Seats on Windows

A seat gives a profile a Windows desktop of its own, so two to four people can play on one PC at the same time, each with their own games, Steam and saves.

Seats need Windows Server. Windows 11 runs one desktop at a time.

What you needCopy Anchor Link

Each seat is a Windows account of its own, pf_seat1 to pf_seat4, made and managed by punktfunk. Nobody signs in to those accounts by hand.

Prepare Windows ServerCopy Anchor Link

A fresh Windows Server needs three things before the host goes on:

1. Install your graphics card's driver. Until then Windows lists Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, and seats find no graphics card.
2. Set the network to Private. A fresh Server calls its network Public, and then no other computer reaches the host or its console: No client can reach a Windows host.
3. Install Steam, open it once and wait for its sign-in window. That first start installs the audio drivers seats play sound through. Nobody has to sign in.

Set up seatsCopy Anchor Link

1. Install the host and open the web console.
2. Open Profiles → Seats. The list shows what this PC has and what is missing.
3. If Remote Desktop Session Host or its licensing is missing, press Set up Remote Desktop. It installs the role, which takes a few minutes. When the list says Restart the PC, press Restart host, open Profiles → Seats again and press Set up Remote Desktop once more: it sets licensing to Per User and turns seats on.
4. Otherwise tick Seats are on. Leave Allow Remote Desktop from the network as you find it: it starts ticked on a server you already reach over Remote Desktop, and unticking it cuts that off.
5. Close Seats, press Add profile, and pick Own desktop. Repeat for each player.

Turning seats on installs the seat display driver, turns Remote Desktop on for this PC only and records its certificate. Turning them off puts all of that back; the profiles and their accounts stay.

Play on a seatCopy Anchor Link

Players connect to this PC, the same host card as always, and pick their profile when the app asks Who's playing? The host sends each player on to their seat. A seat never shows up as a host of its own; if an older app still lists one, remove that card and connect to the PC instead.

The first connect to a stopped seat shows Getting Kid's desk ready… for up to a minute while Windows signs the seat in. Moonlight and other apps that can't pick a profile play on the owner's desktop. A seat carries the game's sound; a player's microphone doesn't reach a seat.

On Profiles, a seat's card has Start, Stop and End session. A seat nobody plays on stops after Stop an idle seat after under Host → Seats.

Steam on a seatCopy Anchor Link

Steam runs once per Windows PC under its usual name, and a second start closes the first. So each seat gets a copy of the PC's Steam of its own, and punktfunk points every usual way of opening Steam on a seat at that copy:

• the shared Steam icon on the desktop and in the Start menu,
• steam:// links, such as a game's desktop shortcut,
• Run Steam when my computer starts in the seat's Steam,
• games started from punktfunk's library.

While seats are on, the shared Steam icons start punktfunk-tray.exe --steam, which opens the seat's copy on a seat and the PC's own Steam for everyone else. Turning seats off puts them back. The copy is made the first time a seat starts; until it lands, Steam games don't start on that seat.

Sign in to Steam once on each seat. One Steam account can play on one seat at a time, so each player needs an account of their own; Steam Families shares the games. Seats install nothing twice: their Steam lists the PC's game folders first.

Don't pin steam.exe from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam on a seat, or start it from File Explorer: that starts the PC's Steam and closes the other one.

Two gaps remain (#1873). Starting Steam on the PC closes a seat's Steam, so start the PC's first. And a Steam already open on a seat takes no shortcut, link or library launch: open it from its tray icon and start the game there.

Windows 11Copy Anchor Link

Windows 11 runs one desktop at a time, so everyone there plays on the owner's: under Add profile, pick Shares Alex's desktop, with your name. Own desktop says Needs Windows Server, and turning seats on answers Seats need Windows Server — this is a desktop edition of Windows.

The limit is Microsoft's. The licence terms Windows 11 comes with license it "for use by one person at a time" and don't allow anyone to "work around any technical restrictions or limitations in the software".

Tools that lift the limit exist, TermWrap and other Remote Desktop wrappers among them. Using one breaks those terms. punktfunk doesn't include, install or recommend one. On a PC that has one, seats turn on with this warning and without support: A Remote Desktop wrapper lets this desktop edition of Windows run seats. Only Windows Server is supported.

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link

Profiles shows the doctor's verdict under the cards. Press Doctor for every check, the PC's first and then one group per seat, each with the next move. A seat's own log is C:\ProgramData\punktfunk\seats\hosts\<seat id>\host.log, readable by Administrators.

The console doesn't open from another computerCopy Anchor Link

Windows marks the server's network Public, where the host's firewall rules don't apply. Set it to Private.

No graphics card was foundCopy Anchor Link

The card's driver isn't installed, so Windows runs it as Microsoft Basic Display Adapter. Install the driver from the card's maker.

Remote Desktop Session Host isn't installedCopy Anchor Link

Press Set up Remote Desktop under Profiles → Seats. Installing Remote Desktop Licensing alone isn't enough: Session Host is its own part of the Remote Desktop Services role.

The seat display driver isn't installedCopy Anchor Link

A seat starting puts it back. If the line stays, turn seats off and on under Profiles → Seats.

Remote Desktop's certificate has changedCopy Anchor Link

Windows renews the certificate Remote Desktop presents when it expires or the PC is renamed. Seats only sign in to the one they recorded. Turn seats off and on under Profiles → Seats to record the new one.

The seat didn't start in timeCopy Anchor Link

The line says which step it stopped at. Doctor names the failing check; the seat's log has the rest.

Pairing isn't armed, or the library doesn't loadCopy Anchor Link

The app connected to a seat directly. Remove the seat's host card, connect to the PC itself and pick the profile.

Steam closes on another seatCopy Anchor Link

That Steam was started as the PC's own, from steam.exe itself. Start Steam from the Steam icon on the desktop or in the Start menu, or from punktfunk's library.

A game loses its controller when someone else switches appsCopy Anchor Link

The game reads controllers through Microsoft GameInput, which gives them to one app on the whole PC: the one that came to the front last, on any seat or on the PC itself. While the PC has seats, punktfunk lets every game a seat or the PC itself starts keep its controller in the background, so a window opening on a seat never takes the pad from a game at the desk, or the other way round. That is Players keep their controllers under Settings → Seats, on by default. A game picks it up at its next start, so restart one that was already running.

A controller plugged into the PC appears on a seatCopy Anchor Link

Controllers plugged into the PC belong to the desk. punktfunk marks each one for the console session as soon as it appears, so a seat's games and Steam don't list it, XInput there doesn't count it, and GameInput there delivers nothing from it. Two things Windows leaves outside that mark: Windows.Gaming.Input on a seat keeps listing an Xbox controller plugged into the PC, without its input; and if an Xbox controller is plugged into the PC while a seat already has its controller, that seat's controller is player 2 in XInput games until the seat's next connection.

A seat has no soundCopy Anchor Link

Steam's audio drivers aren't on this PC: Steam is missing, or was installed and never opened. Install Steam, open it once, then stop and start the seat.

Seats stream without a pictureCopy Anchor Link

Windows' own Remote Desktop display driver is newer than punktfunk's. Update punktfunk.

Remote Desktop's days without a licence server are overCopy Anchor Link

Windows signs seats in for 120 days without a licence server. Set one up with a CAL for every player: Activate the Remote Desktop Services license server.

Turn seats offCopy Anchor Link

Untick Seats are on under Profiles → Seats. Every seat stops and Remote Desktop goes back to how it was. Uninstalling punktfunk does the same. The seat accounts go when you remove their profiles.