# Slave setup

Setting up a computer as a slave for net distributed encoding is pretty easy.

1. Open the job window (default key F4)
2. Press the "Update" button to show all computers in the network ([b]Warning![/b] This can take a lot of time in a large network!)
3. Press the "Slave" button

Now the hint "Slave" should show up beside your own computer in the the lower box. All other dialog elements are disabled except "Update" and "Abort" and you can't close the job window or VirtualDubMod.
If you want to start up your computer automatically as a slave, create a link to VirtualDubMod in your Autostart group and add the parameter "/j". If you check the menu item "Options->Send slave to tray" (Job window), all that remains of the slave is an icon in the tray bar. You can further control the slave via the master (shut down, exit...)

If a master was already running, a connection will be established immediately. It doen't matter in what order you start them - as soon as a master and a slave run, they connect immediately.

To close the job window or VirtualDubMod you first have to press the "Abort" button. This way you disconnect from the master. This is even possible during encoding, the only problem that arises is that the canceled video piece has to be encoded by a diffrent computer. It is also possible to activate more slaves during encoding - as long as there are still tasks available they will be assigned immediately.