Applied Computer Systems

How do I prevent SoftLINK from switching from Aero to Basic Mode when connecting to a student workstation?

Download PDF:  KB0138

Summary
How do I prevent the message “The color scheme has been changed to Windows 7 basic” when connecting to a workstation using Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

SoftLINK’s default method used to view a Student machine is to hook directly to the video driver using a Mirror Driver. This default method to capture the Students Screen can result in the Windows 7/Vista Aero theme being disabled and the message “The color scheme has been changed to Windows 7 basic” will appear on the Students machine.

Details
To stop this message prompt from occurring on the Student PC, disable the GDI Hook Mirror driver and use the ScreenScrape mode at the Student instead.

Apply the Screen Scrape option locally at each client workstation

Change the Student configuration by following the steps below:

  1. Open the SoftLINK Class Control Configurator
  2. Select Advanced and enable “Silent Mode (No refresh when Viewing)
  3. Ensure that no options are ticked within “Enable DVD Playback and Direct 3D Support”
  4. Click OK this will then apply the changes to the Client32.ini file.

Apply the Screen Scrape option to the Client32.ini and deploy to all clients

To set the Screen Scrape option within SoftLINK, make the following manual change to the Client32.ini file.

  1. Navigate to the installation directory, by default this is: C:Program Files (x86)SoftLINK Class Control
  2. Open the file Client32.ini in Notepad
  3. At the bottom of the [Client] section type the following parameter: ScreenScrape = 1
  4. Save and Close this file.
  5. The Client32.ini file is a Check summed file. You MUST re-apply the check sum to the file. Refer to the Manually editing the Client32.ini file

When the Client32.ini file has been properly configured, distribute it to your clients using the SoftLINK Deploy utility.

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