Process pauses then terminates on desktop version when Windows "logs out" to log-in screen

[DavidChu]

I have BP installed on a desktop version.  Under my company's new security policy, the power options for Windows 10 is set to turn off the display after 30 minutes and I can't change it without jumping through hoops with IT. The reason why this is an issue is that when it logs out to the Windows Log-in screen it pauses the bot process and eventually terminates the entire process if I don't touch the mouse or keyboard.  The easiest solution is to keep the display on so that bot can keep running but as I explained earlier I'll have to jump through hoops to change this setting. I'm wondering if there's an option in BP so that the process can continue to run even when it "logs out" to the Windows log-in screen (area where I have to enter my ID and password).

[david.l.morris]

I've never tested this, but I'm surprised that the bot's work doesn't keep the screen on. What kind of stuff is it doing?

[DavidChu]

In short, the bot is given a list of invoices to search through in our ERP system called JD Edwards.  When it finds a match based off certain variables, it saves the invoices as a PDF to a shared drive. I didn't have this problem until we upgraded to Windows 10.

[ScottRobson]

To do it properly, you will need to jump through those hoops.  Blue Prism recommend that runtime resources are configured without lock screens/timeouts, etc.   Until that time: So long as you don't need any foreground interaction, your objects shouldn't have any issue running in the background.  Check which actions are causing your objects to fail, as there may be alternative methods available, eg: I often see inexperienced developers putting pointless Activate stages in their objects when there is no need for foreground activity, etc. If you are really stuck, and require foreground activity to remain, have you tried a simple workaround such as performing sendkeys/global mouseclicks at set periods to keep the machine 'awake'?

[BenKirimlidis]

We had a similar issue on a project for a system of TV screens to display web pages.  Other than gretting IT to adjust the settings for when it went to sleep, the qucikest way we found to get around it (NOT RECOMMENDED THOUGH), was to have a powerpoint presentation goign through a slideshow.  But as the guys above mentioned, if there is any requirement to interact with objects on screen that could cause problems. A truly horrible suggestion and RECOMMENDED EVEN LESS would be to remote into the resource, then run the robot and manually move the mouse around every few minutes. These are all universally bad ideas from a security/operational perspective, best course of action is to get IT involved.  With RPA you really need IT on board and a willing partner.  You might use this as an opportunity to streamline requests like this, set up a template, improve working relationship with IT department etc.  Without IT support, later RPA projects will run into similar little problems and they will take ages to get around without IT making a sqift intervention. But then again i imagine you know all of this already! apologies, haven't had my coffee yet! good luck with this mate 🙂

[zdenek.kabatek]

Hi, David, the solution should be ""pretty easy"" ;). You need to issue in Blue Prism action Global Mouse Click and click somewhere in the desktop within 30 minutes. this should reset the ""counter"" for windows to think that someone is still working. So I recommend that you modify zour process in a way that the first thing you do is clicking somewhere by global mouse click and then you count time from that moment and you know that you have 30 minutes before next click. If you have process where you do not need Global Mouse Click or Global Send Keys then this can happen when there is such a policy. For larger clients we usualy get exception for Robotic machines to avoid such a behavior.

[MindaugasBresku]

Hi, to add to Zdenek and a bit modify his approach - with mouse clicks and keyboard inputs you should be careful not to click/input something that kills or otherwise affects the app and process. Therefore I would suggest to use Global Send Keys with "{NUMLOCK}{NUMLOCK}" as parameter.

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Mindaugas Breskus
Software engineer
Swedbank
Europe/Vilnius
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