We run our application in a kiosk environment of sorts, replacing Explorer with our application. Everything worked fine under Windows XP, but with Windows 7 we can't get it to work.
We set the registry key WinLogon to a custom user.bat batch script (no further registry tweaking) in which we wait for several services to start (SQLServer, for example), then launch our application.
This worked great in XP. However, in 7, all needed services are detected, but when our application starts, it fails when trying to load its .fx file. It's as if some service or component related to DirectX has not been yet initialized. Any hints on troubleshooting this?
We solved this by making our program which waits for services try to play an avi (without displaying it) using DirectX. We cover that code with a try-catch block inside a loop and insist on it until it succeeds, which means DirectX is available. A nasty hack, but since the user can't see it, it's good enough for us.
Related
I've run into a problem recently where sometimes timers in Microsoft Access forms stop working, having been fine for ages. It seems to be related to some kind of disruption of the host PC where the Access programs are running. In order to get them working again I have to restart the PC.
The scenario affects all currently open instances of Access where there are form timers active (four instances in this case).
Has anyone any ideas of how I might investigate what might be happening on the host PC (running Windows 10) that could break Access form timers?
The problem does make me wonder how Access works with the OS to control its timers.
TIA
It turns out this was down to vendor loaded software causing disruption to the Windows and Office system.
I am looking at an architecture where we have the BluePrism runtime running inside a Citrix Desktop.
I see plenty of articles that talk about processing a Citrix desktop as part of an automation process, but as far as I can see they talk about firing up a Citrix app from within a process. In other words they have a physical laptop that runs the BluePrism runtime, and part of the process requires it to run a citrix desktop, and automate that. I understand that this scenario is problemtic, and requires you to use Surface Automation.
In my case we have a set of physical laptops, and we would like to completely replace these laptops with VMs. So the runtime will be in the same desktop as the target apps.
Question is, does this work, or are we still faced with having to convert all our BluePrism processes to use Surface Automation to get this architecture to work?
This works with VMs and Surface Automation isn't necessary in that case. All your objects will be doing is attach the target apps by calling their runtime process names on the VM desktop, or launch them from the parent (i.e. folder in the root desktop/server) by providing the path in your application model, and then have your BP objects launch attach to them. Surface Auto may be necessary if you are planning to interact with the actual Citrix Receiver (e.g. icons), but not the apps themselves once they are active on the VM desktop. Of course, all this assuming BP will be also on the VM desktop environment.
I have ZAP installed on a build server (Windows 2008 R2) and on my Windows 7 desktop, and Zap only occasionally starts. I click on the program and my cursor shows it is waiting for a second or 2 and then nothing. Attempting to run from the command line will also not show any signs of running.
Then just out of the blue the program may launch.
Is it possible it just takes forever to start. I left my computer running and the next day when I came to work there was the UI.
I get the same results if I try to run the program in the headless state. with the -daemon flag. it never starts, it never shows up in the task manager, as an application or a process
thanks Noel
Turns out there were 2 issues. The first was that the tool was taking 4-5 minutes to start (I timed it several times at around 4m 30s). I did not have the patience to wait, so I would try to start it again. Attempting to start the application when one had started, but no UI was showing invariable caused the application to hang.
Secondly if you start it as a headless application there is no way to stop it. So if you have it headless and then try to start the application it will cause it to hang. THe easiest way to tell if it is running is to follow the log information being written out as suggested by Psiion above in his link.
To kill the process, look in the task manager for the java process and kill it.
Just in case anyone stumbles across this post, my problem was I didn't have Java installed. I had removed it a few months ago due to security considerations.
You can stop your browsesr using Java easily by using the Java control panel http://www.java.com/en/download/help/disable_browser.xml
I was facing a similar issue, the ZAP tool was working fine on my local machine but was displaying erratic behavior on the Virtual Machine. I tried all the previously mentioned suggestions but none of them could mitigate the issue. Upon checking the log files i found out that the HSQLDB files were being locked even after closing the tool or even if the tool did not start. I eventually figured out that the difference between the 2 environments was just the operating system. My local had Windows 10 pro while the VM had Windows 10 enterprise. So in case if any one else is facing similar, kindly check the operating system.
Is there a way push a keystroke to the legal text dialog using a windows service?
I looked in the windows xp boot sequence wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT_startup_process
These two items were of interest to me...
Starts the kernel-mode side of the Win32 subsystem (win32k.sys). This allows Windows to switch into graphical mode as there is now enough infrastructure in place.
Starts the user-mode side of the Win32 subsystem, the Client/Server Runtime Server Subsystem (csrss.exe). This makes Win32 available to user-mode applications.
I was thinking a windows service would start up soon enough to detect the open windows, but i do not seem to be able to grab that window handle...
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
The local security policy that displays the legal text is locked by AD and i do not have access to remove it, and IT does not want to move it into the "normal" location of the registry, and out of the local security policy.
The windows service does not get executed until the user accepts the legal dialog. It seems the entire computer is waiting on this modal dialog to the acknowledged before it continues the boot process.
We're about to start developing a modern app (LOB) for Windows 8. I've researched how to deploy it via powershell and what I need to do to enable sideloading, etc.
My question is about the administrative process of this. Is it possible to do this remotely? If we have, say 15 devices that this app will be used on, do we need to go to each one and run the powershell script to update it?
It doesn't seem like the add-appxpackage command has any parameters to execute against a remote machine, though I might be missing something.
I've seen a few references to using System Center to do this? Is that my only option?