It is handy to be able to setup and start a zoom session without actually having to be there to click on a menu. For instance, you may have regularly scheduled sessions between local and remote family members that you may not need to be part of.
Using the cron facility in Linux, it is possible to start such sessions (or to connect to someone else’s scheduled meeting) by invoking a simple script.
In the meeting invitation there should be a URL for joining, which looks like:
http://us02web.zoom.us/j/1234567?pwd=FXbycXGo85EqxvxJzd
where 1234567 is the meeting ID and FXbycXGo85EqxvxJzd is the encrypted password.
Create a shell script to invoke the zoom session (e.g.: startzoom.sh), changing the syntax above slightly:
#!/bin/sh
# autostart a scheduled meeting
#/usr/bin/xdg-open\
"zoommtg://zoom.us/join?action=join&confno=CONF-ID&pwd=ENCRYPTED-PASSWORD"
/usr/bin/xdg-open\
"zoommtg://zoom.us/join?action=join&confno=1234567&pwd=FXbycXGo85EqxvxJzd"
Run this script from crontab of the user who owns the zoom account. For a periodically scheduled meeting a user’s crontab entry might look like:
58 9 * * Fri DISPLAY=:0 /bin/bash /path-to-script/startzoom.sh
This entry will automatically start the a zoom session at two vWAminutes to 10 AM every Friday. The ‘DISPLAY=:0′ setting is needed, since it tells the computer which display to use when it is running the program from cron, which has no terminal or display connection.