Managing MP in a multi-user environment (1 Viewer)

[doveman]

I'm setting up an HTPC (Old HTPC in sig) for someone that's going to be used in a rather unconventional way, so let me explain before I ask my question.

The HTPC will only be connected to a CRT TV, synced using Powerstrip, with it auto logging in as "User1" and launching MP at boot. Then the person will use an old PC running Thinstation to RDP in as "User2" and do whatever else (browsing, running video edit programs, ripping DVDs, running an XP guest in Virtualbox).

My question is whether there's any issues in running MP config and TV config as User2. I think most things are OK as all the settings are kept in MP's own folder.

The one issue I have run into is that MP Config sets the "Start MP with Windows" flag under Current User, rather than Local Machine, so after running MP Config as User2, MP loads whenever that user logs in. I wonder if this can be changed to set it under Local Machine instead? Of course, if there's other showstopping reasons not to run MP/TV config as "User2" it's not worth changing it, but if that's the only issue it would be nice if it could be changed.

I realise that running MP Config closes MP and appreciate why this is necessary, but I don't see that being a problem as I've set the remote up with a button to launch MP, so it's easy enough to restart it.

If the auto-start issue can't be fixed or there's other reasons not to run MP/TV config under User2, then the person will just have to disconnect their RDP session to get back to the Thinstation desktop and VNC in to the HTPC from there, but it would make things a lot simpler for them (and for me to explain!) if this wasn't necessary.

 

[rekenaar]

Regarding you question, most settings are stored in the mediaportal.xml file in the central location. So most should be good. Not exactly sure though and settings like the 3rd party disable mce might also be a problem when ran from another user.

To overcome the problem, I am using the multiple concurrent user hack (google) to RDP with the same user that is currently running on HTPC.
I know a lot of people do not like it, but I am using it for a very very long time without any issues.

 

[doveman]

Regarding you question, most settings are stored in the mediaportal.xml file in the central location. So most should be good. Not exactly sure though and settings like the 3rd party disable mce might also be a problem when ran from another user.

To overcome the problem, I am using the multiple concurrent user hack (google) to RDP with the same user that is currently running on HTPC.
I know a lot of people do not like it, but I am using it for a very very long time without any issues.

Thanks. I'll see whether that hack works better than VNC for me. Nice to know I'm not the only person doing this anyway

What's the 3rd party disable mce option do that might be a problem? Is it still likely to be a problem if it's not changed by User2 (like the Auto-Start MP option which seems to set MP to run under CU whenever MP Config is opened).

 

[rekenaar]

Hi, sorry for answering too cryptic

I was referring to the settings in this screen:
Additional 3rd Party Checks - MediaPortal Wiki

An no, if user B does not change, I do not think it will be a problem.

 

[doveman]

Hi, sorry for answering too cryptic

I was referring to the settings in this screen:
Additional 3rd Party Checks - MediaPortal Wiki

An no, if user B does not change, I do not think it will be a problem.

It's OK, I knew exactly what setting you meant

So it seems like it's only the "Autostart MP" setting that's a problem, so hopefully someone can fix that sometime and then we won't need to use RDP/VNC to run MP Config as User1.

 

[doveman]

It's just occurred to me that perhaps a workaround for now is just to leave "Autostart MP" unticked for both users, and then manually create a shortcut in the Startup folder for User1 to launch MP at login. I don't think any of the other settings under Startup/Resume Settings should be affected by this.


Regarding your approach of using the multiple concurrent user hack "to RDP with the same user that is currently running on HTPC", surely if MP is set to autostart then it will load again when you login the second time, so you'll have two copies of MP running (and you'd have the same problem if you manually created a Startup shortcut).

 

[rekenaar]

surely if MP is set to autostart then it will load again when you login the second time, so you'll have two copies of MP running (and you'd have the same problem if you manually created a Startup shortcut).

True. I am not using autostart so did not think about that. Sorry.

 

[doveman]

surely if MP is set to autostart then it will load again when you login the second time, so you'll have two copies of MP running (and you'd have the same problem if you manually created a Startup shortcut).

True. I am not using autostart so did not think about that. Sorry.

Ah, that explains why you're not having problems

In that case it seems perhaps that you wouldn't have any trouble running MP Config as the second user, thus doing away with the need to login to a concurrent session as the user MP is running under. The only thing I need to check is whether doing this will close MP, as it does normally, as I believe MP needs to be closed when making changes with MP Config so it might cause problems if it doesn't get closed. We could always close it from the TV/Remote first though I guess.

 

[rekenaar]

It's been so long that I use it like this that I am not totally sure, but I recall that without the hack, RDP will not allow two users to be running simultaneously. One will take over the other. So when I found the hack to allow concurrent logged on users, I also enabled the option to use only one user account.

And yes, MP still needs to be restarted when you change something. Although not necessarily immediately. Sometimes when changing something small on the RDP session, and closing Config, it will ask me to restart MP now and I just select NO. Settings are still saved but only activated later on restart of MP.

 

[doveman]

You're right, without the hack you can't even login as another user without it logging off the first one. When you install the Concurrent RDP hack which fixes this, you can also choose whether the SingleSessionPerUser is set or not.

Thanks for clarifying when MP needs to be restarted. I guess the changed settings just don't take effect necessarily until it is restarted, but that's not too bad.