Screen Connect Problems

[MikeH]

I have been using Screen Connect, or should I say trying Screen Connect. I am have trouble reconnecting to the client side after a reboot. Every time I choose "restart and reconnect" my side will say "waiting on guest" but the guest side never reconnects. I have to start a new session. What am I doing wrong. What does the client need to do on their side to reestablish connection with the host?

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Shouldnt have to do anything but be aware that at some point screenconnect decides to set their service to automatic delayed start instead of automatic to avoid an issue with it starting which personally I don't like that work around but anyway its possible the user successfully logged in and such prior to it starting back up, its also possible there was a problem with the service starting you'll have to take a look at the windows logs to see if the process started up or not.

 

[Moltuae]

Shouldnt have to do anything but be aware that at some point screenconnect decides to set their service to automatic delayed start instead of automatic to avoid an issue with it starting which personally I don't like that work around but anyway its possible the user successfully logged in and such prior to it starting back up, its also possible there was a problem with the service starting you'll have to take a look at the windows logs to see if the process started up or not.

^ This.

Since a few versions ago, ScreenConnect takes several minutes to reconnect. You probably just need to wait longer.

Or, if like me you find it bloody annoying, paste the following commands into ScreenConnect's 'Run Command' window (tip: you can select multiple machines). Next time the computer(s) reboot(s), the reconnection to SC should be instant.

sc config "ScreenConnect Client (ScreenConnect-Server-Instance-Fingerprint)" start= auto
sc failure "ScreenConnect Client (ScreenConnect-Server-Instance-Fingerprint)" actions= restart/1000/restart/1000// reset= 60

Replace 'ScreenConnect-Server-Instance-Fingerprint' above with your own ScreenConnect Server Instance Fingerprint. You can find that in various places, such as the name of the ScreenConnect Client installation folder in Program Files (x86), the client installation name in Programs and Features or by installing the 'Show ScreenConnect Instance Fingerprint' ScreenConnect extension.

 

[Tech Control]

Another cause can be, if they connected using a one time support session, while logged in as a standard non-admin user, and not by installing the unattended version of screenconnect then at reboot it doesn't reconnect automatically.

 

[ITtechguy]

An extension has been available since ver 5.5 called "Change Client Service Start to Automatic (5.5+)" to change the service from Auto (Delayed) back to Auto.

If you're booting into Safe Mode in Win10, wifi doesn't always auto-reconnect ... that's not a ScreenConnect issue.

 

[Mytechid]

Moltuae pointed out a really great tip!

I wanted to mention that if you're running an RMM on your machines, it's certainly worthwhile to create a check for the SC service, to ensure it's always running. I have it in mine, and I have some scripts that I can run to disable/enable/run the service to get it back up. I use Teamviewer as my backup when SC rarely, and I mean rarely, has an issue (and even then it's usually just to connect with TV, and reconnect SC hehe).

 

[Michael Tisdale]

I see this is an old thread, but worth mentioning.... I've been using ScreenConnect since it was initially added to LabTech/ConnectWise Automate a few years back. There was an upgrade soon after ConnectWise re-branded it that has changed this functionality for me. Anytime I would tell a remote machine to reboot, it would do so and immediately reconnect once back online. After the update, when I complete this same action with the same remote machines, I can leave that session window open for hours and it will never reconnect. Meanwhile, if I close the session window and immediately open it back up again from the machine/session list, it will connect without issue. Note that these are all unattanded sessions so no one-time/one-off sessions in the mix.