3.1 Managing Remote Sessions on a Windows Device

Review the following sections for information on managing sessions on a Windows device:

3.1.1 Managing a Remote Control Session

Remote Management lets you remotely control a managed device. With remote control connections, the remote operator can go beyond viewing the managed device to taking control of it, which helps to provide user assistance and resolve problems on the managed device. For information on launching a Remote Control session, see Section 2.1.5, Starting Remote Management Operations on a Windows Device.

Using the Toolbar Options in the Remote Management Viewer

The following table describes the various toolbar options available in the Remote Management viewer during a Remote Control session. It also lists the shortcut keys if they are available.

Option	Shortcut Key	Functionality
Connection Options		Allows you to configure various session parameters such as format and encoding for enhancing the session performance, logging, and local and remote cursor handling.
Connection Info	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I	Provides the hostname, port, screen resolution, and protocol version of the managed device.
Pause		Allows to pause only the screen refresh of a remote session. The pause option will not affect any other remote operations.
Full Screen	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F	Allows you to toggle between full screen and normal mode.
Request Screen Refresh		Refreshes the viewing window.
Send Ctrl-Alt-Del	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Del	Sends the Ctrl+Alt+Del keystroke to the managed device. This option is disabled for Remote View and Remote Diagnostics sessions. The Ctrl+Alt+Del keystroke is delayed in a remote session when used for the first time after rebooting the managed device. However the subsequent Ctrl+Alt+Del keystroke takes less time until you reboot the managed device again.
Send Ctrl-Esc		Invokes the Start menu on the managed device.
Send Alt Key Press / Release		Clicking this option and pressing the ALT key on the keyboard sends the Alt keystroke to the managed device.
Blank / Unblank Screen	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+B	Blanks or displays the screen on the managed device. When the screen of the device is blanked, the operations performed by the remote operator on the device are not visible to the user at the device. The keyboard and the mouse controls on the managed device also get locked. This option is enabled only if the Allow managed device screen to be blanked option is enabled in the Remote Management policy effective on the managed device.
Lock / Unlock Keyboard and Mouse	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L	Locks or unlocks the keyboard and mouse controls for the managed device. When the mouse and keyboard controls of the device are locked, the user at the managed device cannot use these controls. This option is enabled only if the Allow managed device mouse and keyboard to be locked option is enabled in the Remote Management policy effective on the managed device.
Transfer Files		Launches a session to transfer files to and from the managed device. This option is enabled only if the Allow transferring files on the managed device option is enabled in the Remote Management policy effective on the managed device. For more information on File Transfer, see Section 3.1.5, Managing a File Transfer Session.
Collaboration	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C	Launches a ZENworks Remote Management Collaboration Session on the managed device, which lets you invite multiple remote operators to join the remote management session. You can also delegate the Remote Control rights to another remote operator to help you solve a problem. For more information on Session Collaboration, see Session Collaboration.
Remote Execute	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+U	Launches a Remote Execute session on the managed device, which enables you to remotely launch any executable on the managed device. This option is enabled only if the Allow programs to be remotely executed on the managed device option is enabled in the Remote Management policy effective on the managed device.
Disconnect	Alt+F4	Closes the remote session.
Switch Display	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S	Switches the display on a managed device with multiple monitors. This option is disabled for Remote Diagnostics session. For more information, see Section 1.3.13, Switch Display
ZENworks Chat	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H	The ZENworks Chat feature provides chat capability during a remote session. It allows you to communicate with the user and other administrators who are connected to the Remote Management session. It is enabled only when either a Remote Control or a Remote View session is initiated. After the remote session is complete, you can access the chat log the Remote Management\chats directory.
Session recording		Records the Remote Control session. NOTE:This option is enabled only if the Allow remote operator to record a session option is selected on the Remote Management General Settings page.

Session Collaboration

The Session Collaboration feature lets you invite multiple remote operators to join the Remote Management session if the remote operators have launched the Remote Management listener to listen to the remote session requests. You can also delegate the Remote Control rights to a remote operator to help you solve a problem and then regain control back from the remote operator. This option is currently supported only on Windows.

