need GenControl alternative for Windows 7

Thanks Muad'Dib, RemoteControl works beautifully.

Noticed on some occasions (all my machines are Win7 x64) the clean up procedure leaves behind C:\RCTEMP\screenhooks.dll

Seems to happen the first time I connect, future connections will then remove the file. Nothing serious, just thought you might want the feedback.

Thanks again for a great tool
 
JoCald said:
Thanks Muad'Dib, RemoteControl works beautifully.

Noticed on some occasions (all my machines are Win7 x64) the clean up procedure leaves behind C:\RCTEMP\screenhooks.dll

Seems to happen the first time I connect, future connections will then remove the file. Nothing serious, just thought you might want the feedback.

Thanks again for a great tool
Click to expand...

Thats a known issue, and i have documented it in the "Help-->Known Issues" section of the program.

It appears to have to do with the way TightVNC Server interfaces with the screenhooks.dll file. It puts a "hold" on that file for a bit and then makes it so that you cant delete it. It would be similar to you trying to manually delete and it saying that you cant because the file is in use by another program.

I have considered trying to time it to figure out how long i would have to wait to delete the file.. but then that would add slowness to the program that i dont want. At this point im writing it off as a casualty of war. Technically its not clean... but hey you can only do so much right???

I thought about moving the rctemp location to the temp folder on both the local and remote machines.... which i might do in the future. This would make the program "appear" clean but who are we kidding.


If you continue to keep an eye on this, let me know if its only the first time you connect that the file continues to stick around.
 
Last edited:
Muad'Dib said:
If you continue to keep an eye on this, let me know if its only the first time you connect that the file continues to stick around.
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem to be the case. It happened to the first machines I tested on, but most times the file remains behind.

But as previously mentioned, its a minor issue. Thanks again for your assistance :)
 
JoCald said:
Doesn't seem to be the case. It happened to the first machines I tested on, but most times the file remains behind.

But as previously mentioned, its a minor issue. Thanks again for your assistance :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update.


schnell said:
I have used this script with success on remote machines where Altiris was malfunctioning.

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1101

It is a little confusing to set up but it all makes sense once you figure it out.
Click to expand...

Thats alot of work for what my program does automatically ;)
 
one feature i think your program is missing compared to gencontrol, is the automatic discovery of network computers it can be used on. I think gencontrol uses network neighbourhood (ie netbios) and it would be great to see such a feature in this tool too!
 
Hey, would you be able to post the source code for your program? Would be cool if you regged it as a project on github so we could get all the latest updates too. Interested in adding some features like active directory integration and being able to specify a username/password for connections.
 
Hi

I downloaded this and tried it on our network but keep getting Access Denied message ¨Sorry but you dont have access to XXX¨ . It does work to connect to the computer running the remote control software but thats pointless. This software is ideal for assisting the students at our internet cafe, if i could get it to work.

Im using a D link router and a TP LINK 16 port hub. The host computers does not hae any passwords and the UAC is turned off.

Do you know what my connectivity issue is ?
 
this works pretty well, I've been using real vnc enterprise for a while. This could save up on some licenses :D
 
this software doesn't have ability to set the credentials for the connecting user, it will just use whatever user is currently logged in. So in order for this to work properly you need to run under account that has admin access to the system you're trying to connect.
 
windows shares don't work without password. This uses admin shares to copy over and run the program so it won't work without passwords.
 
so what, should i enable a password on the computer i am trying to acess and then enter it in a pop up in the computer i am running the software on to gain access`?
 
Hi,

Just a quick 'thank you' to Muad'Dib for making this software - it's really great to have an improved version of GenControl - and to repeat the requests from others that you might put it up on a 'proper' website and perhaps make the source code available. It's quite hard to find it at the moment (one my my technicians stumbled across it by accident) and it would be good to raise the profile of this great tool.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

Chris
 
Sorry guys.. i wasnt getting email alerts for new replies so i didnt realize that there were some questions about the application.

