2017-07-02 17:46:56

Hello,
I recently purchased a Windows Server 2008 through http://www.vps.net/ and I am having an issue with the remote desktop server that neither Microsoft disability or Product Activations is unable to help me with.
I had explained to them that when I connect to the server via Remote Desktop Connections, all of my Windows key combinatiosn are being sent to the server, and at some point I want to stop using the server and disconnect from the server. The only way I could turn focus away from the server was if I pressed ctrl+alt+delete, and then opened task manager. For those of you who use a Windows VPS to host things like games, how do you remote access that server, and how do you switch between controlling that server and your local machine?
Any further help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2017-07-02 18:13:18 (edited by jack 2017-07-02 18:38:27)

Your best bet would honestly be nvda remote.

2017-07-02 18:35:11

I'd best what?
Also, I am familiar with the NVDA remote add-on, so I will try it. Thanks!

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2017-07-02 18:38:47

That's nothing. It repeated the beginning of the post for some reason.

2017-07-02 23:16:03

apart from nvda remote, in order to get out of fullscreen mode in remote desktop, or minimize the window, you should use mouse to press the restore button on the top right corner of the window that way you can switch windows and press shortcut keys locally

:)

2017-07-02 23:22:59

Could you explain more? Do you need mouse tracking on? When I moved the mouse to the top right, all I hear is desktop.

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2017-07-04 07:13:42

I'm going to butt in and say that most of the suggestions on here are somewhat incorrect. There's a far better solution to disconnect from remote desktops via RDP, and it doesn't involve NVDA remote or using the mouse. For one, the mouse is difficult to use in RDP because the remote desktop client captures the mouse, so all your going to accomplish is moving the mose in the VPS; and second, using NVDA remote can be incredibly slow and laggy if your VPS provider does not provide high-grade bandwidth or your using an internet connection that isn't very fast. The simplest solution is to go to the shut down windows dialog box and, instead of shutting down your system, select 'disconnect'. (It's the first option in the dialog, although your focus may not be on it immediately; navigate the options until you find it and don't execute any of the others.) Note that this will require you to reconnect to the server, but this shouldn't be much of a problem and doesn't log out the account unless you have it set to do that. If you really want to use NVDA remote though, ensure that you have a very fast internet connection -- I've seen NVDA remote lag far behind the actual computer more than once!

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2017-07-04 17:08:42

Hi. I usually press control+alt+pause keys, In this way I can switch to ("control, alt, shift and such other keys work on my system", "Or these keys work on the server"). Then i usually press alt+space, select close, press ok and done, i'm disconnected. Hope this helps.

---
Co-founder of Sonorous Arts.
Check out Sonorous Arts on github: https://github.com/sonorous-arts/
my Discord: kianoosh.shakeri2#2988

2017-07-04 17:12:08

Hmm, I'll have to try it. Do you know what purpose the pause key serves?
Also, where is the disconnect option in the shutdown box to disconnect? On the local side or the server side? I didn't see any such options.

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2017-07-04 18:33:10

It would be on the server side. And the pause key, normally, will pause a computer while starting up so you can read preboot error messages before they disappear.

2017-07-07 05:45:02

Hello,
I am wondering something when you got the server, did you have to have sited help to enable remote audio for rdp, cause I know most of the time you have to start the remote audio service before you can here anything from the server. I have played around a little with windows server, but to be honest, I personally like  linux servers, cause for one my net is some times to slow for rdp, and nvda remote lags on my internet anyways. I wish you good luck with your windows server, and hope you can get stuff done with that you need to get done with it.
Thanks
Kevin Roberts

2017-07-07 14:57:34

Hi Kevin, I will respond here.
I don't know how to run executables on Linux, and no one has paved the way for me to follow. I have had no issues with Remote Desktop Connections. I called VPS dot net, and asked them if they could make sure remote audio was enabled on the server end, because it was already enabled on my end.
I don't know if you have Skype--my guess is that you do, and that you and I may have Facebook. But if you wouldn't mind devoting a little bit of your free time on helping me get started with Secure Shell SSH for Linux, or how to use the following: CPanel, Ubuntu, SenseOS, and probably some others that I forgot.

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2017-07-07 15:38:34 (edited by jack 2017-07-07 15:42:51)

Ubuntu, Not preferred. Cent os? Also not preferred. Debian? For the win.