If you launch the Remote Control session on the managed device first, then you gain the privileges of the master remote operator. You can use Session Collaboration to:

Invite multiple remote operators to join the Remote Control session.
Delegate the remote control rights to a remote operator to help you solve a problem and then regain control back from him or her.
Terminate a remote session.

To launch Session Collaboration:

Launch the Remote Control session on the managed device in collaborate mode.

For information on launching a Remote Control session, see Section 2.1.5, Starting Remote Management Operations on a Windows Device.
On the Remote Management viewer toolbar, click to display the Session Collaboration window.

The Session Collaboration window lists the remote operators added in the Remote Management policy effective on the device. Each remote operator is listed as a separate entry preceded by a colored circle:

A gray circle indicates that the remote operator has not joined the session.
A red circle indicates that the remote operator has joined the session and is in the Remote View mode.
A green circle indicates that the remote operator has joined the session and has been delegated Remote Control rights in the session.

For more information on Adding the Remote Operators, see Section 2.1.2, Creating the Remote Management Policy

The following table lists the actions that you as a master remote operator can perform during session collaboration:

Task	Steps	Additional Details
Invite a remote operator to join a remote session	Select a remote operator listed in the session collaboration window. Click Invite.	If the remote operator accepts the request and joins the session, the gray circle for the remote operator changes to red. By default, the new session starts in the Remote View mode.
Delegate Remote Control rights to the remote operator	Select the remote operator to whom you want to delegate the Remote Control rights. Click Delegate.	The selected remote operator is now in Remote Control mode and the red circle for the remote operator changes to green. The master remote operator automatically switches to the Remote View mode.
Regain Remote Control rights from the remote operator	Click Regain Control.	The remote operator switches into Remote View mode and the green circle for the remote operator changes to red. The master remote operator automatically switches to the Remote Control mode.
Terminate the Remote Session	Select the remote operator you want to terminate from the Remote Session. Click Terminate.	If the selected remote operator is in Remote Control mode, then you will regain the Remote Control rights. The remote operator’s session terminates and the color of the circle for the remote operator changes to gray.
Invite an external remote operator	Click Invite External to invite remote operators not listed in the Session Collaboration window to join the remote session. Specify the DNS name or the IP address of the remote operator’s device and the port number. For example, IPv4: 10.0.0.0 ~~1000 and IPv6: 2001:db8::1111~~5500 Click Invite.

If the master remote operator disconnects the remote session, then all the remote operators are terminated from the session.

In a Remote Control session, if you want the device IP address to be displayed instead of the DNS name, check the Always default to IP address for all devices box.

The values that you provide to access a device while performing a Remote Control operation are saved in the system when you click Ok.

During a Remote Control operation, the following values are saved for an administrator and can be accessed during the next Remote Control operation:

Always default to IP address for all devices
Certificate Key Pair

During a Remote Control operation, the following values are saved for a device and can be accessed during the next Remote Control operation:

Device name
Authentication
Session Encryption
Enable logging
Route Through Proxy

3.1.2 Managing a Remote View Session

Remote View lets you remotely connect with a managed device so that you can view the managed device desktop. For information on launching a Remote View session, see Section 2.1.5, Starting Remote Management Operations on a Windows Device.

The following table describes the various toolbar options available in the Remote Management viewer during a Remote View session.

Option	Shortcut Key	Functionality
Connection Options		Allows you to configure various session parameters such as format and encoding for enhancing the session performance, logging, and local and remote cursor handling.
Connection Info	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I	Provides the hostname, port, screen resolution, and protocol version of the managed device.
Pause		Allows to pause only the screen refresh of a remote session. The pause option will not affect any other remote operations.
Full Screen	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F	Allows you to toggle between full screen and normal mode.
Request Screen Refresh		Refreshes the viewing window.
Disconnect	Alt+F4	Closes the remote session.
Switch Display		Switches the display on a managed device with multiple monitors. This option is disabled for Remote Diagnostics session. For more information, see Section 1.3.13, Switch Display
ZENworks Chat	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H	The ZENworks Chat feature provides chat capability during a remote session. It allows you to communicate with the user and other administrators who are connected to the Remote Management session. It is enabled only when either a Remote Control or a Remote View session is initiated. After the remote session is complete, you can access the chat log from the following location: %appdata%\novell\ZENworks\Remote Management\chats
Session recording		Records the Remote View session. NOTE:This option is enabled only if the Allow remote operator to record a session option is selected on the Remote Management General Settings page.

