Python3 TCP server for Windows 7 remote control

I did a quick and dirty volume remote control for my Win7 PC and decided to share it.

The script opens a TCP server on the machine, and listens for connections. When a client connects, it will react to commands 'U' (volume up), 'D' (volume down) and 'M' (toggle mute).

It works at least with Python 3.4 and it uses NirCmd to set the Windows master volume. I first looked at pywin32 library for the volume control, but I couldn't find any good documentation, so I went the easier route and decided to use NirCmd instead.

It might not be the prettiest solution, but it works for me!

Place the below code into a .py file, for example 'rcserver.py' and run it with Python 3.4. Also place nircmd.exe in the same directory.

You can try it out by using PuTTy and connecting to 127.0.0.1 port 5005 with 'Raw' connection type. Then enter M, D, U and your computer's volume will change.

I'm using a Raspberry Pi to control it with netcat. Here's how:

Install netcat if you don't have it:
apt-get update
apt-get install netcat 

Send mute command:
echo -n "M" | nc -q1 ip.address.of.computer 5005 
This echoes a M character to the IP address on port 5005, and quits after one second.
Replace the IP address here and in the Python code with your Windows computer's LAN address.

Note that you can remote control almost anything by adding commands to the script.

Here is the code:

 # Python 3 server for Windows 7 remote control   
 # Juho-Eric 11. Dec 2014  
 #  
 # You need the following to run this:  
 #  
 # Python 3.4  
 # https://www.python.org/  
 #  
 # NirCmd  
 # http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html  
 #  
 # Place nircmd.exe in the same directory as this script.  
   
 import socket  
 import subprocess  
   
 #Parameters for TCP server.   
 TCP_IP = '127.0.0.1'  
 TCP_PORT = 5005  
 BUFFER_SIZE = 20  
   
 #This code is to hide the command prompt window when running nircmd.exe  
 si = subprocess.STARTUPINFO()  
 si.dwFlags |= subprocess.STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW  
 #si.wShowWindow = subprocess.SW_HIDE # default  
   
 #Create the TCP server socket  
 s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)  
 s.bind((TCP_IP, TCP_PORT))  
 s.listen(1)  
   
 #Main loop, this will loop on each connection  
 while 1:  
   conn, addr = s.accept() #get new connection  
   print('Connection address:', addr)  
   while 1: #This will loop on each command received  
     data = conn.recv(BUFFER_SIZE) #receive data  
     if not data: break #check if connection closed  
     print("received data:", data)  
     if data == b'U':   
       print('volume up')  
       subprocess.call('nircmd.exe changesysvolume 1000', startupinfo=si) #increase volume 
       subprocess.call('nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 0', startupinfo=si) #remove mute  
     elif data == b'D':  
       print('volume down')  
       subprocess.call('nircmd.exe changesysvolume -1000', startupinfo=si) #decrease volume
       subprocess.call('nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 0', startupinfo=si) #remove mute  
     elif data == b'M':  
       print('mute toggle')  
       subprocess.call('nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 2', startupinfo=si) #toggle mute  
   conn.close() #close the connection  
   print("connection closed")