Remote Management (RM) problems with remote control 'Blank / Unblank', dark, or black screen during Remote Control session

  • 7007368
  • 14-Dec-2010
  • 19-Nov-2014

Environment

Novell ZENworks 10 Configuration Management Remote Management
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11.1
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11.2
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11.3

Situation

If  the 'Blank/Unblank' option is used during a remote control session, the managed device:

a.  Stops responding to the mouse movements and keystrokes.
b.  The session starts flashing/flickering.
c.  The remote desktop can be seen 'through' the flashing/flickering screen.
d.  If 'Unblank screen' is done, it takes a long time for the remote desktop to return to normal remote control behavior, and may require a reboot by the Remote Controlled device to clear the flashing / flickering blank screen.
Decreasing screen resolution, and turning off screen saver did not seem to help.

A blank or dark or black screen for the user / Remote Controlled device may be seen without using the 'Blank/Unblank' button.

Status

Reported to Engineering

Additional Information

Symptoms are mostly seen on laptops, but can be on any device, both VM's and physical devices.
 
A blank or dark screen for the user may be seen without using the 'Blank/Unblank' button does not happen if the Mirror driver is disabled (Device Manager, Display adapters, Mirage Driver - by DemoForge, also referred to as dfmirage, should be there with the ZCM agent installed), however, Remote Management is extremely slow if the ZCM agent mirror driver (Mirage Driver) is disabled.
 
One environment reported not seeing the issue in IE (version not recorded), but only with Firefox.  IE 8 was tested on the Dell E6400 laptop, and the known bug did still happen, but the Remote Controlled device recovery from using the 'Blank/Unblank' button did not require a reboot of the Remote Controlled device.  Using Firefox, the Remote Controlled device had to be rebooted to clear the flashing blank screen.  The different behaviors between browsers may vary depending on hardware and graphics controllers.
 
The 'Blank/Unblank' option can be disabled on the Remote Management (RM) policy under:
 
Remote Control Settings ' > ' Allow managed device screen to be blanked during Remote Control '.  Also disable ' Allow managed device mouse and keyboard to be locked during Remote Control '.
 
' Remote Diagnostic Settings ' > ' Allow managed device screen to be blanked during Remote Diagnostic '.
 
On the Dell E6400 laptop, disabling the 'Blank/Unblank' option resulted in the RC session 'Blank/Unblank' button being greyed out.  It was seen in one environment that was having 'A blank or dark screen for the user may be seen without using the 'Blank/Unblank' button' symptom, that disabling the 'Blank/Unblank' option on the policy did not result in the ''Blank/Unblank' button being greyed out, even after multiple agent refresh and RM policy version increments (suggesting there is a link to the 'Blank/Unblank' button and the 'Blank or dark screen for the user may be seen without using the 'Blank/Unblank' button' symptom.
 
Another environment reports not seeing the black screen if the User Source user was not logged into the the User Source before the remote control session started.  This would be an option if the reason for the remote control does not require the user being logged in to the User Source.
 
Remote Control - screen flashes or does not blank when using Blank Screen:  Seeing the issue on Fujitsu E920 and Fujitsu E910 devices with SSDs only, but NOT with the ones with HDs.
 
Reported workaround:  On a Fujitsu E910 and E920 (with SSDs) can workaround this issue by very slow pressing the blank / unblank button on the remote control.  Blank / unblank only works if wait about 10 seconds between blank and unblank.  If clicked fast (like a double click) workaround doesn't work.
 
Note:  On a Dell Latitude E6510 (which has no SSD) there was no problem with a black screen.