3.1.3 Managing a Remote Execute Session

Remote Execute lets you remotely run executables with system privileges on the managed device. To execute an application on the managed device, launch the Remote Execute session.

Launch the Remote Execute session.

For information on launching a Remote Execute session, see Section 2.1.5, Starting Remote Management Operations on a Windows Device.
Specify the executable name.

If the application is not in the system path of the managed device, then specify the complete path of the application. If you do not specify the extension of the file you want to execute at the managed device, Remote Execute appends the.exe extension.
Click Execute.

The remote execution of the specified application might fail if the application is not available on the managed device in the defined path.

WARNING:By default, the Remote Management module runs as a service with system privileges on the managed device. Hence, all the applications launched during the Remote Execute session also run with system privileges. For security reasons, we strongly recommend that you close the application after use.

3.1.4 Managing a Remote Diagnostics Session

Remote Management lets you to remotely diagnose and analyze the problems on the managed device. This helps you to shorten problem resolution times and assist users without requiring a technician to physically visit the problem device. This increases user productivity by keeping desktops up and running.

NOTE:After installing ZENworks agent on a Windows XP device, reboot the device to perform remote diagnostics operation.

The following table describes the various toolbar options available in the Remote Management viewer during a Remote Diagnostics session.

Option	Shortcut Key	Functionality
Connection Options	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+O	Allows you to configure various session parameters such as format and encoding for enhancing the session performance, logging, and local and remote cursor handling.
Connection Info	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I	Provides the hostname, port, screen resolution, and protocol version of the managed device.
Pause		Allows to pause only the screen refresh of a remote session. The pause option will not affect any other remote operations.
Full Screen	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F	Allows you to toggle between full screen and normal mode.
Request Screen Refresh	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R	Refreshes the viewing window.
Transfer Files	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E	Launches a session to transfer files to and from the managed device. This option is enabled only if the Allow transferring files on the managed device option is enabled in the Remote Management policy effective on the managed device. For more information on File Transfer, see Section 3.1.5, Managing a File Transfer Session
Disconnect	Alt+F4	Closes the remote session.
Session recording		Record the Remote Diagnostics session. NOTE:This option is enabled only if the Allow remote operator to record a session option is selected on the Remote Management General Settings page.
Toolbar	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T	Toggles the toolbar visibility.

When you launch a Remote Diagnostics session on the managed device, you can access only the diagnostics applications configured for the device in the Remote Management settings for diagnosing and fixing the problems on the device. During the session, the diagnostics applications are displayed as icons in a toolbar. By default, the following diagnostics applications are configured in the Remote Management Settings.

The following table lists the Remote Diagnostics applications:

Icon	Application
	System information
	Computer Management
	Services
	Registry Editor

You can configure the applications to be launched on the managed device during the Remote Diagnostics session. For more information on configuring the diagnostics applications, see Section 2.1.1, Configuring the Remote Management Settings on a Windows Device.

3.1.5 Managing a File Transfer Session

Remote Management enables you to transfer files between the management console and the managed device. For information on launching a File Transfer session, see Section 2.1.5, Starting Remote Management Operations on a Windows Device.

In the File Transfer window, the Local Computer pane displays all the files and the folders on the management console, and the Remote Computer pane displays all the files and the folders in the directory specified in the File Transfer Root Directory option in the Remote Management policy. If the File Transfer Root Directory is not specified in the policy or if the managed device does not have any policy associated with it, you can perform file transfer operations on the complete file system of the remote device.

The following table explains the File Transfer controls and the options that are available for working with files from the File Transfer window. The Actions menu option is not yet supported on Linux. However, you can perform the operation by clicking the appropriate icon on the toolbar.

3.1.6 Improving the Remote Management Performance on the Windows Managed Device

The Remote Management performance during a remote session over a slow link or a fast link varies depending on the network traffic. For a better response time, try one or more of the following:

On the Management Console

In the ZENworks Remote Management Connection window at the console, click Options and set the following values:

To maximize the Remote Management performance over slow link:
- Select the 256 colors option.
- Set the Custom compression level to level 6.
Select the Block Mouse Move Events option.
Enable the Suppress Wallpaper option in the Remote Management Settings.

