Secure Global Desktop Administration Guide > Getting started > Using shadowing to troubleshoot a user's problem

Using shadowing to troubleshoot a user's problem

Problem

A user is having difficulty with an application and they want you to troubleshoot their problem.

Solution

Use Object Manager to find the user's session and then shadow it. Shadowing allows the user and a Secure Global Desktop Administrator to see and use the application simultaneously.

Case study

Graham Green is working from home today and using Microsoft® PowerPoint® through Secure Global Desktop to create a Marketing presentation. He's having trouble with the presentation template and has contacted you for help. To fix the problem, you need to shadow Graham's emulator session.

You're logged in as a Secure Global Desktop Administrator and have Object Manager running. You know two things about the session you want to shadow: who's running it (Graham Green) and what application is involved (Microsoft PowerPoint). You can use either of these to locate the session. In this example, we will use the person. All session information for a user is shown on the Sessions tab for their person object.

Solution

1. In Object Manager use the Search or Browse tabs to locate the person object for Graham Green and choose Properties.
   Properties for the object appear on the right of Object Manager.
2. Click the Sessions tab.
   The Sessions tab shows all the applications that Graham is currently running.
3. In the Emulator sessions part of the tab, click the session for the PowerPoint application, as this is the session we want to shadow.
4. Click Shadow Session.
5. Graham sees a dialog box, asking whether he wants to allow you to shadow the session.
6. Graham clicks Yes.
   A new window appears on your screen, showing Graham's running PowerPoint application. Both you and Graham can control the mouse pointer and use the application.
7. You fix Graham's problem and then close the shadowing window (don't close the application).
   Graham sees a dialog box telling him that no-one is currently shadowing the session.

Next steps

• You could also have found Graham's session by searching or browsing for the PowerPoint application object and showing its Sessions tab. This shows everyone who's currently running PowerPoint.
• The Sessions tab shows other session information such as the date and time the session started, and whether the session is suspended or currently active.
• You can only shadow Windows and X applications.
• If the user has emulator sessions for two or more applications which are using shared resources, all applications that are sharing resources will display when you shadow the session. The button bar on the shadowing window allows you to toggle between the applications.
• You can also shadow a user's session from the command line, see tarantella emulatorsession shadow.

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