Poll: How do you remotely manage your MP HTPC? (4 Viewers)

[clobber]

Hi,

I have a single seat installation of MP (MP and TV Server on the same machine and connected to my HDTV). I'm interested to hear how others manage similar setups remotely. In my case, I have a wireless laptop on the same LAN as the HTPC. This is fine for file management (putting tv shows in the right folder etc), but is it possible to start/stop MP or use the MP Configuration tool remotely? I'm constantly having to physically go to the HTPC, shutdown MP and perform various tasks. I'm primarily interested in ideas that don't involve VNC or Remote Desktop as I don't really want to assume total control over the HTPC. When people are viewing the TV, that gets really ugly.

thanks!

 

[milhouse]

There are hacks that let you use Remote Desktop with multiple logins, so the local user could continue to work while you are doing admin work. I've seen references here on the forums, but haven't tried it myself. I also don't know what happens if you change the configuration while MP is actually running for another user.

Here's the first Google like I found for enabling multiple Remote Desktop users (a la Citrix):
Enabling Multiple Remote Desktop Sessions in Windows XP Professional and Media Center Edition 2005 -> -> Jason Golod Blogs

I personally use VNC. I just do the maintenance when no one is watching the MP client, and start it back up when done with maintenance.

 

[moab]

Hi,

I have a single seat installation of MP (MP and TV Server on the same machine and connected to my HDTV). I'm interested to hear how others manage similar setups remotely. In my case, I have a wireless laptop on the same LAN as the HTPC. This is fine for file management (putting tv shows in the right folder etc), but is it possible to start/stop MP or use the MP Configuration tool remotely? I'm constantly having to physically go to the HTPC, shutdown MP and perform various tasks. I'm primarily interested in ideas that don't involve VNC or Remote Desktop as I don't really want to assume total control over the HTPC. When people are viewing the TV, that gets really ugly.

thanks!

www.logmein.com free version.
I can maintain PCs anywhere in the world without any firewall issues. It is brilliant.
You might be able to use it to do some things without taking control of the desktop. But I have not tried that.
This is particularly useful for maintaining your HTPCs at work!

 

[etheesdad]

one of the vnc's would be a good place to start,.

I use ultravnc and its excellent. Has a lot more features than logmein or remote desktop, but I guess it all depends on what you want to do.

There are also concurrent login hacks you can do to run the machine using an alternate login while its in use by another (for example running MP on one and editing configs or whatever on another)

 

[akiaki]

I use concurrent login hacks and it works great, I can login from my work to my home htpc while wife is watching tv, sort downloaded stuff like unrar, place in directories, sort everything out and she doesn't have to stop watching or anything. It works great!
I also sometimes need to use vnc because I have to see mp screen sometimes so I use it as well..

 

[etheesdad]

akiaki -

does vnc work with the concurrent login hack?

 

[akiaki]

well, haven't tried vnc but I think it can't be installed per user basis so you could use vnc with another user in the background... I use remote desktop because it's a lot faster than vnc and I have vnc just in case..

 

[solis66]

I use Remote Desktop with concurrent logins and it works really well to control the remote computer and do all the regular stuff while MP is running on another user.
The downside is that its not a good idea to do configuration of MP at a concurrent login since MediaPortal.xml is overwritten by MP itself with the present settings when MP is closed, so changes done while MP is running wont be saved.

In that case its best to close MP first. It can easily be done in the Windows Task Manager (if no one is using MP of course)

 

[grubi]

Then I think you will also like this plugin:

mpmoviecatalog

It gives you the ability to manage the video database from a different pc.

 

[clobber]

I've now looked into a few of these options:

1) Remote desktop without the concurrent hack is not good. It does seem to be the fastest (good!), but it immediately locks the HTPC screen and requires a user name and password to unlock. Unless there is some setting I am missing? Seems ridiculous to do everything remotely only to have to go to the HTPC to unlock the screen.

2) The concurrent user hack concerns me. First, I would like to log in as the same user which I understand the whole Windows operating system is not set up to handle. I'm also don't like loading a dll that just comes from "somewhere" on the internet. Especially one that gives termserv access!

3) I've now loaded UltraVNC. After the initial pain of setting up the password (because I'm running it as a service), it seems ok. I have had one major crash, but that could have been related to other processing. That's why I turned away from VNC before - it always used to make my machine crash. If it is stable, the VNC solution might work for me, even though it does take complete control of the display on the HDTV. Not so bad I suppose.

4) I've also looked into using the pstools suite from sysinternals. That might let me start and stop remote processes at will, but I don't like sending username and password in the clear over the network (that's what the documentation says!). However, I'm not sure this helps with Mediaprotal configuration. VNC or remote desktop is probably better for that.

5) I'm also considering using and ssh server on the HTPC. That should let me do all the things from #4, but using a secure connection. Still probably does not help with MP configuration.