I have a friend who wants to move into PC audio with a dedicated headless windows 10 pro computer, Roonserver and HQPlayer and possibly audio fidelizer. I can find little information here or on the net about controlling this headless setup via a iPad or similar. So if you run roon and hqplayer on a headless PC, how do you control HQP and change settings or restart HQP if needed on this headless machine, sometimes HQP needs a restart. Or sometimes the whole computer needs a restart.
I run headless with HQP, Roonserver, Audiophile Optimizer, and Fidelizer. I user Server R2 instead of Windows 10 though.
If you are using Roon then all the control can be done via the Ipad App. To make changes to HQP I use the Windows Remote Desktop app from my tablet or laptop. It works very well.
There are loads of iOS apps - vnc, iteliport are two I’ve used often. Most vnc type apps are geared up to control servers of different flavours. Proving the server is set up to receive connections.
Before you move it too far from the monitor check that it reboots OK and you can vnc in
I do find it a bit tedious controlling my Mac server over iOS - a proper keyboard and mouse makes things so much easier so use the laptop for complex tasks - but fir day to day (restarting Roon etc) tasks it’s ok. Just remember not to mess with the servers networking or vnc settings once it’s headless (yes, I’ve locked myself out before now). 
@tboooe Thanks, I get that roon control can be via iPad like I do with my setup (which is not headless). So Windows remote desktop can be put on the iPad as well and give control to HQP and rebooting of the PC ? That is sweet and almost to easy if so.
Yes, the iPad Windows Remote Desktop app is actually very nice. Ive used it on both my iPad and Android tablet. The best thing is that you don’t need to install any separate program on the PC like VNC. On the tablets navigation is not perfect but for simple tasks like rebooting or changing HQP settings its more than adequate. I will say that using remote desktop from my laptop is a bit easier.
I have a similar setup to @tboooe, running Roon Server and HQP on a headless BRIX (Server 2012 R2 with AO). I use an iPad Mini 3 to control it.
As you’ve noted Roon Server is controlled from the iOS app. This works very well. My only quibble is that I can experience some delay in reconnecting (the initial reconnect times out and then it connects). This is probably something to do with my network and DNS arrangements rather than Roon itself as others don’t seem to experience this.
I control HQP using Windows Remote Desktop. WRD itself works very well; I can open and close HQP, bring up system monitors on the BRIX and start a batch file to backup the Roon database to a USB stick. I can closedown the BRIX from the iPad and I imagine I could implement WOL to start it within Server 2012 but I think that would mess with the AO optimisation, so haven’t done so (I turn it on in the room next door to my listening room).
The HQP program is responsive in WRD, but the menu selection controls are a bit tight on the iPad Mini touch screen and it can take a few stabs to get things where I want. This is the only issue I’ve had with using the iPad to control HQP.
@andybob thank you this really makes it clear the path to go. For my system i use a iPad mini2 and I get occasional delays in connecting to the core, but nothing that I did not attribute to internet. What I do get is the roon app crashes about 2 times per night on the iPad, the core machine is running fine and music still plays during the crash. I re-open the Roon app and all is good until the next crash, not a big deal but slightly annoying when I am in the middle of creating a que.
The batch backup sounds like a good idea, I back up my database every 2 weeks or so, but I am not headless, how do you go about that on a headless machine? And yes that screen on the iPad is small so hitting some things does take a few attempts.
I adapted the backup batch file that Steve wrote in this thread. I used Notepad to write it on my PC then saved it as a .bat file on the BRIX desktop. I made the BRIX desktop a shortcut on my PC desktop so I can easily drop stuff into it.
I double click on the batch file icon from the iPad in WRD. I could automate it, but again I think that might mess with AO.
I think taskkill might be a fairly unfriendly way to close Roon, however, and a cleaner shutdown command we can implement from a command line is under development by Roon.
I only backup the database rather than the whole Roon Server folder and I write it to a USB stick hanging off the BRIX.
I’m using Splashtop instead of WR Desktop and think it does a bit better job and give a little fuller emulation of all the desktop functions on the server.
Andrew, I like the idea to enhance my current setup (micro PC for headless roon controlled by iPad) by using remote control. May be I missed something or it’s due to country specific app-store availability. If you’re talking about “Windows Remote Desktop”: do you mean a specific app from a specific developer or do you think it doesn’t matter to randomly pick out one of the many offers displayed after searching the term “Windows Remote Desktop”?
Thx in advance
I just use the Microsoft Remote Desktop app. It may also be called RD Client. I haven’t tried Splashback or other apps.
I run Roon Server and HQ Player on a headless Win 10 NUC. I use TeamViewer on a laptop to access Roon and to perform any other tasks on the machine. It’ s free and it works very well.
I found out both teamviewer and MS Remote Desktop both work fine but both have slightly different behaviors. I experienced:
- teamviever runs not so performant compared to MS Remote (but absolutely acceptable) and the installation has to be done on both devices
- MS Remote Desktop let me feel more responsive and has only to be installed on the remote device ( in my case the iPAD). A minor one time complexity was added by required settings for my set up on the PC: I had to do the windows operating system settings to allow remote control and additionally I had to configure “allowing the remote control to access without a password” because I run the roon headless PC on an non-password account which allowes me to only press the PC hardware button to start / shutdown the roon headless box.
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Baed on all the input I will try WRD first and see how it works. The person I am building this PC for is not very PC literate and WRD sounds like it would get the job done.
Since roon really has no shut down feature when I turn off/restart my PC on my setup with monitor and keyboard I just hit the x in the upper right corner on both roon and HQP and then either turn off or restart the PC. I have it set so on startup roon open automatically and Audio fidelizer opens HQP after it finishes opening. I assume it is similar on WRD? @andybob isn’t taskkill accomplished thru task manager?
I believe so. In this case it was used as a console command in the batchfile I was referencing and as referred to in this thread.
I am about to get myself a headless setup with HQplayer, Roonserver and Fidelizer.
Any reason why I should get Windows Server R2 instead of Windows 10?
Appreciate feedback. 
I dont think there is any reason other than if you think Server R2 sounds better than Win10. I personally had issues getting Win10 to work on my low powered PC (Atom based) as an NAA so I went back to Server and it worked perfectly for me. I think Phil still thinks Server sounds better than Win10.
AFAIK, HQP isn’t fully supported on Windows server, and not on R2. Something about the priorities not being setup optimally for audio.
http://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html
Note Windows Server isn’t listed as one of the Windows interfaces. Doesn’t mean it won’t run, means there could be issues:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/hq-player-20293/index257.html#post581350