As far as the connectivity issue, you need to have access to the default C$ share of the machine your connecting to. So either be logged into the machine that you run my program on with an account that has that access, or do a "run as" (shift+right click the application) and run the program with the proper credentials. You can manually test to see if you have connection to the remote machines C$ share by navigating to it using the following:

\\<computername>\C$
(ie \\YourMomsComputer\C$)


Im not sure how i feel about sharing the source code yet. I may get there eventually.. but right now i guess i just want to keep my hands wrapped around it. Kind of like a child thats getting ready to go out into the world.. at some point you need to finally let go.. im just not there yet.

FWIW, i am up to revision 1.4.. with only fairly minor changes since the last revision.

Jotti:

http://virusscan.jotti.org/en/scanresult/978c6b6b19546a6f3dc269b0fa777931fbe313ae

Download Link:

http://www.filedropper.com/remotecontrol


I have found one problem with the program that i have yet to completely document or find the root cause.. but after using it extensively on a network of approx 3000 ... every now and again when you attempt to connect to a machine it gets as far as connecting and then says you cant connect.. but you could attempt to re-connect immediately afterwards and it works. My original assumption was that it wasnt adding the firewall exception correctly.. but i still have yet to see if that is true or not. Just throwing that information out there.

I will try to look into github and i will also try to view this thread more regularly just in case i dont get the email notifications again.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Hi Muad'Dib,

Thank you very much for this tool. I have been looking all over for something like this.

My only concern is that it does not have security in terms of letting the user accept your connection, therefore users become very sceptical when I use it on their machines.

Is it possible to create a little feature/option that allows users to accept or reject your connection.

Thanks Once More
Billy
 
we use dameware here, but install the client on every machine just to simplify everything.... it can also be used to push, and can be deleted when you're done as well...

don't use it exactly the way you would, but it works pretty awesome the way we use it...
 
Sethobja said:
Hi Muad'Dib,

Thank you very much for this tool. I have been looking all over for something like this.

My only concern is that it does not have security in terms of letting the user accept your connection, therefore users become very sceptical when I use it on their machines.

Is it possible to create a little feature/option that allows users to accept or reject your connection.

Thanks Once More
Billy
Click to expand...

Hello Billy,

We have multiple tools we use that do the same thing. The most simple is using Remote Assistance that is built into XP and Windows 7. Thats what our Service Desk uses as their first attempt to get into the computer\user are "assisting". This way the end user is involved in the connection process. However there are some instances where Remote Assistance will not work... and others where we just need to remote into a device that no user is currently logged into / using to work on it. Thats where this program comes into play.

So for us the Priority is to use Remote Assistance, and if we cant use that then we use my program.

Its just not what my program is made for... although if there is high demand, i may make a custom version that prompts the end user to allow the connection. Its not anywhere on my radar right now though.

Windows 7 Command to offer Remote Assistance:
%windir%\system32\msra.exe /offerra
Windows XP Command to offer Remote Assistance:
hcp://CN=Microsoft%20Corporation,L=Redmond,S=Washington,C=US/Remote%20Assistance/Escalation/Unsolicited/unsolicitedrcui.htm

I hope this helps you.
 
Last edited:
Muad'Dib said:
FWIW, i am up to revision 1.4.. with only fairly minor changes since the last revision.

Jotti:

http://virusscan.jotti.org/en/scanresult/978c6b6b19546a6f3dc269b0fa777931fbe313ae

Download Link:

http://www.filedropper.com/remotecontrol
Click to expand...

This download URL doesn't work, so I downloaded from the previous page. I thought it was stale, but it's from about 30 days ago, so didn't think so. I'm using it to access wonky terminal servers that don't allow RDP and works fine for that, just wanted to get the latest version.

Thanks!
 
cougar694u said:
This download URL doesn't work, so I downloaded from the previous page. I thought it was stale, but it's from about 30 days ago, so didn't think so. I'm using it to access wonky terminal servers that don't allow RDP and works fine for that, just wanted to get the latest version.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I joined the forum with the same interest.
Muad'Dib. Great job, unfortunately it was so hidden.
 
I've been messing around with your utility Muad'Dib and it is pretty sweet. I do have one question, can you integrate the use of a single arguement passed to it? In this case it would be the computer name...

I was thinking it could do one of the following when passed an arguement:

A. Start the connection process on the PC name given or
B. Add it to the top of the recent history list so its quickly selectable.

