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I need some information on how does this KVM works on the work laptop.

By Rio @Rioreddy
    2021-11-22 20:24:20.583Z

    My work laptop is located in my house and I would like to travel out of the state without carrying a work laptop. But my office networking guys always monitor my location by checking my IP address and I cant use Team viewers or RDP or VPN routers to access my laptop due to security policies and VPN connection.

    So I would like to use the PI KVM to access my work laptop remotely But I am a little afraid to do that because of the office security policy configured in my laptop.

    1. I would like to know, Does my office IT security know if I connect this Pi KVM to my offie laptop?.

    2. How does my work laptop recognize the Pi KVM HDMI and USB when connected to the laptop?.

    3.Does my office laptop recognize the Pi KVM as a suspicious device?.

    Could you please help me with my situation?

    • 8 replies
    1. Just to clarify, TinyPilot uses the Raspberry Pi, and it's a KVM over IP solution, but "Pi KVM" is a separate product, so you might be looking for this forum.

      That said, it is possible for an office IT department to recognize when a TinyPilot is connected to a computer. From the target computer's perspective, it sees a monitor, a USB mouse, USB keyboard, and USB flash drive connected.

      Whether the IT department will detect it depends how strict your IT department is about connecting unrecognized USB devices to your laptop. I haven't ever heard of an department IT scanning for our product specifically, but the device has unique identifiers in its display and USB device information that identify it as a TinyPilot.

      TinyPilot isn't designed to evade detection from the target computer, so if you need a product that does that, TinyPilot probably isn't a good match.

      1. RRio @Rioreddy
          2021-11-23 05:03:40.534Z

          Thank you for your response Mike. I think my office is not so strict on laptop ports connected to use projectors/HDMI/USB mouse/iPhone charging.

          Which one is safer to use between the TinyPilot vs Pi KVM to control my office laptop and avoid suspicious detections?.

          As you said Tinypilot has unique identifiers that help the IT department find TinyPilot and Are there any changes we can do in TinyPilot to recognize the Tinypilot as regular HDMI cables and USB mouse/Keyboard ?.

          1. G@Grasshopper147
              2021-11-23 19:05:42.939Z

              I definitely want to repeat that TinyPilot isnt meant to evade or hide from IT scrutiny. I have used it myself with some more restrictive systems (with legitimate use and permission from management, of course). In those cases I edited the /opt/tinypilot-privileged/init-usb-gadget file to remove the USB Flash Drive functionality and change the device descriptors of the mouse and keyboard. You'll need to know about the sudo command and how to use nano or similar to edit this file. Only touch this if you know what you are doing though.

              1. In those cases I edited the /opt/tinypilot-privileged/init-usb-gadget file to remove the USB Flash Drive functionality

                As of the 2.3.1 release, it's a little easier to disable virtual storage cleanly.

                1. FDon Eitner @FreihEitner
                    2021-11-23 21:24:52.375Z

                    Thank you for this. I just got my TinyPilot in the last week to use with a work laptop, and connecting external drives (even virtually) was a point of concern for me.

                2. In reply toRioreddy:

                  Which one is safer to use between the TinyPilot vs Pi KVM to control my office laptop and avoid suspicious detections?.

                  Neither is really better for this scenario, as far as I know. Both devices uniquely identify themselves to the target system.

                  1. N@nellyet
                      2023-08-16 12:37:24.870Z

                      hi, i know its been almost 2 years since the original post. Has anything changed or is it still risky to use this to avoid detection?

                      1. Hi @nellyet, I’ve replied to your new thread separately, but just wanted to confirm that the information Michael supplied earlier in this thread remains accurate.