Configuring Xlobby for Wireless Touch Screens

[BaddaBing]

Xlobby is a perfect match for controlling audio systems via wireless tablets such as the Viewsonic Airpanel, Kube RoomVue or any touchscreen tablet that supports Windows Remote Desktop Connection (RDC). Where it gets a bit trickier is when you want to control more than just music, you also want to control movies, TV, web browsers and security cameras. This is a problem because you want to execute the control on the tablet but have the action occure on the PC.

In order to do this you need to run two seperate sessions on your PC. One session to support the wireless device and a second session to support the functions of movies, TV, web browsers and security cameras. Unfortunately, Windows XP does not allow concurrent sessions in Remote Desktop. Service Pack 2 removed the ability to do this. This means is that if a user is logged on at the local console, a remote user will force the local user's session to shut down. Fortunately we have a workaround. Microsoft had this feature enabled in earlier builds of Service Pack 2, so what we are going to do is to replace termserv.dll (Terminal Server DLL) with one from an earlier XP SP2 build (#2055 to be exact).

READ ME 1: This mod only works with XP PRO - it does not work with XP Home version.

READ ME 2: Windows Server 2003 supports up to 3 concurrent connections right out of the box without changes.
Great if you already have a copy, may not feasible for everyone else due to cost.

READ ME 3: DISCLAIMER: Please make sure that you understand that the information provided here is being provided freely, and that no kind of agreement or contract is created between you and me or the owners or users of this site or anyone else who is in any way connected with this site subject to your claims against them directly. The material contained on this web site is informational only. I can not and will not be held responsible for damages to or resulting from anything that you may decide to do to your computer.

To get Concurrent Sessions in Remote Desktop working, follow the steps below EXACTLY as described:

The first thing you will need is to ensure you have at least two (2) user accounts on your XP Pro box.
If you don't know how to create accounts under XP then STOP HERE - you will just wind up screwing up your machine
Otherwise, let's continue.

Download the XP_concurrent.zip file below and extract it to a temporary directory.
http://www.xlobby.com/files//badabing/XP_concurrent.zip

Reboot XP into Safe Mode. This is necessary to remove Windows File Protection.

Note: you may want to back up your termserv.* files before you overwrite them

Copy the unzipped termserv.* files in to the following directory:
%windir%\System32

Copy the unzipped termserv.* files in to the following directory:
%windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386.
If the directory "%windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386" does not exist skip this step.

Delete termserv.dll from the dllcache folder: %windir%\system32\dllcache

Merge the contents of Concurrent Sessions SP2.reg file into the registry by double clicking on the file and clicking YES

Ensure that Fast User Switching is turned on.
Go Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Change the way users log on or off
Turn on Fast User Switching.

Open up the Group Policy Editor.
Start Menu > Run > 'gpedit.msc'.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Terminal Services. Enable 'Limit Number of Connections' and set the number of connections to 3 or more (max is 10).

Reboot normally.

Windows XP is now ready to run Concurrent Sessions in Remote Desktop.
If it does not work it means you jacked something up. Go back and re-read and do it again - these instructions work.

All right. Now that you have concurrent sessions working the rest is easy.

ON THE PC

Log into your XP PC using one of your two logins.

On the PC, launch Xlobby and hit F2 to bring up SETUP.

Click on XNet

Check the box that says "ALWAYS START AS SERVER"

Click the "START SERVER" button. Note the XNET Server IP address and port.

Close SETUP

ON THE WIRELESS TOUCHSCREEN

Start up the device and connect to the PC via RDC using the OTHER user login.

You should now have two instances of XP running; one on the desktop and another on the wireless device.

On the wireless device go to the xlobby\client directory and find the "SERVERS.TXT" file

Open "SERVERS.TXT" in notepad and modify as follows:


server:###.###.###.### <- this should be the IP of your xlobby XNet server
screen:music <- this should be the name of the screen you want XP to start at on your wireless device
resolution:800x600 <- this should be set to match the resolution of your wireless device
quality:100% <- set to a lower number if your wireless device is slow or low powered

Save the "SERVERS.TXT" file and close it.

Double click on the file %xlobby%\client\xlobby2sd.exe to launch the XL client.

By using the XL Client you now control the behaviour of the XL Server. So any action you choose on the wireless device will now be executed on the PC.
You may want to configure your wireless device to automatically start up using RDC and launch the XL client.