Thank you again for your work on this utility!
 
kaplin said:
I've been messing around with your utility Muad'Dib and it is pretty sweet. I do have one question, can you integrate the use of a single arguement passed to it? In this case it would be the computer name...

I was thinking it could do one of the following when passed an arguement:

A. Start the connection process on the PC name given or
B. Add it to the top of the recent history list so its quickly selectable.

Thank you again for your work on this utility!
Click to expand...

I will put that on my possible "todo" list.. but im not sure if i will find the need to do it. Unless there is high demand.
 
I am currently testing version 1.5 of my application.

Not only have i updated it with the latest versions of TightVNC and RealVNC i also implemented the 64 bit version of the TightVNC server. What this means is that on 64 bit systems that you connect to, the screen refresh is much faster than before. Ive been testing it and it works really well. The downside to this is that the executable size has doubled. So far i am not seeing any performance hits from it but im not keen on having a large exe. Its currently about 11mb's; when before it was about 6mb's. Ive considered making two different versions for 32 bit and 64 bit... but then it would start drifting from being universal. I dont think i will do that but it was a thought.

Another feature i implemented was the option to prompt the end user to accept the remote connection:

2dlk6l2.png


The way i have it set-up is off by default. So the program works the same way as it did before. However if you wanted to change it to prompt the end user, then all you have to do is put a checkmark next to the menu item that enables this feature. The only thing i dont like about this implementation is that the end user is prompted with the IP address of the person trying to connect. To most end users they will just be confused.. so this will only really work for users you already have on the phone as an example. It would be nice if it would show an actual user's name... but as far as i can tell there is no way to do this with the TightVNC server.

Any thoughts on the above? Once i finish my testing (or if any of you want to test) i will release this. That will proably happen soon as the testing is going perfectly.
 
So far everything is going as expected.. .although it seems to take just a tad longer to connect to systems. Any other thoughts?
 
Muad'Dib said:
I will put that on my possible "todo" list.. but im not sure if i will find the need to do it. Unless there is high demand.
Click to expand...

This would allow your program to integrate into a product such as Spiceworks that can pass the computer name through their GUI. Spiceworks is a free inventory management software that is extremely powerful and has many users.
 
kaplin said:
This would allow your program to integrate into a product such as Spiceworks that can pass the computer name through their GUI. Spiceworks is a free inventory management software that is extremely powerful and has many users.
Click to expand...

Im familiar with Spiceworks. I like it.. but its not able to handle an organization as large as ours so we stopped using it.

Again.. its on my back burner todo list.

For clarification. You want to pass it a computer name like so:

RemoteControl.exe <computer_name>

and then have it connect and disconnect without a GUI? Is that accurate?
 
1.5.1 is here!

Here are the changes:

1.) Updated VNC Viewer to version 5.0.1
2.) Updated Tight VNC Server to version 2.5.2
3.) Removed updating list of hosts onclose. This is no longer needed now that we save the list anytime its modified (ie when successfull connection is made or when a machine is removed from the list).
4.) Changed VNC Port to 5993 instead of the default of 5900.
5.) Cleaned up / Fixed more code.
6.) Changed VNC Viewer registry keys since the newer version is slightly different. (Different location and a new key was needed to suppress an "Unencrypted connection" prompt.
7.) Added Dropdowns under the Help Menu. Help-->Information opens the help page now. Help-->Prompt User works like a checkbox. If its checked, then the end user will be prompted by TightVNC to allow the connection.
8.) Now keeps VNC Viewer keys on machine if they already existed. I hated that each time i used my program and then went to launch my normal VNC viewer that all my settings were gone.

VirusTotal:

https://www.virustotal.com/file/3bc...2a58f6282b6919bde7ee8d81/analysis/1344984830/

Download Link:

http://depositfiles.com/files/dy6wetxiy

As always please provide feedback! Thanks!
 
Muad'Dib said:
Im familiar with Spiceworks. I like it.. but its not able to handle an organization as large as ours so we stopped using it.

Again.. its on my back burner todo list.

For clarification. You want to pass it a computer name like so:

RemoteControl.exe <computer_name>

and then have it connect and disconnect without a GUI? Is that accurate?
Click to expand...

