Network Inventory User's Guide

Capturing Screenshots on Remote Computers

You can capture screenshots on remote Windows computers using the Alloy Remote Screenshot tool. This built-in external utility allows you to check what is going on the desktop of a remote user and save the screenshot as an image file.

Alloy Remote Screenshot works silently and does not require any configuration changes on remote computers. You must only provide credentials for a user account that is a member of the local Administrators group on the target computer (either directly or through the membership in a Windows domain group). For example, provide the Windows audit credentials used for the Direct Network Scan.

To capture a screenshot on a remote computer:

  1. Select a computer in any grid (All Nodes or Computers) and select Tools > Integrations > Screenshot from the main menu.

    NOTE: Alternatively, you can click Screenshot on the Preview Pane or right-click the computer and select Integrations > Screenshot from the pop-up menu.

    The Remote Screenshot - [Computer Name] dialog box opens.

  2. Provide credentials for administrative access to the remote computer:

    • To log on under your current Windows account, click Currently logged user.

    • To log on under another account, click This account and type in the user login name and password. In the Domain field, select or type in the domain name. Click Test Login to verify that this account can log in to the specified domain.

      TIP: Alternatively, you can just type in a domain user name in the User Name field, such as COMPANY\audit.

      To provide a local account, type in the user name and password and leave <Local Computer> in the Domain field.

      NOTE: Once you have specified the account, the provided credentials are saved for the current Network Inventory session. The next time you capture a screenshot on any remote computer from the Network Inventory application, your saved credentials will be used automatically. However, you can always change them or provide completely different credentials. When you exit from Network Inventory, the previously saved password is lost.

  3. Click OK.

    If the remote machine has multiple active logon sessions, you can select the desired session to access by clicking it in the Select Session - [Computer Name] dialog box.

  4. The Remote Screenshot connects to the remote computer and displays the captured screenshot in the Remote Screenshot [Computer Name - User Name - TimeStamp] window, where [Computer Name] is the name of the remote computer, [User Name] is the name of the user currently logged on to the remote computer, and [TimeStamp] is the date and time of the captured screenshot.

Using the Remote Screenshot menu bar, you can save the captured screenshot, refresh it, or change its display options:

  • To save the screenshot as an image file:

    1. Select File > Save as. The Save dialog box opens.

    2. Specify the file name and type and click Save. By default, the Remote Screenshot adds a timestamp to the file name. To turn off adding timestamp, select Options > Add Timestamp to Filename to clear the check box.

      NOTE: Alternatively, you can save a screenshot to the default location by selecting File > Save. If you are saving the image for the first time, you are prompted to specify a file name and type.

  • To copy the screenshot to the clipboard:

    • Select Edit > Copy. The copy of the entire screenshot is in the clipboard.
  • To refresh the screenshot:

    • Click Refresh. Alloy Remote Screenshot re-takes the screenshot of the remote desktop.
  • To change the screenshot’s display:

    • By default, Alloy Remote Screenshot displays the captured screenshot at its actual size, and you can scroll the image vertically and horizontally when it is too large. If you want to scale the image down to your window, select Options > Fit to Window. To revert to the actual image size, select Options > Actual Size.
  • To change the quality level of the screenshot:

    • By default, Alloy Remote Screenshot takes screenshots with the maximum resolution (high quality image). If you want to change the image quality, select Options > High Quality /Medium Quality / Low Quality.

      IMPORTANT: When you change the image quality, Alloy Remote Screenshot refreshes the screenshot.

  • To disconnect from the remote computer:

    • Select File > Exit.

Running Alloy Remote Screenshot from the command line

Using Alloy Remote Screenshot command-line options allows you to capture a screenshot on a remote computer in the non-interactive mode, without starting Network Inventory.

Alloy Remote Screenshot is installed into the Network Inventory installation folder (typically, C:\Program Files\Alloy Software\Alloy Navigator Express 2023\Bin); the name of its executable file is Screenshot.exe.

The command has the following syntax:

Screenshot.exe /Computer="Computer" {/User | /User="Login" /Password="Password"}

Screenshot.exe has the following command-line options:

  • /Computer="Computer" — Specifies the name or IP address of the target computer.
  • /User — Accesses the target computer under the current logged on Windows account. This is the default behavior when the /User option is not specified.
  • /User="Login" — Specifies the login name for the user account to access the target computer. This option requires the /Password="Password" option.
  • /Password="Password" — Specifies the password for the user account provided with the /User="Login" option.

For example, to capture a screenshot on the PC00002 computer under the User account with the 123 password, use the following command:

Screenshot.exe /Computer="PC00002" /User="User" /Password="123"