Community


Multi Monitor on remote and problems with Blank Screen

Links used in this discussion
James Manios, User (Posts: 8)
Sep 18, 2019 8:24:52 am EDT
Support level: Free or trial
I have been reading all the posts about blank screen problems but mine seems "pretty different" fr om everyone else?  

The remote machine I connect to has 3 monitors, and the local/client only has 1 monitor.   The remote 3 monitors are set horizontally, (lets call them "Left","Center","Right").  Both machines are running Windows 10.  Remote Utilities is v6.10.10.0, and I have installed the display driver.

When I do NOT turn on "blank screen", I see all 3 remote monitors on the single monitor of the client, (which I can stretch or scroll around).  This is how I want it to work, BUT, when I blank the screen, the displays drop down to one monitor only (moving everything to monitor "Center").  On the remote machine it also locks the machine.  It's very similar to how RDP works.  When I turn the blank off, it re-enables the 2 other remote monitors ("left"/"right") unlocks the machine, and things "mostly" move back to wh ere they should be, but many apps get messed up and now stay on the "center" screen including all the debug detached screens of Visual Studio.  Is there any registry settings/other things I can look for?  I am running the latest drivers (nvidia) etc.
James Manios, User (Posts: 8)
Sep 18, 2019 8:34:09 am EDT
Support level: Free or trial
I should add, if I change the remote settings "Do Not Capture RDP Sessions" it doesnt lock the screen, they are all blank, BUT it still compresses down to one "center" screen only.  Then I turn "blank screen" off, all 3 screens re-enable
Pauline, Support (Posts: 2849)
Sep 18, 2019 4:37:32 pm EDT
Hello James,

Thank you for your message.

Could you please clarify if I'm right in assuming that when you turn the blank screen feature you're not able to see both left and right monitors? Or do you mean that all three monitors are shown compressed to one central monitor?
Could you please send us some screenshot or a short video where the issue could be seen? You can send it to support@remoteutilities.com.

Looking forward to your reply.
James Manios, User (Posts: 8)
Sep 18, 2019 10:19:12 pm EDT
Support level: Free or trial
To clarify, your first assumption is right.  Initially before blank screen, I see all 3 screens inside of the local client window (so compressed).  But when I hit "blank screen" its as if the left and right screen become detached at the remote.  I only see the center screen, (but all the windows and desktop icons move to the center screen as well).  It is very much like the monitors where detached).  When I turn the "blank screen" off, both the left and right come back, and "most" windows move back, (but some windows do not).  Meanwhile physically at the remote, all 3 screens do go blank.  I will send a video, but it was large so sending a youtube link
Pauline, Support (Posts: 2849)
Sep 19, 2019 10:00:37 am EDT
Hello James,

Thank you, we received the video.

I will forward the issue along with the video to our developers and ask for their input.

I'll get back to you with their reply soon.
Pauline, Support (Posts: 2849)
Sep 20, 2019 2:54:01 pm EDT
Hello James,

Thank you for your patience.

I checked with my coworkers on the issue. Unfortunately, the issue you've encountered is expected behavior. It's required to be this way, otherwise, the blank screen feature would not work for machines running on the latest versions of Windows 10. The issue occurs because the graphics driver is temporarily disabled and the system driver is used by default while the blank screen is enabled.
However, we will try to implement another method for blanking the remote screen, without the driver engagement in our future updates.

I'm sorry if this makes the program less useful for you.
James Manios, User (Posts: 8)
Sep 20, 2019 3:14:22 pm EDT
Support level: Free or trial
Polina,

Hi Polina,

Thanks for the update.  I would just like to give some details because some of this might not line up.  Previously  using Remote Utilities, "blank screen" used to work, in that it did not disable left and right, so its not "necessarily" Windows 10; unless it was an UPDATE to windows 10 that broke it, (that is possible).  I just want it to be understood that this "used to work" on Win10.  If your devs are thinking of using some of the advanced power management features of the monitor to "power them off" (like MCCS or DDC/CI) those features do not seem to work on my monitors :-( .  I was using RealVNC for similar functionality and it could turn off 2 of the 3 monitors; but actually now, none of them turn off (so that might help suggest Microsoft must have broken something in a Win10 update).

I hope you can resolve it, since its a pretty critical aspect for me.
Conrad Sallian, Support (Posts: 3013)
Sep 24, 2019 4:07:14 pm EDT
Hello James,

We will forward your request to our development. Thank you! And sorry for the inconvenience.
Will Jim, User (Posts: 10)
Oct 29, 2020 5:04:28 am EDT
Support level: Free or trial
Hello RU Team,

Have you been able to develop a solution for the blank screen disabling the multi-monitor setup? I am also seeing the same issue when the blank screen feature is on.

-Will
Pauline, Support (Posts: 2849)
Oct 29, 2020 9:20:10 am EDT
Hello Will,

Thank you for your message.

Could you please clarify what version of Remote Utilities do you use? In case if you use version 6.10.10.0.or an older version, please try updating to the latest 6.12.2.0 Beta 2 version and see if the issue persists, as in this version we've replaced the previous screen blanking mechanism that utilized the Monitor driver. For more information please see the Release Notes.

The latest 6.12.2.0 Beta 2 version is available for the download on this page. When updating Remote Utilities please make sure to update both Viewer and Host/Agent (as well as the RU Server if used) to the same version as the version mismatch might lead to performance issues or some features not working.

Hope that helps.

* Website time zone: America/New_York (UTC -4)