Win XP Remote Assistance error

[sailor]

Win XP PRO SP3

When trying to send a Remote Assistance invitation I get an error message "A program could not start.Please try again."

This error pops up even before the invitation is created so the problem is with the creation of the invitation and not with any later connection issues between computers. The invitation is never created. This happens on several computers I own or maintain.

The event log does not record any errors when this happens.

I have searched for hours all over the Internet and quite a few people seem to have this problem. Some resolved it, mostly they needed to start some service, but the cause of their problem is not the same as mine.

Once in a long while an invitation creation will work in a computer and it seems the invitation creation will continue to work as long as the computer is not restarted.

When this happens I have tried comparing services, programs running, etc. between the computer where it works and one where it doesn't but I cannot see any difference which would seem relevant.

Is there any way to debug this and see what "program could not start"?

ETA: Further tinkering suggests when the problem appears it can be corrected by executing the command "sessmgr -service" in a command line window. After executing that line it seems the problem is corrected.

What I find baffling is that Sessmgr.exe is the Remote Desktop Help Session Manager service which was already running but for some unkown reason running that line makes it work right again. I will have to experiment some more.

 

[sailor]

I see there are no takers. It seems to me this software is not worth the trouble of learning it and getting it to work. When I finally get to issue an invitation it will work over the LAN but not over the Internet. I cannot get it to connect over the Internet.

I am looking at the structure and contents of the invitation at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc240167(v=prot.10).aspx
In the example given there, like in the invitations generated in my experiments, the invitation only contains LAN IP addresses (with port number) but no global address.
RCTICKET= . . . 192.168.1.65:3389; jeff:3389

How the expert computer is supposed to figure out the global address is a mystery to me.

 

[sailor]

Well, I resolved the problem by forgetting about MS and downloading teamviewer which worked fine with no problems and which does not even need to be installed. It can be run without installing it allthough it can be installed which, I guess, would allow the program to remember its settings. I find it very easy to use and I recommend it.