On the Managed Device

The speed of the Remote Management session depends upon the processing power of the managed device. We recommend that you use 1 GHz or higher processor with 1 GB or higher RAM.
Do not set a wallpaper pattern.

3.1.7 Remote Controlling A Device with Active RDP Session

In ZENworks 2020 Update 1 and earlier versions, users were unable to remote control the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) session on a Windows device. From ZENworks 2020 Update 2 onwards, you will be able to launch the remote session on a device with an active RDP session just like a normal Remote Management session. All operations except for the Remote diagnostics are supported while connecting to an RDP session.

During a remote management session, if the RDP session gets disconnected, the administrator will get a session change message and remain connected to the managed device. Once the RDP session connects again, the administrator will be connected to it.

NOTE:If devices support multiple active sessions, we cannot control which RDP session the viewer will connect to.

3.1.8 Recording a Remote Management Session

The recording is supported with Remote Control, Remote View, and Remote Diagnostics.

By default recording is disabled by the agent. To enable it, a Remote Management policy should be assigned.

You also need to enable the following options to perform the remote management session recording:

Recording audit

To enable, go to Configuration > Audit Management > Events Configuration > Agent Events, click Add and select Recording.

If the option is enabled, the audit records will be generated for every remote session performed on the managed device. The recording file URL will be embedded in the recording audit, which could be viewable in the recording audit section in ZCC.
Visible signal on the managed device for remote control, remote view or remote diagnostics

By default, this option is selected during policy creation. If it is not enabled in the policy, then select the any of the following options in the policy wizard.
- Give visible signal to the user on the managed device during Remote Control
- Give visible signal to the user on the managed device during Remote View
- Give visible signal to the user on the managed device during Remote Diagnostics
If this option is enabled, a user will be able to check the recording status of a session from the visible signal dialog box.

Recording a Remote Management Session

Select one of the following options in the Remote Management General Settings page to record the remote session:

Allow remote operator to record a session - This option allows the remote operator to start, pause, or resume a recording.
Automatically record the session - This option automatically records the remote session. The remote operator does not have any control over the recording.

NOTE:The following viewer options are not supported when remote management session recording is in progress. If you select a supported option, the viewer will automatically switch to a supported option.

Format and encoding

Preferred encoding: ZRLE
256 colors (less traffic)

Mouse Cursor

Track remote cursor locally
Don’t show remote cursor

Recording a Remote Management Session

To record a remote session, perform the following steps:

Launch the remote management session. For information on initiating a remote management session, see Section 2.1.5, Starting Remote Management Operations on a Windows Device.
Click the icon in the viewer toolbar.
NOTE:
- In collaboration mode, only the master administrator will have the control to start or pause the recording until the session is delegated.
- In the shared sessions, all compatible users will have equal rights to start or pause the session recording.
- The following viewer options are not supported when remote management session recording is in progress. If you select a supported option, the viewer will automatically switch to a supported option.
  
  Format and encoding
  Preferred encoding: ZRLE
  
  256 colors (less traffic)
  Mouse Cursor
  Track remote cursor locally
  
  Don’t show remote cursor

Allowing Remote Operator to Record a Session

To record a remote session, perform the following steps:

Launch the remote management session. For information on initiating a remote management session, see Section 2.1.5, Starting Remote Management Operations on a Windows Device.
Click the icon in the viewer toolbar.
NOTE:
- In collaboration mode, only the master administrator will have the control to start or pause the recording until the session is delegated.
- In the shared sessions, all compatible users will have equal rights to start or pause the session recording.

Automatically Record the Session

You can automatically record all the remote sessions. The remote operator cannot start, pause, or resume a recording as the icon is disabled in the toolbar.

NOTE:Enable the Automatically record the session option with caution, as it requires more disk space on the content server where the recording will be stored.

Viewing Session Recordings

NOTE:If you try to log in to ZCC using the reverse proxy hostname/IP, the download of the recorded file fails as the remote recording URL is specific to the content server where the recording files are stored.

