Viewing Student Chromebook Screens in SoftLINK

DownloadPDF: KB0232

SoftLINK, by default, provides visual indicators to a trainee when an instructor is connected to the trainee’s device.  One of the most obvious indicators is the Student Toolbar which appears across the top of the trainee’s screen.  Additionally, their desktop wallpaper will be removed, customizable text may be overlaid onto their screen, and a SoftLINK icon will appear in their System Tray of the Windows Taskbar.

In some training environments, an instructor may not want the trainee to be aware of SoftLINK’s presence and may want to disable the visual indicators.  This document outlines the steps necessary to make SoftLINK invisible on the trainee workstation.  This process will require changes be made on the instructor’s device as well as the trainee devices.

Changes to the SoftLINK Tutor Console

1. Launch the SoftLINK Tutor Console
2. Select View > Current Settings
   
3. Select View under the Remote Control heading in the left-hand column
   
4. Place a check next to Wallpaper
5. Change the Default Mode to Watch.
   NOTE:  This is an optional setting, it will not connect the instructor’s keyboard and mouse to the trainee station immediately, allowing observation without any interference from the instructor’s keyboard and mouse.
6. Select Student Toolbar in the left-hand column.
   
7. Uncheck Enable Student Toolbar

Changes to the SoftLINK Client

The SoftLINK Client is controlled by a configuration file (client32u.ini) on the trainee workstations.  To facilitate the changes needed, updates to the configuration file must be made on the instructor’s PC and then distributed to the trainee workstations.

1. Launch the SoftLINK Class Control Student Configurator on the instructor’s workstation.
2. Select User Interface in the left-hand column
   
3. Place a check next to Quiet Mode (client not visible on Taskbar)
4. Select Advanced in the left-hand column
   
5. Place a check next to Silent Mode
6. If the trainee workstations are Windows 7 or Windows Vista and have Aero enabled, you must also place a check next to Enable Screen Scrape. Alternatively, you can disable Aero in your Windows operating system.

The newly generated client32u.ini file must be copied to the trainee workstations.  You can use the SoftLINK Class Control Deploy utility to copy the file out to all the machines, depending on your user privileges and your network configuration.  Alternatively, the file can be copied manually to the trainee devices.

Manually update the file on the trainee workstations

On the instructor’s PC, navigate to C:Program Files (x86)SoftLINK Class Control.  Copy the client32u.ini from this location and paste it to a network share or thumb drive.

Move to a trainee workstation and access the copied client32u.ini file.  Copy the file and paste it into the SoftLINK installation directory on the trainee devices (C:Program Files (x86)SoftLINK Class Control).  The original file must be overwritten by the new file.  Once the new client32u.ini file has been written to the device, reboot the trainee machine.  The new settings will be active once the PC boots.

To verify the device has updated correctly, connect to the computer via the SoftLINK Tutor console.  The SoftLINK Student Toolbar should no longer be visible, SoftLINK icon in the System Tray will no longer appear, etc.