the mirror driver. The issue occurred in both scenarios. I am currently not using the mirror driver.

Using vnchooks, not schooks.

[poll]
TurboMode=0
PollUnderCursor=1
PollForeground=1
PollFullScreen=1
OnlyPollConsole=0
OnlyPollOnEvent=0
EnableDriver=0
EnableHook=1
EnableVirtual=0
SingleWindow=0
SingleWindowName=

[Rudi De Vos]

If the hooking is disabled, does it still crash

[windserpent]

Yes, it does. I tested that too.

[grubi]

I think you are not alone.
We are also still using an older version (1.1.0 beta) of UltraVNC for all our customers as alle the newer versions introduce all kind of ugly problems with IE8.
I already posted our problem here https://forum.ultravnc.net/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=30047.
Using 1.1.0 beta or 1.0.8.2 fixes our problems.
Maybe you can try with these versions and report back.
We also do not use the mirror driver.

Cheers.

[windserpent]

I can confirm that the issue does not exist when using the 1.0.9.6 server and vncviewer. We are currently using these now as a work-around, but I would like to update at some point.

[Rudi De Vos]

This is a hard problem as we don't see anything when we debug vnc.

Can you verify that it isn't a compiler issue.
We have 3 different downloads, all are compiled with another compiler ( 2008/2010/2013)
w2K >=
win7>=
win8>=
Normal, the installer use the highest available for your OS.
But w2K run also on xp/win7/win8... it's just doesn't make use of the new kernel options.

Thanks

[grubi]

We did not even use the installer.
Just took the binaries from the xp to w7 zip-file.
x86 and x64 versions are both affected by the problem.

[windserpent]

We did not even use the installer.
Just took the binaries from the xp to w7 zip-file.
x86 and x64 versions are both affected by the problem.

I also just used the binaries and see it in both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

[Rudi De Vos]

*To try
version 1096 only had a single exe for all OS's and was build withVS2008.
The 1193 version compiled with the same compiler is "bin zip w2k 119X"
http://www.uvnc.com/component/jdownload ... /5/71.html
You never know if the new compilers kernel routines behave bad.

Use a fixed encoder instead of auto, this avoid a auto encoder switch on
bandwidth changes.

Looks like winvnc (desktop part crash), normal you have 2x winvnc.exe running.
1x in session0 , the service
1x in the console session
If the console session crash, a service restart will not fix it as the hung winvnc.exe
doesn't accept any service controls. Normal a kill via the taskmgr from that exe solves it.
( Just to avoid a full server restart)

[grubi]

*To try
version 1096 only had a single exe for all OS's and was build withVS2008.
The 1193 version compiled with the same compiler is "bin zip w2k 119X"
http://www.uvnc.com/component/jdownload ... /5/71.html
You never know if the new compilers kernel routines behave bad.

Tried both builds of 1193 but both showing that strange problems
with IE (this time I checked IE9). Then just replaced winvnc.exe
with 1.0.9.6 Dated 15.09.2012 and everything is fine again.

Cheers.

[jstraka]

Hi,
I have the same trouble with version 1.1.8 and 1.1.9. When I install downloaded UltraVNC, everything seems OK. When I translate my own version od 1.1.9.0 or 1.1.8.8 (without any changes in source code, with/without DirectX SDK July 2010) and replace original EXE file, it behaves on some PCs exactly same way.

There are some other misbehaviours
- on some Win7 can't use switching between windows using Alt+TAB (dialog window with applications icons stays on the screen)
- on same PC's when open big enough TXT file in notepad.exe (cca 10MB) I cant close these window untill I give focus to some other app and return back.
- on some PC's is IE falling, on other is minimalized after opening some www pages and page is not opened.
- on some Win7 can't take a text from Outlook to the clipboard using mouse.

I have translated with different on different platforms, with always the same reason
VS 2012 Professional on W8 64bit
VS 2010 Express on W7 64bit
VS 2005 Standard on Vista 32bit

Don't you have any idea, how to solve this problem. Using of 1.0.9.6 is not sollution (it doesnt works correctly with MultiMonitor and hangs up when changing Aero configuration).
Thanx

[Rudi De Vos]

This isn't something i can resolve myself i gonna need some help withit.

If my own win7 would produce it, i could do some test by disabling code parts.

The first thing is to get reliable way of testing it, if i can test it it's programming blind.

I'm testing on a i7 920 cpu perhaps it only manifest himself on other hardware ?
service application both ???

[Rudi De Vos]

http://www.uvnc.eu/1194/servertests/winvnc.zip
() = svn update
version
1.0.9.7 (712)
1.1.0 (719)
1.1.1.0 (732)
1.1.6 (752)

Please test, when we are lucky the error can be found between one of the updates.
Limiting the number of changes that need to be verified.

Bewteen 1.0.9.6 and 1.1.9.3 are to many changes, impossible to check.

[grubi]

I'm testing on a i7 920 cpu perhaps it only manifest himself on other hardware ?
service application both ???

Here the proplem occurs on virtual machines running on VMware Workstation 7.1 and ESXi 4.1.
OS affected here is Win 7 x86 and Win 2008 R2.
I'm only running service mode.

[grubi]

I tested the versions attached with the following results:

1.0.9.7 (712) -> OK
1.1.0 (719) -> OK
1.1.1.0 (732) -> OK
1.1.6 (752) -> broken

HTH
Cheers
grubi

[Rudi De Vos]

Next subversions

Download
http://www.uvnc.eu/1194/servertests/winvnc_test2.zip
v1.1.1 OK
738 v1.1.2
744 v1.1.3
749 v1.1.4
v1.1.6 Fail

[grubi]

v1.1.1 OK
738 v1.1.2 -> Fail
744 v1.1.3 -> not tested
749 v1.1.4 -> not tested
v1.1.6 Fail

Cheers
grubi.

[Rudi De Vos]

Thanks, this limit the search to difference between 1.1.1 and 1.1.2

[grubi]

If you have any sub-versions to test do not hesitate

[Rudi De Vos]

http://www.uvnc.eu/1194/servertests/win ... taccel.zip
version 1.1.1 updated to 1.1.2 but with some part of the polling engine that was added.

can you do fast check to see if it has the issue or not.

[grubi]

http://www.uvnc.eu/1194/servertests/win ... taccel.zip
version 1.1.1 updated to 1.1.2 but with some part of the polling engine that was added.

can you do fast check to see if it has the issue or not.

Both versions work and do not show the issues with IE, however "winvnc_738_notxtaccel" has another one. I'm not able to enter passwords on Windows 7 logon screen. winvnc_1195_notxtaccell does not have this issue.

Cheers
grubi

[Rudi De Vos]

The 1195 is the important one.
This is the latest version with the modified function to verify if this was realy it causing the issue.

Thanks for the help.

[grubi]

The 1195 is the important one.
This is the latest version with the modified function to verify if this was realy it causing the issue.

Thanks for the help.

So you still searching for the cause of the problem?

[Rudi De Vos]

If winvnc_1195_notxtaccell doesn't have the issue, the problem is detected and fixed.

[grubi]

If winvnc_1195_notxtaccell doesn't have the issue, the problem is detected and fixed.

That's great news.

[Rudi De Vos]

Update released as 1196 (test)
https://forum.ultravnc.net/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=30586