SAC Remote issues

[RBIngraham]

I just sent a private email to Bob, but thought I might tap the knowledge of the group as well.

I had my laptop remoting into my SAC computer just fine at home, in my testing. Now that I'm in the theatre of course, gremlins have popped out. :)

The error I am getting is:

Trouble Opening File
(file possibly no longer exists)

I have double checked all my network connections. It's NOT a wireless connections, all hard wired, no routers, just a switch. I have double checked to make sure my laptop has network access to the SAC computer. I can open files on the SAC computer across the network. In fact I can even have my laptop open the SAC session file over the network just fine. (using the SAC remote) However when I try to actually connect to the SAC session directly it doesn't work.

I get the above error message and then if I click OK, both the laptop and the SAC computer show they are connected, but the laptop states no access and of course I can not control anything.

I have double and triplle checked all my settings in SAC, so I am fairly certain they are right. As I said, during testing at home... this all worked fine.. same gear, same hardware, etc...

Anyone have any suggestions? Or somehting I might have missed.

Thanks in advance... oh and just as a nod to how great Bob's support is, he has already responded while I typed this up. :)

Richard

[RBIngraham]

OK! Figured it OUT!!!

I was being a dope. LOL. :)

I had shared the SAC demo folder on the SAC computer but NOT the SAC (i.e. the version I paid for.. LOL) folder on the SAC computer. I have put my SAC mix files into a special folder I created in My Documents. (that's just where I like to keep stuff, as that is what it's there for, rather than in folder within the folder SAC is installed in) So I had shared that folder and figured that was all that was needed. But obviously that's Not the case, it needs access to the SAC install folder and the folder where you keep you mix sessions.

Thanks for your help in private emails Bob.

Richard

[Iain Westland]

could you post a step by step on what you did Richard, got a feeling this wont be the last time this comes up

Iain

[RBIngraham]

could you post a step by step on what you did Richard, got a feeling this wont be the last time this comes up

Iain

No Problem.

Some notes (not necessarily in the order in which you might want to do this, but mostly in this order)

1. As Bob has mentioned several times, you need to be able to share the folder SAC is installed to as well as any folder your mix files are located. The easy way to do that is to just share the entire drive this data resides on. However I don't really care for that since I some times have volunteer operators or students working on my systems. (hence I like to lock things down as much as possible) So I just shared the 2 folders that were required to make the remote work. To do this, simply open up Windows Explorer (press Start and E at the same time) and navigate to the folder SAC is installed in. (typically C:\SAC) Right click on the folder, and select Sharing. In the dialog that pops up, (it will be different depending on if you are running XP or Vista and whether you are using Simple File sharing or not) you'll want to tell Windows to share that folder. If you have multiple users logging in, as I do, you will want to go to the Permissions and make sure any user you wish to have log into SAC has "full control". I just set mine so that everyone had full control. Repeat this step for the folder(s) you store your mix files in. For me I created a special folder in "My Documents" just for the SAC files. That makes it easy to back up, without having to back up all the application files as well. (at least it seems easier to me anyway)

2. On the SAC machine, you will need to have SAC running and go to the Options menu and select Computer Users Rights List. You will add the name of your laptop or other remote computers to the list, and give them the permissions of your choosing. If you are not sure of the computer's name, you can find that out in Windows Explorer (assuming all the computers are already hooked up to the network, and booted up), navigate to My Network Places|Microsoft Windows Network|"the name of your workgroup" The computer's name will be in ().

3. Now go to your laptop or remote computer. Open up Windows Explorer on it. Navigate to My Network Places again, just as above. Make sure you see your SAC computer. Make sure you can fully access your SAC folder and the folders you store your SAC files in. (I tested this by just created a dud text file in the SAC computer and then deleting it. That way I know I have the "full control" I need to make it work) If your user name and password log in are not identical on both computer, you will need to enter a user name and password that is saved as an account on your SAC computer.

4. Open up SAC Remote on the laptop. Go to the options menu and select Host Computer Name/Address. Enter the name of the computer or the IP address. This info is shown to you right on the SAC computer once you have engaged TCP/IP Host/Mater mode. Or you can use Windows Exploer to find the computer name of the SAC machine, just like I descibed above.

5. On your laptop go to the Option menu and select TCP/IP remote mode. This should now allow your SAC Remote to log onto the host. If you get any kind of error message it seems it's ussually to do with the fact that your laptop is not able to access the files on your SAC system.


Some ways you could speed things up.

1. Share the entire C: drive as Bob recomends.
2. Use indential user names and passwords on both computers and that will make it so you don't have to go to Windows Explorer and log into the other machine more than likely.

Hopefully that is helpful to someone in the future.

Richard

[Iain Westland]

thanks sir, copied into the hints section.

Iain