Always one step from a normal PC.

At a glance

Whatever happens, there is a way back to an ordinary single-seat PC, and your seat setup is kept for when you want Hydra on again. From the most automatic to the last resort:

1. Nothing to doAfter 2 failed starts in a row, or after one blue-screen crash, the next start comes up with Hydra off. A seat in trouble is repaired, or stopped on its own.
2. The panelThe power button in Hydra's panel turns it off, now or at the next restart.
3. A keyHold Ctrl Alt F12 for 5 seconds on any seat's keyboard, even on a black screen or the sign-in screen.
4. A fileRun C:\HYDRA-OFF.cmd, from Windows or from Windows' recovery screen, when nothing else works.
5. UninstallRemove Hydra in Windows' Settings, under Apps. One restart, and every screen is back.

What “off” means

When Hydra is off, the PC is an ordinary Windows PC. Every keyboard, mouse and game controller works for whoever is signed in, and every connected screen is switched on as one extended desktop.

Hydra starts with Windows, so turning it on or off takes effect at a restart. You choose whether that restart happens now or later; until then, everything keeps working as it is.

Your seats, their screens, keyboards, sound and names are all kept while Hydra is off. You can even change the setup while it is off: the changes apply when it is on again.

Turning it off and on

Open Hydra's panel (the Hydra icon in the Start menu or the tray) and use the power button at the top of the left-hand rail. It reads On or Off. Clicking it while Hydra is on opens Turn off Hydra, with three choices:

Until the restart, the panel's header shows what is waiting, for example On · off after restart.

Turning it back on

Click the same button while Hydra is off. Turn on Hydra offers the same choices. If you open the panel while Hydra is off, it asks right away:

Turning Hydra on or off needs a Windows administrator account. If you aren't signed in as one, the panel asks for an administrator.

Safe start

Protects you from a PC that keeps failing to start. If starts fail in a row, the next one comes up with Hydra off, so you always get back to a working desktop.

What counts as a failed start

A start only counts as good once someone has reached their desktop, every seat that should be up is up, and nothing is wrong, for about two minutes. So a freeze, a blue screen, a power cut, or a restart before anyone reached the desktop all count as failed. One good start resets the count.

By default Hydra allows 2 failed starts: after the second one in a row, the third start comes up with Hydra off.

What you see

The panel opens on its Safe start page, headed Off after 2 failed starts. It shows a timeline of what happened, the most recent events, and what changed since the last good start, such as a new graphics driver or a Windows update. Its buttons:

• Enable Hydra and restart: turns it on and restarts now.
• Turn on at the next restart: turns it on whenever you next restart.
• Send report: gathers what happened and sends it to us (see Health and reports).
• Keep off: leaves Hydra off, as if you had turned it off yourself.

Settings

In the panel, open Settings, then Startup safety.

Check seats at start also looks at each seat after a start. If Hydra can't confirm a seat works, it tells you, and that start counts as failed unless you keep it on:

Safe start is a setting of this PC, so it is not saved in seat templates.

Crash guard

Protects you from a crash that would repeat on every start. If Windows crashes with a blue screen while Hydra is on, the next start comes up with Hydra off, and it stays off until you turn it on. One blue screen is enough; there is no setting to change.

The panel's Safe start page is headed Hydra turned off after a blue screen, with the same buttons as above. To send us the crash, use Send report before turning Hydra back on: the report includes Windows' record of it.

When one seat has a problem

While the PC runs, Hydra keeps an eye on every seat. If one gets into trouble, it deals with that seat and leaves the others alone. It watches for:

• a seat's sign-in screen or desktop crashing again and again;
• a seat whose screens never light up, or go dark while someone is using it;
• the graphics card resetting again and again (this affects every seat, so you are only warned).

What happens, step by step

1. You are told. A notice appears on every seat, and Hydra saves a report.
2. The seat is repaired. Hydra restarts that seat's sign-in screen, or switches its screens back on. Each repair is tried once.
3. The seat is stopped. If the repair doesn't work, only that seat stops, and its screens go to Seat 1. Everyone else keeps working.
4. Hydra steps aside. If Seat 1 itself can't be repaired, or repairs keep failing, Hydra turns off at the next start. You can still say no.

If a seat's screen is unplugged, the seat waits for it (Waiting for screen) instead of starting blind. If someone is still signed in on a seat with no working screen, Hydra warns before signing them out, with a button to cancel:

Emergency off key

For when you can't get to the panel: a screen went black, a seat won't respond, or nobody is signed in. The key works from any seat's keyboard, on the desktop, the lock screen or the sign-in screen.

How to use it

1. Hold Ctrl Alt F12 together. After 1 second you hear one beep: the key is armed.
2. Keep holding until the 5 seconds are up. Three short beeps: it worked.
3. Restart the PC. It comes up with Hydra off.

The key never restarts the PC by itself, so nobody loses their work: Hydra stays on until the restart. Turning the PC off and on counts as a restart.

No speaker? The keyboard's Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock lights blink the same pattern.

Pressed it by accident? Choose Keep Hydra on. On a sign-in screen, where there is no notice area, a message asks the same question: Yes keeps Hydra on.

Settings

In the panel, open Settings, then Emergency key. Changes take effect within a few seconds.

Recovery file

The last resort, for a PC where Windows starts but no keyboard, mouse or screen works. Hydra's setup puts a small file, HYDRA-OFF.cmd, at the top of drive C, with a note called HYDRA-RECOVERY.txt beside it. Running it takes Hydra out of Windows' keyboard, mouse, game controller and screen settings, and stops it from starting. It works even if Hydra's driver is already gone.

Windows and Hydra updates

Hydra remembers which version of Windows it was checked on. At every start it checks again, so a big Windows update can't catch it out: if Windows has changed to a version Hydra hasn't been checked on, it starts no seats, turns itself off for the next start, and tells you why. The panel then offers Run anyway on this Windows version, for that exact version only, if you want to try.

Updating Hydra itself takes one restart. If an update fails, the previous version is put back.

Health and reports

The panel's Health page shows how everything is doing:

• Status: the driver, the service, each seat (who is signed in, or what is wrong), and the graphics card.
• Recent: what happened lately, newest first, such as a seat being stopped or Hydra turning itself off and why. Notices you haven't answered keep their buttons here.

Sending a report

Send report gathers what we need to understand a problem, and you see all of it before it is sent:

1. The panel lists every file that would go in the report, with its size. Remove any you don't want to share.
2. Add a line about what went wrong, if you like.
3. Choose Send, or Save to a folder to keep a copy instead.

Uninstalling

Open Windows' Settings, then Apps, and remove Hydra like any other app. If Hydra is on, the uninstaller turns it off first and finishes after one restart, with every screen switched back on.

In the rare case Windows won't let go of Hydra's driver, the uninstaller keeps it on purpose so your keyboard, mouse and screen keep working, and tells you. Run Remove Hydra again from Apps; if a keyboard, mouse or screen stops working, use the recovery file.

Troubleshooting