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Can't send keyboard-mouse input to target machine

By @tinykvm123
    2023-02-06 18:29:43.407Z

    Current machine = Macbook Pro
    Target machine = the machine I want to remotely control, a desktop PC.

    I have set-up TinyPilot with my target machine and can access it via IP address in a web browser using TailScale. Here's what I see:

    https://ibb.co/0t5jNnL (image bb link, screenshot file was too large).

    I noticed in this YouTube review (https://youtu.be/CyEpshm16HY?t=530) that the host is able to just use his current machine's mouse cursor and move it over the target machine's desktop that is displayed in his current machine's browser and click on things. I try to do the same, like opening Chrome and the start-menu, and nothing happens. I was able to do "Actions -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> "Ctrl-Alt-Del" to bring up Task Manager on my target machine did work though. Pressing the escape button on the keyboard picture in my browser also exited out of Task Manager.

    I've been looking for some documentation but haven't seen any. I'm guessing this is more of user-error than a bug though.

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    • 3 replies
    1. David @david2023-02-06 19:39:04.049Z

      Hi @tinykvm123, sorry that you're running into this issue.

      Thanks for the screenshot! Are you using your TinyPilot as an extra monitor in this instance? i.e. does the Windows machine have another monitor connected at the same time as your TinyPilot?

      If that's the case, I think the mouse is moving on the primary monitor. That would also explain why the keyboard shortcut worked (since the task manager window popped up on the secondary display). The solution here is to set TinyPilot as a mirror of the primary display (which you can do in Windows display settings), or to disconnect the other displays from your target computer to make TinyPilot the primary display.

      Reply
      1. T@tinykvm123
          2023-02-06 23:31:55.231Z

          That worked perfectly. My target machine has 3 monitors and I just went into my Display options, then made the TinyPilot "monitor" my primary display. This fixed the problem.

          Is there a way to use my local machine's keyboard shortcuts on the target machine? I know there's the keyboard to point-and-click in the browser window, but was hoping to use my local machine's keyboard.

          Thanks

          Reply
          1. David @david2023-02-07 12:05:35.970Z

            Awesome! I'm happy that it was a simple fix.

            Is there a way to use my local machine's keyboard shortcuts on the target machine?

            It depends on which shortcuts you want to use. If you want to use browser hotkeys (like CTRL+T or CTRL+P, and so on), you can try using Chrome's App Mode. However, if you want to use system-wide shortcuts (like ALT+TAB, or anything using the Windows key or a Mac's command key), you have to use TinyPilot's on-screen keyboard. There's not much we can do about these global key combinations because they're interpreted on the local machine and not passed to the browser for TinyPilot to interpret - that's one of the big reasons why we have CTRL+ALT+DELETE as a keyboard shortcut under the 'Actions' menu.

            Hope that helps!

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