Is remote W2K User logged in?

[bluewhaleCA]

Is anyone aware of a way to check a domain controlled W2K Pro work station remotely to see if a user is actually logged in? I'm trying to determine when people leave their PC's in remote offices logged in over night ( as opposed to logged off or 'locking' the system with Ctl-Alt-Del )
Thanks!

Paul

 

[GlenJohnson]

Start, Run, MMC. Add remove snap-ins. Add Shared Folders and browse to the dc you want to check on. This will show shares, sessions and open files, including the name of the person with the open file. Good luck. Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


"Patience is more powerful than force."
Plutarch (46-125 A.D.);

 

Thanks Glen!
Time to open the books again and refresh on MMC functionality. I keep forgetting about the dozens of snap-ins I never use.
Thanks again


Paul

 

[GlenJohnson]

No problem. Let me know if I can help anymore. MMC has a lot of good stuff. Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


"Patience is more powerful than force."
Plutarch (46-125 A.D.);

 

[bluewhaleCA]

Hello again. I have been playing with the shared folders under MMC: Going by files open would not work as the users might not have files open, simply be logged in.. Going by shares also wouldn't show users actually logged in.
Going by 'Sessions' doesn't seem to work well. I watched this morning as people logged in locally here: some showed up, some did not.
I'm planning on setting up a few test cases and watching further, but was wondering : are you fairly sure the Session method reflects the status of the USER being logged on at the workstation? Sorry to be a PITA, but have to make certain I'm right before calling someone about leaving their PC logged in overnight <G>

tks

Paul

 

[GlenJohnson]

Maybe make a shared folder that loads at startup? Just an idea? Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


&quot;Patience is more powerful than force.&quot;
Plutarch (46-125 A.D.);

 

[GlenJohnson]

No, I can't say I'm certain. Can you run some tests, and when you think you've got someone that'a left the pc on, use something like tight vnc and access there computer remotely? Tight vnc is a free remote like Terminal Serivces. I have installed on 250 machines and when they have problems, I use it to run there pc from mine. Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


&quot;Patience is more powerful than force.&quot;
Plutarch (46-125 A.D.);

 

[bluewhaleCA]

Tight VNC sounds like VNC, a free ware VPN solution from AT&T in Great Britan. I like it, however it doesn't allow you to log on/off and there is no security: you have to have a secure pipe to that remote PC to run it safely. Does TightVNC offer those features?
I was into the MMC last night a few times and again this morning. It's much better than I originally thought. I have small concerns, but now think you're on the money ( sorry <g> ) and will read up further on the specifics of this. I see double entries at times: wonder what defines a 'session'. Sometimes PC's have a session without a user logged in and sometimes not, etc.
Also a littel curious about domain control... Our remote office has a DC there, tho the primary is here. I was looking for info on THOSE users being logged in, but looking on our server. I just checked on that server, and find it has them all, probably because they authenticate to it instead of up here. We have a BDC here ( I can't recall what you call them in W2K Domains )... I have to wonder if it is handling some of the authentication requests as well.
I would have thought the central DC would have info relayed to it from other authenticating servers regarding who was logged in, but perhaps that's just too much traffic?

Anyway, thank you for the thought.


Paul

 

[GlenJohnson]

Yes, if you have an nt or 2000 based machine you have security. I've run vnc on an nt 4.0 box in another city for years. If you go to the upper left corner, and click the icon for vnc, (and tight vnc), the option to send ctrl, alt delete is there and you can lock the computer remotely. That's the last thing I do before closing my vnc connection, so it is secure. Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


&quot;Patience is more powerful than force.&quot;
Plutarch (46-125 A.D.);

 

[bluewhaleCA]

> Yes, if you have an nt or 2000 based machine you have
> security.

? Having an NT based remote connection doesn't give you much in the way of protection.. Are you using anything to wrap the RAS connection? Third party VPN of some kind?

 

[GlenJohnson]

Nope, just the servers own protection with a password Einstien couldn't crack. Ctrl, Alt, Delete, then lock the computer before I sign off. Works great. (Plus firewall.) Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


&quot;Patience is more powerful than force.&quot;
Plutarch (46-125 A.D.);