Caret cursor disappears

[MHoefler]

Hi!

I’m trying to use NoMachine (latest version) to control a headless Windows 10 x64 machine from another one (also Windows 10 x64). Seems to work with some big problems:

1) Whenever I move the mouse over an edit or text field (where the mouse cursor changes into a caret), it simply disappears! All other cursors are shown fine (sizing, hand, drag & drop, etc.) but not the caret cursor.

If I enable the option “Show remote cursor”, then it seems to display an all white caret, which is also almost impossible to see on a white background with black text.

This is extremely annoying and makes NoMachine impossible to use, because positioning the text cursor within a text is just “guessing”, which is unacceptable of course.

I’ve updated the graphics driver (Intel UHD Graphics 620), but that doesn’t help. It also makes no difference if I connect a monitor to the computer or not.

What’s the problem here and how can it be solved?

2) Clicking the Windows Start Button and typing text (to search for it) mostly does not work the first time! Keyboard input simply is ignored. Clicking the Start Button a second (sometimes a third time) usually makes it work, but this is annoying, of course.

3) The computer to be controlled has just 1 user account without a password. I’ve configured the server.cfg file so that the user and password databases are enabled (EnableUserDB 1, EnablePasswordDB 1), but NoMachine simply ignores that! I’ve added the user via command line, was prompted for a password, entered it and got an ok confirmation, but still this is completely ignored and I can still log in without any password. Entering the correct password results in a failed authorization. User and Password configuration do not work in NoMachine – I had no problems with all other remote desktop softwares.

Please fix these problems, or NoMachine will be unusable.

Thanks!

[Britgirl]

Point 1) Are you using the default Windows theme for the cursors? You can check this in Settings -> Personalization -> Themes ? Do you have the same problem with the cursor when you attach a monitor to the server (not sure if you can check that or not).

Point 2) This has been reported by many Windows users and it’s not dependant on NoMachine in that case.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/keyboard-not-working-in-log-in-screen-start-menu/b2d85ced-f4f9-480e-bfcf-f5cff7d40cc9?auth=1

I’d check to see if there any updates for your Windows OS.

Regarding point 3, I understand you want to use a password to log in to the desktop when connecting via NoMachine. It’s not possible to log in with NoMachine without a password unless you have configured your Windows to open the appropriate policy. (see here: https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/AR05L00802). Editing the NoMachine setting in this case won’t bypass the policy that has already been configured on the remote Windows host, so please check what has been set with regards to this policy.

I also suggest you take a look at this article with regards to username formats which are supported:

Username formats supported to log-in to NoMachine by password authentication
https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/AR03S01118

[MHoefler]

Thanks for your answer! Here’s more info:

1) Yes, the cursor disappears anyway, if there’s a monitor attached or not. Actually, there’s always a headless HDMI dongle attached, so the the remote cursor is not shown. So technically, there’s always a monitor present for the operating system. Also, the cursor never disappears with [removed], for example. However, it also disappears with most (if not all) VNC programs.

2) Doesn’t happen with [removed] or [removed], so it seems to be related to NoMachine somehow…

3) I just want the NoMachine connection to be independent of the Windows login(s). Just a simple user name and password just for remote controlling the machine. Works with all other remote softwares ([removed], [removed]), but cannot be achieved with NoMachine. Why? It should be the simplest thing on earth to implement…

Thanks!

 

 

 

[Britgirl]

If you tell us the theme you’re using, we’ll try and reproduce the cursor-to-caret issue again. As for point 2, we have not been able to reproduce, but we’ll try again. Point 3, we have two upcoming features which might be what you are looking for:

Guest Desktop Sharing – https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/FR01S04059
NoMachine Network – https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/FR09S04214

[MHoefler]

I’m using the standard cursor theme of Windows. I’ve also tried some others, but they all have issues (misaligned cursors, cut off cursor shapes, etc.)

Thanks!

[Britgirl]

Hmm, we’re not able to reproduce so far. Try disabling ‘Use acceleration for displaying’ in Server settings -> Performance (on the computer you want to connect to). Does it make any difference?

If not, would you be available to try debug version and then submit logs to us? We’ll send you instructions.

[Author]

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