Unattended access fails to log in

Hi,

Can you check the following:

• The Wayk Now license is installed on the client (Debian 10 in this case)
• The Windows user account on the server is a member of one of the following user groups: Administrators, Remote Desktop Users or wayk-users

If the above is correct is and still won't connect, you can collect the Windows service logs in %ProgramData%\Wayk\logs\NowService.log and either post them here or send them to wayk@devolutions.net.

Best regards,

I added the license to my client and it still does the same thing. I've tried this with a local administrator with the same result.

Does case matter? Do I have to specify a domain name or anything?

Hello

The case doesn't matter. Is the machine joined to a domain? The log file that Marc specified in his earlier answer might tell us the issue, if you are able to provide it.

Thanks and kind regards,

The server is not joined to a domain

Log file coming soon.

Log file attached. Seems to be claiming the username or password is incorrect but I can log in just fine locally with that password.

Is there any limitation on the characters/length/etc. of the password?

Hello again

There isn't any set limit on password length or complexity.

How are you entering your password - are you copy/pasting, maybe from a password manager or somewhere else? If so, can you try typing your password manually? Does your password contain anything very strange like whitespace or non-printable characters? The machine isn't domain joined - just to check, that includes AzureAD?

Thanks and kind regards,

I'm typing the password. It does contain whitespace but not unprintable characters.

The laptop (server) is workgroup only ... no domain involved. The client is also not joined to any type of domain.

I'm typing the password. It does contain whitespace but not unprintable characters.

maybe try (temporarily) switching the password to something without any fun extras also try avoiding non-ascii characters (for example german ÄÖÜ) because that can lead to encoding hell.

I did change the password and it not seem to help, but I may have to restart. The thing is that I'll lose access once I restart because the client won't be open any more.

okay this kinda sux, and you probably cannot temporarily install a second remote thing that has reliable unattended access, I guess?

Hello again

Very strange - and I don't believe a restart should be necessary, and don't want you to lose access to your computer.

Can you try specifying your username in this form:

.\admistrator

or

.\username

Thanks and kind regards,

It does not help to put in .\administrator or BUILTIN\administrator either one.

Does it matter if the Windows version on the server is not a pro/ultimate version of Windows? I think it's Windows Home edition which does not give me the ability to control users & groups.

Thanks

Hi,

Actually, that might very well be it, as we have done limited testing on home editions. Just to make sure, this means the server is a Windows 8.1 Home Edition? I wouldn't be surprised if the problem has to do with a slight difference in behaviour or a component that is absent in the home edition, which could be enough to break Wayk Now.

I could get someone from QA to install a Windows home edition for testing next week and see if we hit any problems with it. While we should normally function on a home edition, support will remain best effort, and it won't support upcoming features like advanced multi-session support that leverages RDP under the hood, since RDP is missing in the home edition.

Best regards,

It would be good to know if I'm going to have to have a different OS version to enable unattended access.

It is either the Home edition, or it has to do with special characters in the password. I really think the Home edition has a much higher chance of being the cause of the problem, but just in case, could you come up with a sample password we could try setting on a test machine on our side?

Since you obviously can't give us your existing password, I wonder if you could just make a new one with similar properties (special characters, length, etc.) Pretty much anything outside of ASCII letters and numbers could have to do with it. We'll use that password on the test machine and see if it works fine on our side.

Hello

Further to what Marc said; in your log file, I did notice you attempting to login with both a user account "recording" as well as "administrator".

Can you confirm whether the login works, using your user account and a simplified password (ASCII characters only)? Your user account can be entered just as "username"; if the machine is not domain joined there should be no need to specify the machine name (although "machinename\username" and ".\username" are also valid here).

I did do some testing on our side with a non-Pro Windows 8 edition; and things worked as expected (the Windows API call we use to authenticate - `LoginUser` - exists in all Windows versions and editions back to XP). However I do note that the administrator account is *not* enabled by default on Windows 8 Home - did you manually enable it at some point? And set a password for the account (without that step, the administrator account is basically non-functional)? To be clear - although your user may be an administrator on the computer, you will not be able to login using the username "administrator" with your account password - "administrator" is a *separate* account that must be setup explicitly from the command line.

In summary: please ensure you are logging in with *your username and password*, not "administrator" - unless you are sure the administrator account is active and has a password configured. If that is the case, and things still do not work, I will kindly request that you send an updated copy of your log file from the remote machine for analysis.

Thank you for your patience, and kind regards,

Yes, the local administrator user has been enabled. administrator is an admin user, recording is a standard (non-administrator) user.
I changed my password to the simple "forgetMeNot" and it still failed to log me in using SRD.

I haven't used anything except ASCII characters, here is an example of a complex password that you can try (quotes not included).
"forget n0t &R Maker"

SOLVED... You figured it out... the "admin" user is not actually the local "administrator" account. The account I've been trying to log into is called "Admin" on the log in and I incorrectly thought it was mapped to the "administrator" account... but in actuality it had originally been named something different and renamed to Admin later. I had to use the original user name and not "Admin" or "administrator" and now it works.

Thanks for your help.

P.S.
Since my "recording" user is a non-administrator account I assume I won't be able to connect with it unless it's in the "Remote Desktop Users" group... is that correct? If so, do you have any idea how to add it to that group on a Home edition (with no group management tools)?

SOLVED... You figured it out... the "admin" user is not actually the local "administrator" account. The account I've been trying to log into is called "Admin" on the log in and I incorrectly thought it was mapped to the "administrator" account... but in actuality it had originally been named something different and renamed to Admin later. I had to use the original user name and not "Admin" or "administrator" and now it works.

so it basically needs you to use the first name an account ever had? that sounds a bit weird imo but might make sense (depending on where SRD is looking for usernames) since there generally are artifacts of an old user name still flying around at places even after a rename.

Thanks for your help.

P.S.
Since my "recording" user is a non-administrator account I assume I won't be able to connect with it unless it's in the "Remote Desktop Users" group... is that correct? If so, do you have any idea how to add it to that group on a Home edition (with no group management tools)?

I dont even think a "remote desktop Users" group even exists on home as the entire Remote Desktop Server component is Pro only.
but you might be able to hack in a grooup for that using the registry editor and hack your user in (please be careful tho)

Hello

I'm not sure about "Remote Desktop Users" on WIndows 8 Home; but the installer creates a special "wayk-users" group that has the necessary privileges. You can configure that from command line. From an elevated command prompt (e.g. Start > "Cmd" - then right-click on "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator"):

net localgroup wayk-users recording /add

You user "recording" will be added to the group "wayk-users", and be able to login using SRD.

I had to use the original user name and not "Admin" or "administrator" and now it works.

How did you rename your user? Because if it was through the "Control Panel" (User Accounts > Manage Accounts > Change an Account > Change the account name), that simply seems to update the users *display* name. From that dialog, this is "the name that will appears on the Welcome screen and on the Start screen". The user login name does not change. As far as I know you cannot change a user's login name in Windows 8 Home.

I hope that helps but please don't hesitate if you have further questions,

that display vs login name is than only on Win 8? or oes that happen on others too? because this is imo kinda weird and granted it's rare to not use the user select ouside of domain machines (obviously not home). I haven't renamed users all that often tbh

Hello

I think it's a Pro vs Home thing: the Home editions simply do not have the tools to manage users at that level (no ability to join a domain, users and groups snapin is not available).

Thanks and kind regards,

well but I doubt a normal user is gonna use that snap in all that often so I was asking whether the CP always doesnt change the login name... would be imo kinda weird.

If I remember correctly it was through pc settings app... I've slept since then.

Thanks