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
   • BridgeTls: If the MQTT connection should use TLS (this works currently only if the certificate is valid and trusted (real))
   • 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,
  "BridgeTls": false,
  "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

In order to annouce the sensors in Home Assistant the MQTT Auto Discovery is used. Therefore no configuration on the Home Assistant side is required.

Sensor values are only reported to MQTT when they change, so it could be that you don't see them in Home Assistant right after setting ths up on a new machine.

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)