Skip to main content

Philips Device Connector guide

Setup on Windows (Google Chrome)
Basic installation

To use Philips Device Connector, you need to install two components:

  • Philips Device Connector Chrome extension

  • Philips Device Connector native host application

The following steps cover the installation of both components:

  1. Navigate to the Philips Device Connector extension page in the Chrome web store.

  2. Click on Add to Chrome .

  3. A pop-up window appears, confirm the installation by clicking on Add extension.

  4. Download the latest Philips Device Connector native host application package here download_icon.svg and unzip the file.

  5. In the Windows folder of the installation package you'll find the necessary philips_device_connector_native_host_installer.exe.

  6. Run philips_device_connector_native_host_installer.exe on your local machine and finish the setup.

  7. Restart your browser.

    X You can now use your Philips dictation hardware on all supported websites (e.g. SpeechLive).

Note

  • Make sure to use your devices (SpeechMike, SpeechOne) in Event Mode. This is the default out-of-the-box button mode, however if you changed the button mode of your device you can find more information in the Switch to Event mode section on how to switch it back.

Advanced installation for Enterprise environments

Philips Device Connector Chrome extension

Google provides various possibilities to install and manage Chrome extensions in Enterprise environments. Please review Google's Managing Extensions in Your Enterprise guide first and choose a method suited for your environment.

One of these methods is installing Chrome extensions using Group Policies and this is the recommended way to install Philips Device Connector Chrome extension in Enterprise environments. You can find it in section “Option 3B: Allow or block extensions in Group Policy” of Google’s guide. The following is a shortened version of this more detailed guide:

  1. Download Google policy templates

  2. Add the ADM or ADMX template you downloaded to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates

  3. In the Group Policy Editor, browse to Google Chrome > Extensions > Configure the list of force-installed apps and extensions

  4. Select Enabled and click Show

  5. Enter the Extension ID of Philips Device Connector: okdioccnnkeanlegkfgnnboncggagfjh and click OK.

After finishing these steps, Philips Device Connector Chrome extension will be force-installed and force-enabled for any user logging into Windows. The end-user is not allowed to disable or remove it. The only way to remove the extension is to remove the Extension ID from the group policy (or by disabling the policy).

Philips Device Connector native host application

It's also possible to install the Philips Device Connector native host application via command line:

philips_device_connector_native_host_installer.exe [exe_parameters] /v"[msi_parameters]"

Commonly used exe_parameters:

Parameter

Description

/x

Uninstall mode

/s

Silent installation (no UI)

/v

Pass arguments to MSIExec (msi_parameters)

Commonly used msi_parameters:

Parameter

Description

/qn

Setup runs without user interaction

/l*v c:\setuplog.txt

Setup is logged to C:\setuplog.txt

Here is an example of a silent installation via command line without user interaction:

philips_device_connector_native_host_installer.exe /s /v"/qn"

Troubleshooting

Philips Device Connector consists of different components. It is recommended to narrow down any occurring issues to one component. If not possible, troubleshoot one component at a time and start at Philips Device Connector Chrome extension.

Philips Device Connector Chrome extension

If you installed the Chrome Extension from the Web Store, you can inspect, enable/disable, remove and configure the extension via "chrome://extensions".

You can access logs of websites using the Philips Device Connector by using the Developer Tools Console (Ctrl+Shift+I or F12).

You can access logs of the Philips Device Connector Chrome extension by going to "chrome://extensions" and click on the background page button:

pdc_background_page.jpg
Philips Device Connector native host application

Make sure that you are using the latest version of the Philips Device Connector native host application.

After you successfully installed Philips Device Connector native host application (as outlined above), you can find the application in the following location:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Philips Speech\Philips Device Connector\PDCNativeHost.exe

In addition to that, a registry key is created during the installation process. The key tells the Philips Device Connector Chrome extension where to find Philips Device Connector native host application. Please check if the key was successfully created:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.speechexec.devices

Philips Device Connector native host application can generate logfiles if C:\Program Files (x86)\Philips Speech\Philips Device Connector\PDCNativeHost.ini is configured accordingly.

Here is an example for full debug logging:

[LOGInitSettings] Enable=yes File=[Path with write access]\PDCNativeHost.log MaxLines=10000 LogParams=yes LogComments=yes LogVariables=yes Timeout=2000 WrapAtMax=no UseOutputDebug=no FilterFunctions=no FilterVariables=no FilterComments=no

If you need to stop the native host application during troubleshooting, you can find and end the PDCNativeHost.exe in the Task Manager.