2017-07-07 15:41:46 (edited by jack 2017-07-07 15:44:24)

As for Ssh you have a few options. Since you are on windows, you can download either of these applications, puTTY which works the best with NVDA but has a weird nonstandard output of text. Or Teraterm, making sure you get the ssh plugin. IN your terminal program of choice, you would ssh by using the following: ssh [email protected] and then hit enter. As you can see, username, the at sign, then your ip address. When you sign up for a Vultr or similar vps, they will give you that login info. If using Debian, you'll realize the every time you log in, you'll get the Debian disclaimer, so that's how you know you've logged in.

2017-07-07 15:43:06

What about CPanel? Can you Install Debian on CPanel or Wine? I heard that those run Windows executables.

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2017-07-07 15:51:12

First of all, you install C-panel on Debian. Second, no need for Wine. C-panel can be installed on your linux server.

2017-07-07 16:00:33

Try this referral link.
http://www.vultr.com/?ref=6873264
Their cheapest thing seems to be the popular item because it gets sold out quick, $2.50 a month or $0.004 an hour for a 20gb ssd, 1cpu with 512mb of ram, and 500gb bandwidth. There's a $5 a month or $0.007 an hour for a 25gb ssd, 1cpu with 1024mb of ram, and 1000gb bandwidth. The one that seems fit for your purposes you described be $10 a month or $0.015 an hour for a 40gb ssd, 1cpu, 2048mb of ram, and 2000gb bandwidth. As you can see, there's two options to pay your way while using the server. A flat rate per month, and an hourly rate that, as you saw, was mostly way under a cent per hour. That may add up if you use the hourly rate for months, but if you want to deploy an instance for a few hours, one very good example would be an nvda remote server to either last the workday or afterword so you can remote into either machine. That's where the hourly rate comes in.

2017-07-07 16:50:43

I am gonna warn you though, Vultr's deploy process is a bit of point and click. Don't worry though. I've done it and with a little instructions it's really quite straight forward. If in deed it's still not working right, I may be able to nvda remote you through it. Keep in mind that these keystrokes assume that you're using nvda's laptop layout, so you should make sure that's selected before you go anywhere. Ok, so here's the scoop. Go to Vultr and click on deploy instance. What you'll be presented with is first a list of countries, I was presented with 5, and then a list of cities for close proximity. Where you click depends on what you want. You really don't *need* to click on the countries, and you really shouldn't worry too much about it as the countries are one big block of text. Certainly doable, but not worth it if it's not needed. Below the countries, things get much easier as cities are nicely separated by a line. Now comes the time to point and click. Where you click depends on where you hail from, deploying a server close to your location will mean faster speeds for you. For example, since Chicago Illinois was a location below the list of 5 countries, I clicked on that. The two commands you'll need are insert+shift+m to route the mouse cursor to the virtual focus, and insert+left bracket to perform a left click. You'll want to remember these two commands as you'll be using them throughout this whole process. Back to clicking on cities, you will want to press the home key to get to the first character of the city you want, then insert+shift+m to focus, left click to activate. Like I said, it will be easier as all the cities are separated by a line. Still, it's safe to hit the home key on a line just to make sure it's focused before you click on it. The next heading is the server type, move your cursor to the 6 on 64bit operating system, focus, then click on that. Next, os selection. There will be a line that says, debian select version. Focus and click on that. Then there will be some new clickable elements, this is how you know you're clicking the right things. For our purposes, we'll use debian9x64, always good to stay up to date, right? You want to focus and click on 9x64 for debian9x64. Next there will be the hd space, memory and cpu selection. Let's say you're picking the 40gb ssd option for $10. Move to the 40gb line, hit home, insert+shift+m, left click. Whichever hd size you pick, that's how you're gonna click on it. After extra features, there are two more settings you wanna configure, and that's host name, you could type a name unique to you, this is what you'll be connecting to via ssh. The label edit box allows you to label it you can type the same thing, click deploy and you're good to go! It'll show that it's now installing debian7 onto your server. The installing status isn't in realtime, so I'd say wait 5 or so minutes for the operating system to install, then refresh your browser. Now you should click on, for once, an actual clickable link! About time! that link should be labeled as whatever you named your vultr server. It will give you the overview, in which there are 3 things you should look for. Your ip address, the username *should be root* and your password. The password is hidden by default, click the show password link, or the copy password link to automatically copy it. Now, you can use whatever terminal program you use to access ssh, and do ssh [email protected] replacing those characters with your actual ip of course, then hit enter. You may get a warning about adding the ssh key into /users/username/.ssh/known_hosts, but since this is your own server this shouldn't be a problem, just type yes and hit enter. Now type or paste in your password. You'll know it's successful when you start to hear the standard debian disclaimer, and get placed in the root of your server. The rest is accessible from here on out since you're using Terminal.