Yes that would be perfect. Alternatively any method that would reduce the need of actually typing the PC name into the GUI would work. (i.e. populating the <computer_name> into the top of recent history list, prefilling Host Name box, etc)

Thanks for all your work.
 
Muad'Dib,

When I press connect I always get "Could not start VNC Viewer. The system cannot find the file specified. We cant connect to (the computer's name)"

EDIT: I can connect to Win 2008 R2 fine, Win 764 still gives me the error
 
Last edited:
liveify said:
Muad'Dib,

When I press connect I always get "Could not start VNC Viewer. The system cannot find the file specified. We cant connect to (the computer's name)"

EDIT: I can connect to Win 2008 R2 fine, Win 764 still gives me the error
Click to expand...

Can you test a couple of things?

See if you can connect to the computers default C$ admin share:

\\<computer_name>\C$

If so, check WMI on the machine that your having trouble with. Possibly repair WMI and try connection again.

I have a feeling there is a problem with WMI on that device (Which is addressed in my next release with an error message).
 
It happens on every Win7 64 machine we have.

And yes I can get to the C drive remotely
 
liveify said:
It happens on every Win7 64 machine we have.

And yes I can get to the C drive remotely
Click to expand...

Thats odd.. must be something in your environment as ive been testing here and its working fine.. and no one else has been having (or maybe reporting) issues with x64 Windows 7.

Connection to a Windows 7 x64 machine is no different than connecting to a Server 2008 R2 x64 machine. Since you were successful with the latter then it makes no since why you cant connect to the former.

According to the error you posted its saying it cant find the file which should be located at:
C:\RCTEMP\vncviewer.exe.

Can you check that directory when you get the error?

Not sure what is up at this point.. unless something is preventing that file from being created on the C: drive.
 
New Version 1.6 is here!!

ADDED command line "Unattended" Mode.

It works very simply.. just call the program with the computer name you want to connect to after it. ex:
RemoteControl.exe JamesComputer

Changes:

1.6:

1.) Moved all functions to new Functions module. Helps with weight and speed.
2.) Possibly fixed problem with deleting RCTEMP folder on target computer when its online. Did this by imitating a reconnect to the device. Releasing like this to get feedback on it and confirmation it works as designed.
3.) Commented a bit more code
4.) Added "Unattended" option that works like a console application. You call it with "RemoteControl.exe <computer_name>" and it connects without a GUI. All other functions are the same. You will also still see error messages. This is also a test feature that appears to work as designed in the lab but am releasing to get more feedback.
5.) Renamed Help page to Information Page and made a link to it called "Information".
6.) Added Options Menu for future options if needed and moved "Prompt User" under options menu.
7.) Found an issue with "Prompt User" not working. Had to do with multiple IP's on the machine that is making the connection. Implemented and tested a fix. Releasing like this to get more feedback on how it works.
8.) Found issue with DNS lookup returning true.. was a coding mistake by me. This is fixed.
9.) Made background workers for Initial DNS and Ping Checks to prevent freezing of main GUI as previously observed.
10.) Decided that this was a larger milestone due to how much has changed and the added "Unattended Mode". Given 1.6 version instead of 1.5.3.

1.5.2:

1.) Commented more code and added Functions module that will eventually house all the functions so they are not bunched into the main module.
2.) Found a possible problem with BAD DNS records.. so added a check for that.
2.) Found a problem with the WMI dependency. Obviously if WMI isnt working then this program wont work. Added a check for that. Found when attempting to connect to a thin client. Thin client uses XP Embedded which doesnt have WMI completely installed. :(

VirusTotal:

https://www.virustotal.com/file/41f...0c693e1c4d598ce0633bb100/analysis/1345671638/

Download Link:

http://depositfiles.com/files/9xvo5ksym


As always i appreciate any and all feedback!

Thanks!
 
Hi Muad'Dib,

Are you able to post the later versions to another site?

Have been trying to get this from depositfiles.com but it keeps asking me to subscribe with my mobile phone at a cost of £1.50.

Very reluctant to do this - are there any other free download sites that could be used instead?

I am also happy to host the file on my personal webspace if you like.

Kind regards,
Chris
 
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