I have VNC Server running as a service on a couple of Win 2K Server machines across town. Every once in a while, the VNC Server crashes and I have to drive across the city to simply restart the service. So, I came up with a program for the Windows Scheduler on those machines to run every 20 minutes to check and see if the service is running, and if not, to restart it.
Once again, I can't VNC in, and I'm checking the log file of my program (I can browse the machine's filesystem but of course can't run any programs on it), and the log file is saying that it's not attempting to restart the service because it's already running. So, I'm guessing that when Ultra VNC is crashing, Windows isn't taking it out of the list of started services. I can't remember at the moment, but I think that usually when I go over there I see a little Windows alert box notifying me that the program has crashed, and so I'm guessing at the moment that you have to physically click that box to be able to restart the service. Any ideas on how to do this?
Maybe I'm wasting my time since I'm still using RC11. I guess I should upgrade, but I'm not sure if my boss will want to try anything "risky" on those machines at the moment. I'm not complaining or anything--I love Ultra VNC (my wallet does, too). I'm just wondering if anyone else out there knows how I can get that service restarted so I don't have to drive across the city today....?
Update: UltraVNC 1.4.3.6 and UltraVNC SC 1.4.3.6: viewtopic.php?t=37885
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when VNC server crashes, can't restart the service remotely
kill the process
the service is hung in a non-responsing, but running.
use pskill from www.sysinternals.com to kill the process "winvnc" then you can start the service.
use pskill from www.sysinternals.com to kill the process "winvnc" then you can start the service.
can't kill the process
I have exactly this same problem, too, on a W2K Pro / SP4 machine with all the Windows Updates loaded. I've been experiencing this problem with nearly every version of UltraVNC since 11D and it now has RC18 installed in an attempt to solve the problem. This particular machine is used 5-8 hours per day by a remote user, which makes it my most frequently used VNC host by far. None of my other servers with UltraVNC have the problem this one has, although they aren't subjected to the same usage.
I use rkill to manage the processes on the machine. When the VNC service dies, it leaves the process in memory, but it can't be killed by rkill even after going into Services to stop the service manually. Attempting to start the VNC server launches a new winvnc.exe, which fails presumably because of a port conflict. I always end up having to power cycle the unit.
I use rkill to manage the processes on the machine. When the VNC service dies, it leaves the process in memory, but it can't be killed by rkill even after going into Services to stop the service manually. Attempting to start the VNC server launches a new winvnc.exe, which fails presumably because of a port conflict. I always end up having to power cycle the unit.
service hung
Any messages displayed waiting for input put it into a hung state. Kill the process and It can then be started as a service. I have done this more than a few times.
Re: service hung
This is great in theory, however the system has neither a monitor, keyboard, nor mouse attached. And when I have had a monitor attached, no messages are displayed. If it was that easy, I wouldn't be posting to the board....lenisham wrote:Any messages displayed waiting for input put it into a hung state. Kill the process and It can then be started as a service. I have done this more than a few times.
Re: service hung
[quote="lenisham"]Any messages displayed waiting for input put it into a hung state. Kill the process and It can then be started as a service. I have done this more than a few times.[/quote]
If this happens, maybe the VNC developers (or just the UltraVNC developers) should add an "unattended" or "msgtimeout" option to the server, which makes message boxes time out and close after a specified time?
Another workaround for a crashed or hung service might be to run another remote control program as backup. I don't know if two copies of VNC on different ports can coexist, but PCAnywhere and other programs should work. I have both VNC and PCA servers running on the same machine (though not for this purpose), and they coexist OK.
A workaround for a hung or crashed unattended machine, so long as it can be shut down without causing trouble, is to use hardware to power cycle the machine. There are phone gadgets which will switch power on or off when a simple code is sent down the line.
If this happens, maybe the VNC developers (or just the UltraVNC developers) should add an "unattended" or "msgtimeout" option to the server, which makes message boxes time out and close after a specified time?
Another workaround for a crashed or hung service might be to run another remote control program as backup. I don't know if two copies of VNC on different ports can coexist, but PCAnywhere and other programs should work. I have both VNC and PCA servers running on the same machine (though not for this purpose), and they coexist OK.
A workaround for a hung or crashed unattended machine, so long as it can be shut down without causing trouble, is to use hardware to power cycle the machine. There are phone gadgets which will switch power on or off when a simple code is sent down the line.
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Guest
Rudi,
There is nothing special I can do to crash the service, it eventually crashes by itself. The screen saver and power saving utils are all disabled and the user always leaves the console unlocked.
For what it's worth, RC16 had this problem really bad as it usually only took 3-5 connections to make it fail, whereas RC18 goes about 1-2 weeks of connections before failing. I turned on logging the other day to hopefully get some info to send to you, but it may be awhile....
There is nothing special I can do to crash the service, it eventually crashes by itself. The screen saver and power saving utils are all disabled and the user always leaves the console unlocked.
For what it's worth, RC16 had this problem really bad as it usually only took 3-5 connections to make it fail, whereas RC18 goes about 1-2 weeks of connections before failing. I turned on logging the other day to hopefully get some info to send to you, but it may be awhile....