Have fun.
-baddabing

[joebob2006]

Wait, I dont understand why you need two instances.

and why cant you just use the web interface?
even if you need two instances, you can just have two interface windows.

im sure im missing something here....

[BaddaBing]

Have you ever run XL under RDC? If you have you would know that when you launch a movie from a wireless tablet that it tries to play in the active session, which is the tablet. If you want the movie to run on the PC (say via the projector) then you need to run XL as a server on the PC and as a client on the wireless touchpad. Yes, you can run the web interface, but the graphics are pretty lame compared to the client.

[WannaTheater]

Baddabing~ in reading this post I guess I'm a bit confused... Couldn't you just do this using XL thin client? Or are you also trying to under some circumstances to show video on the wireless devices? I guess I'm missing the point of running XL under RDC. I currently run thin client with Dell Axim, and am looking at moving to Nokia 770 and/or some kind of tablet device (any insight into your experiences on these types of devices would be nice )

By the way, great work and contributions to this forum... I continue to learn from your posts.

[WannaTheater]

Also, do you have an updated link to the .zip file? The one above appears dead.
Thanks!

[BaddaBing]

The link is fixed and working again.

[WannaTheater]

After many many months, I am still missing the point of this. Why RDC into the XLobby server machine to run the XLobby client? Why not just run the Xlobby client directly on the client machine?

[Marbles_00]

Have you ever run XL under RDC? If you have you would know that when you launch a movie from a wireless tablet that it tries to play in the active session, which is the tablet. If you want the movie to run on the PC (say via the projector) then you need to run XL as a server on the PC and as a client on the wireless touchpad. Yes, you can run the web interface, but the graphics are pretty lame compared to the client.

What Bud is talking about is not running the server as an XNET server/client, just a RDC server. From what I gather is if you run the tablet as a "Fat" client, then the media will try and play off the fat client, and not the server. The RDC way is that your remote contolling into the server, so all applications are played directly from the server. I haven't tried it so I'm purely speculating.

[WannaTheater]

That is correct, but here is the confusion:
1) You can run the xlobby2sd.exe on a client machine and XLobby (without remote desktoping into Server machine)

So I am unsure why he is Remoting Desktoping into the Server machine, then running xlobby2sd.exe on the server machine. The results seem to be the same (media plays on server machine)

The only thing I can think of is that using RDP lets Microsoft OS handle the screen updates back to the client... otherwise xlobby is handling it?

[Marbles_00]

I also think it has to do with timing. RDC is most likely more responsive whereas using a thin client, sometimes it takes a second for commands to be recognized. Add that to the "beings" in our lives (who we'd like to call our better half's) that expect everything as of yesterday equates to lower WAF. Watching my wife this past weekend clicking buttons on the PPC for controlling the music server...I was cringing. I'm always constantly telling her not to be so "impatient" and just because the screen hasn't updated doesn't mean to keep pressing the same button over and over...that isn't going to increase the speed...but decrease it. She still doesn't get it.

[WannaTheater]

But he is still running the Thin Client application... he is just starting it on the Server Machine under a different user; instead of starting it on the client machine.

I hear you about the wife thing. I refer to it as EEOC - Equipment Exceeds Operator Capability.

[defrag]

Watching my wife this past weekend clicking buttons on the PPC for controlling the music server...I was cringing. I'm always constantly telling her not to be so "impatient" and just because the screen hasn't updated doesn't mean to keep pressing the same button over and over...that isn't going to increase the speed...but decrease it. She still doesn't get it.

and I get the comment, "well what if I want to play a game on the phone (axim ) and listen to music....."

[Marbles_00]

But he is still running the Thin Client application... he is just starting it on the Server Machine under a different user; instead of starting it on the client machine.

You see, its my whole lack of total understanding of the process...but I think I'm starting to see the light...well maybe. I think the issue is that for devices that you cannot install a .Net framework, you need this work-around. Meaning you can't install the Compact .NET (?) or .Net executables. The older Airpanel V110 suffered from this (the newer versions have been revamped). I think if you check out some of the other equipment Bud mentions, you will find that also. Using RDC with a thin client is most likely better than running via web server. If you're using a new Airpanel, or a tablet that allows for the .NET framework, then you most likely don't even need to do this procedure.