#539 Running server delays user session closing

[Marco De Vitis]

I'm using WinVNC 1.3dev6 on Windows XP SP2 (all updates
installed). The VNC server is set to start as a service
at startup.
When I close my user session, the "saving settings"
stage, before "closing Windows", takes an unusually
long time (we're talking about 10-20 seconds anyway, no
more). If I quit the VNC server before closing the
session, instead, settings are saved very fast (2-3
seconds)..

I'm pretty sure this also happened with the latest
stable version, 1.2.9, but did NOT happen with older
stable releases.

[Nobody/Anonymous]

Logged In: NO

I have the same problem on W2k (pro) with both TightVNC1.2.9
and RealVNC 3.3.7
Each time this happens there is an error message added to
the Windows application log stating that the registryfile
could not be removed, because access is denied. See original
Dutch message below. Event-ID is 1000. It's not deadly, but
very anoying.

Kan het registerbestand niet verwijderen. Als u een zwervend
profiel hebt, worden uw instellingen niet gerepliceerd. Neem
contact op met de systeembeheerder.

Details: Toegang geweigerd. , buildnummer ((2195)).

[Marco De Vitis]

Logged In: YES
user_id=360281

It still happens here, but I see no particular errors in the
event viewer.

[Marco De Vitis]

Logged In: YES
user_id=360281

It seems event 1517 is added in the Windows event log when
this delay happens at Windows shutdown. The event text is:

"Windows saved user <Computer Name>\&lt;User ID> registry while
an application or service was still using the
registry during logoff. The memory used by the user's
registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded
when it is no longer in use. This is often caused by
services running as a user account, try configuring the
services to run either in the LocalService or NetworkService
account. For more information, see Help and Support Center
at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp"

This seems related to the problem described here for
RealVNC:
http://www.realvnc.com/pipermail/vnc-list/2002-October/034371.html

I tried running the service using the LocalService account,
but then no VNC icon appears in the tray and no connection
is possible to the running service.
Any clue?

[Marco De Vitis]

Logged In: YES
user_id=360281

I did some more tests and can describe the problem in more
detail now, sorry for not having done this before but it was
time consuming.

The "saving settings" delay is actually longer than I
thought: it's exactly 90 seconds.
It happens regularly at each shutdown, if the VNC server is
set up to start automatically at boot time AND no connection
to the server has been made.

In the following situations, instead, the problem does NOT
happen, and everything runs fine:

- when the VNC server is started manually while the system
is already running, instead of automatically at boot.

- if a connection from a client has been accepted while the
server was running.

- if I remove the call to winvnc.exe from
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
Unfortunately this means that no connection can be accepted
(authentication fails), although the service is started
anyway and the icon is shown in the system tray. So this
makes this workaround useless.

I hope this helps developers in finding the bug.