Multiple VNC's

[JohnHace]

In the FAQ's, you state:

Can I run InstantSupport on a computer that already has a VNC server running?

No, you must shut down the current VNC server before running InstantSupport.
Since version 3.2 most but not all VNC servers will be shut down automatically.

It seems 3.1 allowed this and it was very handy for us when two techs need to see the same computer. Is it really a problem? Did something change in 3.2 or did 3.1 simply not check and try to prevent this? We never had a problem.

Is there any workaround?

It seems with 3.2 running, we can still launch 3.1 (not the other way around), but we'd rather not keep them both.

Thanks.

[supercoe]

Interesting, every time I tried to run it twice I'd get the "Another VNC server is running" message.

I'll put a note to look into this.

You can bypass the check by commenting out InstantSupport.au3 LINES: 128 to 166

Code: Select all

; Close known VNC servers.
If ProcessExists( "InstantSupportVNC.exe" ) Or ProcessExists( "WinVNC.exe" ) Then

	If MsgBox( 4, $str_Program_Title, $str_CloseOtherVNCServers ) = 6 Then

		; Stop services if running.
		If _ServiceRunning("", "uvnc_service") or _ServiceRunning("", "winvnc") Then
			If IsAdmin() Then

				ShellExecuteWait($WorkingPath & "\InstantSupport.exe", "-stopservices", @ScriptDir, "")

			Else

				ShellExecuteWait($WorkingPath & "\InstantSupport.exe", "-stopservices", @ScriptDir, "runas")

			EndIf
			Sleep(10000)
		EndIf

		; Kill user mode VNC servers.
		Run( $WorkingPath & "\InstantSupportVNC.exe -kill" )
		Sleep(10000)

		; Kill InstantSupport if running.
		If WinExists( $str_Program_Title ) Then

				WinClose( $str_Program_Title )
				Sleep( 500 )
				Send( "{ENTER}" ) ; Let the other InstantSupport process close normally so it can cleanup.
				Sleep( 500 )
		EndIf

	Else

		InstantSupportExit( True )

	EndIf

EndIf

[JohnHace]

Thanks.

I saw that in the script. But, will it cause a problem if I comment it out?

I'm just curious why it's there.

[supercoe]

It's there because I would always get the "can't run multiple vnc servers" message during my testing. I could never get the multiple vnc servers to work properly even with the -multi command. I didn't want error messages being displayed to the user so that check would shut down the other InstantSupport's and VNC servers.

[sprinklej]

I would also like to run multiple vnc servers. I am curious if any more testing has been done on this issue?
Specifically If you comment out lines: 128 - 166 does everyone else get the "can't run multiple vnc servers" message?

[supercoe]

The multiple vnc server issue has to do with UltraVNC, the code above simply checks for another server before starting a new one.
The UltraVNC Server has a command line called -multi but I've never been able to get it to work correctly.

If we can get the -multi option working so multiple servers can be run then InstantSupport will need to be changed a bit so it can handle the other servers.

[okinobk]

Hello,

I solved this problem a few months age.
https://forum.ultravnc.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=29326

[supercoe]

I see that you added the -multi command but I compiled your code and since it looks for "InstantSupportVNC.exe" when launching InstantSupport it never gets to spawn another server.

Just for testing I took out the detection code and it did indeed launch 2 VNC servers.

More testing is needed and the logic of InstantSupport needs to be changed in order to support multiple servers but it's looking good.

I'm not sure why I've always had so much trouble with that command, I see you also added the -sc_prompt command but I don't think that should effect -mult....

Either way, thanks okinobk for your work!