Readme.md

Windows Idle Monitor for Home Assistant

This project uses MQTT to update home assistant with the status of a Windows 10 computer. Credit to KjetilSv for the original idea (as well as several lines of code).

This project runs as a Windows background service. Currently, the installation is slightly difficult, but only requires editing a JSON file and a few lines with the command prompt in Administrator mode.

Installation

1. Install ASP.NET Core 3.1 SDK and Runtime
2. Edit the JSON file
   • BridgeUrl: location of the MQTT server
   • BridgePort: MQTT server port
   • UserName: username of the MQTT server (optional)
   • ClientId: ID you would like to use for the Windows computer
   • Password: password for the MQTT server (optional)

{
  "BridgeUrl": "hassio.local",
  "BridgePort": 1883,
  "BridgeUser": {
    "UserName": "mqtt-user",
    "ClientId": "not-hassio",
    "Password": "mqtt-pass"
  }
}

3. Publish the file
   • Open the command prompt (or Powershell)
   • cd to project directory
   • run dotnet publish -f netcoreapp3.1 -r win-x64 -c Release -o {outputDirectory} with outputDirectory being the location you want to run the service from.
4. Create and start the service
   • Open the Command Prompt as an administrator (not Powershell)
   • Run sc create MqttPcHeartbeatMonitor binPath=C:\Path\To\EXE start=auto
   • Run sc start MqttPcHeartbeatMonitor
5. Check Services to see if MqttPcHeartbeatMonitor is still running
   • In the Windows Search bar, type "services"
   • Find MqttPcHeartbeatMonitor, check that the "Status" says running
   • If it's not, please perform the following:
     • Open Event viewer
     • Find an Error entry
     • Create an issue in the GitHub repository. Copy and paste the event as well as your configuration (remove password)

Home Assistant Configuration

Open config file and enter the following

# Example configuration.yaml entry
sensor:
  - platform: mqtt
    state_topic: "{computer-name}/idlestatus"

TODO

• Fix message to retrieve from config.json rather than computer name.
• Create an installer
• Create a WinForms project to make creating configuration easier
• Monitor Video status of computer (Check if computer is watching a video)