Zugg Software :: View topic

Beginner Joined: 14 Sep 2002 Posts: 24

Use the following steps to start zmud from a Remote Desktop session. It's easiest to do this locally first and test it. (note I do not recommend this setup all the time because it is highly insecure. Only implement it if or when you must)

1) Setup the account you log in remotely to logon automatically using TweakUI.
2) Set zmud to startup on login.
3) Reboot.
4) Connect to computer via Remote Desktop and login as the user that autologged in.
5) Zmud will be waiting for you.

You will need a few things in order to start Zmud while only having remote access. First off, you'll need TweakUI, which is a Windows XP powertoy and a nifty little tool from MS. It does a lot of things, but the thing we want is that it allows you to assign a user to log on automatically whenever the computer reboots. This is in most cases a bad idea. However, sometimes you just need to mud. If you only activate the autologon feature when you will be immediately reconnecting via Remote Desktop it is not actually that insecure. The computer will reboot and log your user in. (anyone sitting in front of it would then be able to get all your files, etc) However, as soon as you connect, the remote screen will lock and then you are secure. If you disconnect the remote computer will remain locked and still require someone to type your password in. So in reality you might only be vulnerable for a few seconds if your remote computer is not in a trusted environment. Now on to the how to.

You can get TweakUI (for XP) here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/c/a/fca6767b-9ed9-45a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe

Download it, and install it. It will install itself as an 'applet' in the Control Panel.

A - SETTING UP AUTOLOGON

a.1) Go to the TweakUI Applet in the Control Panel. Double click on it to open it up.
a.2) Click on the 'Logon' tab.
a.3) Check the box that says 'Log on automatically at system startup'
a.4) Fill in the 'User name:' and 'Password:' fields with the user you want to autologon as.
a.5) Click 'Ok'

You might want to reboot right now and test if this will work. There are a few things that could cause autologon to fail, such as Local Security Settings that interrupt the process. Below is how to check for them if your autlogon fails.

B - FIXING ISSUES IF AUTOLOGON FAILS

b.1) Open up your Control Panel, go to 'Administrative Tools', click on 'Local Security POlicy'
b.2) Expand (click on the little +) next to 'Local Policies'
b.3) Click on 'Security Options'
b.4) Scroll down to where it says 'Interactive logon: Do not display last user name' This settings *MUST* be set to Disabled.
b.5) Double click the line, check 'disabled'. Click ok.
b.6) The values for 'Interactive logon: Messages text for users attempting to log on' and for 'Interactive logon: Message title for users attempting to logon' must be *BLANK*. If they are not blank, your autologon will not work!
b.7) Do not leave any floppy disks in your floppy drives or you might not be able to reboot.

C - SETTING ZMUD TO STARTUP AT LOGIN

c.1) Right click on the 'Start' button. Choose 'Explore'.
c.2) Click the + next to programes
c.3) Click on the 'Startup' folder
c.4) Right click in the right panel, select 'New'->'Shortcut'
c.5) Click 'Browse'
c.6) Expand 'My Computer' and browse to where your zmud.exe file is. C:zmudzmud.exe perhaps.
c.7) Click on zmud.exe and click 'Ok'.

At this point, you should be able to reboot your PC and you will automagically login, and zmud will automagically start.
Now go back into TweakUI and disable the autologon.

So now, whenever you are mudding and zmud or your computer crashes, just open up TweakUI and repeat steps a.1 to a.5 and then reboot. You'll get disconnected, You'll wait while your computer will reboot, your user will get logged in 'locally', zmud will start because it's a 'local' session. Fire Remote desktop back up after a few minutes, and reconnect, go disable the autologin in TweakUI and start mudding again.

Hope this saves others as many headaches as it has saved me.