win-remote-control

This is a small Windows program that sits on the systray accepting network connections on TCP port 5555 (configurable). Incoming connections with key names cause keyboard events to be sent to Windows.

To connect and send keys, use any program that can send a line of text over a TCP connection; Ncat is a good option. If the IP address of your Windows PC is 192.168.1.20, running

echo "ALT+F4" | nc 192.168.1.20 5555

somewhere on your network will tell win-remote-control to send ALT+F4 to the active window. Key sequences are supported too, so if you leave a notepad window focused and

echo "SHIFT+H E L L O COMMA SPACE W O R L D SHIFT+1" | nc 192.168.1.20 5555

the text Hello, world! will be sent to notepad.

Each individual key is sent with alternating press and release inputs, so sending "A B" will generate the sequence:

• press A
• release A
• press B
• release B

Key combinations (i.e., keys joined by +) are all pressed one after another and then released in the reverse order, so sending "ALT+F4 ENTER" will generate the sequence

• press ALT
• press F4
• release F4
• release ALT
• press ENTER
• release ENTER

Compilation

To compile under MinGW-w64:

$ git clone https://github.com/moefh/win-remote-control
$ cd win-remote-control
$ make

Limitations

• There's a limit of 50 keys per connection.

• Some key names (like "COLON") are specific to US keyboards and may have different effects if Windows has the keyboard configured for a different language (see this page).

Use with ESP32

This project was created to be used with an ESP32; see the esp32-remote-control repository for details on how to use and ESP32 to send keys to your Windows PC via WiFi when a button is pressed.