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Keeping your remote session active

When executing the BotCity Runner on Windows under Remote Desktop Connection it is important to pay attention to the fact that when the connection is closed the OS will make the screen go black.

When this happens, bots can no longer capture the screen and run the automation correctly if your automation requires graphical resources.

Over the following sections we describe some approaches to solve this issue.

Session disconnect script

This option consist into having a PowerShell script which moves the current RDP connection into a terminal connection and disconnects the current one without blocking the User Interface.

Inside the folder where the BotCity Studio SDK installation was carried out, we will find a folder with the name startup and inside a script called startup.bat with the following content:

@powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -Command "$sessionid=((quser $env:USERNAME | select -Skip 1) -split '\s+')[2]; tscon %sessionname% /dest:console"

Startup configuration

The BotCity Runner offers a hook to activate a startup script which is executed when the Runner is ready to process tasks.

This way, we can configure Runner to execute the startup.bat script and carry out the user disconnection process.

For that, go into your ./conf/conf.bcf file and add a new parameter to it called startup.

Your configuration file should look like this:

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server=https://developers.botcity.dev
login=<login>
key=<key>
machineId=<Runner ID>
logScreen=true
logApplication=true
startup=./startup/startup.bat

Important

The next time you start BotCity Runner, it will run the script to close your RDP connection while keeping the session active automatically.

When using this approach, a user's disconnection must always be done in this way to ensure that access to the machine's graphical resources is enabled.

Warning

Depending on the user's permission level, it may be necessary to launch Runner with administrator permission for the startup script to run correctly.

Environment configuration script

In addition to being able to configure a script to run as soon as Runner starts, we can also configure so that some action is done through a script before starting to execute a task.

Inside the folder where the BotCity Studio SDK installation was carried out, we will find a folder with the name scripts and inside a script called console_session.bat with the following content:

FOR /F "skip=1 tokens=3 usebackq" %%X in (`query session %USERNAME%`) DO tscon %%X /dest:console
powershell.exe -Command Set-DisplayResolution -Width 1600 -Height 900 -Force

This script basically has the same function as the startup script we saw above; it will move the current RDP connection to a terminal connection and disconnect the current one without blocking the user interface. Furthermore, we can define a specific resolution that will be used in this session that will be active.

Instead of running this script when Runner starts, let's configure it to run before Runner executes each task.

In the file ./conf/conf.bcf, we will add a new parameter called beforeTask, which will receive the path of this script that will be executed.

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server=https://developers.botcity.dev
login=<login>
key=<key>
machineId=<Runner ID>
logScreen=true
logApplication=true
startup=./startup/startup.bat
beforeTask=./scripts/console_session.bat

Tip

This script is just a suggestion of the type of configuration that can be performed.

You can change and configure the script to configure the environment according to your needs.

Main RDP Machine

This option consist into having a Windows machine with constant RDP connection with the other machines to keep the connection alive and running without the need to have an user connected to them.

Installing RDCMan

Remote Desktop Connection Manager is an application from Microsoft which allows you to manage multiple RDP connections. After installing it on the MAIN machine, connections are established with the HOST machines running the automations.

Here is a link to download the latest version of RDCMan.

After downloading the file, all you need to do is to extract it and run RDCMan.exe from the extracted folder.

Adding a new machine

Create a new file machines.rdg and save it on the same folder as RDCMan:

New File

On the left panel, right-clickon the empty area and select Add Server.

Add Server

Configure the access to the HOST machine:

Config Host

Warning

The following steps are key to the proper functioning of the RDCMan.

Please follow them carefully.

  • Under server name, you just need to use the machine IP address:

Config IP

  • Setup the resolution on the “Remote Desktop Settings” tab to 1600x900.

Info

Change this according to your project resolution. 1600x900 is BotCity’s recommended standard.

Config Resolution

  • Turn off “Clipboard” under the “Local Resources” tab

Config Resources

Configuring the MAIN machine to remain active

Configuration of the MAIN machine to keep RDP sessions active even if there are no active RDP connections to it.

Change the local computer registry settings

  1. On your local computer, close all open Remote Desktop sessions.
  2. Launch the Registry editor (regedit.exe).

  3. Navigate to one of the following Registry keys, depending on whether you wish to modify the Remote Desktop settings only for the current user or for all users on the computer:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client Change this one HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client

  4. Create a DWORD value named RemoteDesktop_SuppressWhenMinimized and set it to 2 (hexadecimal or decimal): Regedit

  5. Close the Registry Editor.

Now when you minimize the Remote Desktop Connection window on your computer, this will not affect the remote computer’s GUI and the GUI will be available to your automations.

Procedure to keep HOST machines active

  1. Conect to the MAIN machine
  2. Connect to all the HOST machines using RDPMan
  3. Disconnect from the MAIN machine