Forum Discussion

jimsmith_1's avatar
jimsmith_1
Contributor
12 years ago

Scheduling test run on a Virtual Machine

Does anyone know a way of running a scheduled TestComplete run on a virtual machine without having a Remote Desktop session connected at the time of the run?
  • aLostDawg's avatar
    aLostDawg
    12 years ago
    To have a user still logged on and the TestExecute instance fooled into thinking that the VM is still outputting an image to a screen you need to send to console.



      Create a batch file on the desktop of the VM with this one line in it.



    tscon 2 /dest:console





      Then run that (double click on it). This should disconnect you from the VM and send the images to console. It leaves the user that is logged on still logged on. This makes TestExecute believe that the image is still on a screen. Therefore TestExecute won't give you the "The operation cannot be performed, because the user session is disconnected." error.



    Hope this helps.
  • aLostDawg's avatar
    aLostDawg
    Occasional Contributor
    12 years ago
    To have a user still logged on and the TestExecute instance fooled into thinking that the VM is still outputting an image to a screen you need to send to console.



      Create a batch file on the desktop of the VM with this one line in it.



    tscon 2 /dest:console





      Then run that (double click on it). This should disconnect you from the VM and send the images to console. It leaves the user that is logged on still logged on. This makes TestExecute believe that the image is still on a screen. Therefore TestExecute won't give you the "The operation cannot be performed, because the user session is disconnected." error.



    Hope this helps.
  • karkadil's avatar
    karkadil
    Valued Contributor
    12 years ago
    For virtual machines you do not need a remote desktop connection at all.
  • aLostDawg's avatar
    aLostDawg
    Occasional Contributor
    12 years ago
      I assume that you have TestExecute9 loaded on the VM. If so you should be able to do this. There are a few things you'll have to have set up to accomplish this though. 



    1. VM user that is logged on all the time. 

    2. Batch file set up on the VM to execute the specific test.

    3. Task Scheduler set up to execute the batch file. 



    To accomplish #1 we use a batch file that disconnects from the VM and sends the output to the console. This way TE can still execute the script because there is a screen image being generated to the console.



    Number 2 is just the command line code in a batch file. 



    Number 3 calls the batch file and executes it daily for us. You can set it up on whatever schedule you'd like. 
  • karkadil's avatar
    karkadil
    Valued Contributor
    12 years ago
    Jim,



    Probably you mix virtual machines with something else, I'm not sure.



    Virtual Machine is almost the same as a physical PC. On a virtual machine you can do the same things. Just start the VM and run TC on it. Why do you need Remote Desktop here?





  • jimsmith_1's avatar
    jimsmith_1
    Contributor
    12 years ago
    If I am not connected to the VM with Remote Desktop, Task Scheduler starts the run OK but I always get the message ."The operation cannot be performed, because the user session is disconnected."



    If I am connected to the VM with Remote Desktop then the the run works OK.



  • karkadil's avatar
    karkadil
    Valued Contributor
    12 years ago
    This is probably happens because your VM is locked. It must be unlocked.



    If my guess is correct, than connecting to the VM via RDC you unlock it, but this is not necessary in case of unlocked VM.
  • jimsmith_1's avatar
    jimsmith_1
    Contributor
    12 years ago
    A couple of questions...



    How do I create a VM user that is logged on all the time?



    How do I unlock a VM?