To view session recordings, perform the following steps:

Navigate to Audit and Messages > Audit > Events > Agent Events > Remote Management > Session > Recording. The recording event will be displayed.
Click the recording link in the Event column to view the recording audit details.

Figure 3-1
Click the Remote Recording Details link to view the recording session details.

Figure 3-2

NOTE:When session recording files are uploaded to the server even before audit upload, then uploaded FBS files are moved to the deferred folder until audit entry exists in the database for that recording session. Further, the deferred action will be executed every 30 minutes which will move the FBS file from the deferred folder.
Once the recording file is available, click the icon to download the FBS file and play the same using the RFB player.

NOTE:To play a .FBS recorded file, download the RFB player from https://www.tightvnc.com/rfbplayer.php.

Run the following command:

java -jar <path_to_file>\RfbPlayer.jar URL file:<path_to_file>\session_recording_filename

where session_recording_filename is the file that you want to play the recording. In this command, full path of Rfbplayer.jar should be provided.

Converting Recording from FBS to MP4 Format

You can convert the FBS recorded sessions to MP4 in the following methods:

On-demand conversion (from ZCC)
Recursive conversion (by setting the convertAllRecording parameter to true in the FBSConversionHandler.xml file)

On-demand Conversion

To convert the recordings on-demand, perform the following steps:

Click the Convert FBS to MP4 button to convert the FBS file to MP4.
Click Download Recording file (mp4) to download and play the converted file in MP4 format.

Recursive Conversion

You can convert all session recorded FBS files recursively by setting the parameters in the FbsConversionHandler.xml files.

To convert the FBS recorded sessions recursively, perform the following steps:

Open the FbsCoversationHandler.xml file from the following location:

/etc/opt/microfocus/zenworks/loader/

NOTE:ZENworks no longer supports Windows Server as a Primary Server from version 24.2 onwards. For more information, see End of Windows Primary Server Support.
Edit the convertAllRecordings parameter to set to true. By default, the convertAllRecordings parameter is set to false.
Edit the queueActionStartTimeHours and queueActionStartTimeMinutes parameters to set the time at which the recording should start.

Edit the maxConverstionDurationInHours parameter to set the maximum number of hours the recording conversion is allowed. You can use this parameter to limit the number of hours allowed for the files to convert.

Example of parameters,

<Module> <Class>com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.queue.handlers.FbsConversionHandler</Class>
    <Parameters>
        <Parameter Name="convertAllRecordings">true</Parameter>
        <Parameter Name="queueActionStartTimeHours">20</Parameter>
        <Parameter Name="queueActionStartTimeMinutes">5</Parameter>
        <Parameter Name="maxConversionDurationInHours">3</Parameter>
    </Parameters>
</Module>

NOTE:It is recommended that you set the recording conversion time at which the server load is not high as converting large amounts of recordings can impact the server’s performance.

The following parameters can be set in the FbsConversionHandler.xml file to configure recording conversion behavior.

Name	Value	Default
convertAllRecordings	true/false	false
queueActionStartTimeHours	0-23	0
queueActionStartTimeMinutes	0-59	0
maxConversionDurationInHours	0-23	3

Restart the loader service for the changes to take effect after setting parameters in the FbsConversionHandler.xml file.

3.1.9 Reconnecting a session after Reboot

If the managed device is shut down during a remote management session, the viewer will wait for 10 minutes (customizable) for the device to reboot. On successful reboot within the specified time, the viewer session gets reconnected.

We do not support reconnecting to a remote session after reboot if:

SSL is disabled for remote management connection
Hard reboot or shutdown is initiated
Multiple remote management viewers are connected during a remote management session
For standalone file transfer sessions
For remote management connections via join-proxy

Configuring the Wait Time for Reconnecting the Remote Session After Reboot

In ZENworks Control Center, click Configuration.
In the Management Zone Settings panel, click Device Management, then click Remote Management.
Select Reconnect session if managed device reboots within specified time (in minutes) and specify the time in minutes in which a managed device reboots and reconnects to an ongoing remote session.

NOTE:The time should be in the range of 1 to 60 minutes.
Click Apply.

NOTE:You can configure the wait time to reconnect to a remote session at the device level. For more information, see Configuring the Remote Management Settings at the Windows Device Level.