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Use RDP connection

You can connect to devices over an RDP connection if session management via Remote Desktop Sessions is preferred to normal login sessions.

Prerequisites
To use RDP, your environment must comply with the requirements for the Lock Screen feature. Refer to "Configure the host" in the Kofax RPA Desktop Automation Service Guide.
Steps to use RDP

  1. Install and configure Desktop Automation Service on remote devices. See Desktop Automation Service.

  2. Configure the service to work in single user mode and specify a token.

  3. In the robot, insert the RDP Login step.

  4. Specify all necessary options for the RDP connection.

    The RDP Login step waits until the connection is established before continuing robot execution. If a remote connection fails, an error message is provided.

  5. If the system you are connecting to is configured to show an extra screen when the user logs in, set a number of seconds to wait before dismissing the extra screen during login in the "Logon dialog dismissal timeout" option of the RDP Login step.

    If this screen is not dismissed, the action may fail.

Keep RDP alive
Windows can be configured to disconnect and terminate RDP sessions that are idle for too long. To prevent from disconnecting, the RDP connection service in the robot sends a dummy keystroke signal to the remote session every several seconds.
The default value for the time interval between key strokes is 30 seconds.
To change the time interval, specify it in the Keep-awake key press interval option of the RDP Login step in seconds.
To turn off this option, specify zero (0).

Only one RDP connection to a specific device can exist at a time, but you can have several RDP connections to different devices. A new RDP connection to the same device closes any existing RDP connection on the same device.

If the device is a static reference, you can see available applications in the Recorder view after RDP connection is established.

If the device is a dynamic reference, a Connect To Device is needed to automate the remote device. We recommend setting timeouts and retry attempts to make sure the RDP connection is established. Once this step is executed, you should see available applications in the Recorder view.

To check that the RDP connection is established, look for the kapowlock process in the Windows Task Manager. If the process is present in the list of processes on the computer executing your robot, the connection is active.