Replacement Shell For Windows Thin PC & RDS

[FN-GM]

Hi,

 

I am playing with Thin PC and RDS. Currently i use MSTSC as the shell instead of explorer. I was wondering if anyone knows of any other custom shells i can use please? Has anyone developed one specially for the job please?

 

Thanks

[FN-GM]

bump

[cyr0n_k0r]

I'm actually impressed you are using MSTSC instead of explorer. Can you explain or link to a guide on how you accomplished this?

What kind of shells are you looking for? What problem are you trying to solve, or what is MSTSC not giving you that you need?

[FN-GM]

There is a similar guide on here but my setup works different. I have changed the shell to a VBS script that calls the RDS session. When the users logs on the host machine it connects to the RDS session full screen and then logs them automatically into that. When the user logs off the session they are automatically logged off the host.

 

The problem is. That the users sees a box in the screen when connecting to the RDS farm they can cancel the connection. Also when the RDS session launches it shows the connection bar at the top for a few seconds. Its not much but its enough for the students to start messing about.

 

I shall upload some content for it soon.

 

Thanks

[Arthur]

Remote Desktop Plus might be worth a try. It's just a wrapper for mstsc.exe, but does allow you to disable the close button and the connection bar (among other things). e.g.

 

rdp /v:rds-server:port /u:username /pe:encrypted_password /printers /sound /nowallpaper /fullscreen /noclose /wait /t /batch

[Cache]

Remote Desktop Plus might be worth a try. It's just a wrapper for mstsc.exe, but does allow you to disable the close button and the connection bar (among other things). e.g.

 

rdp /v:rds-server:port /u:username /pe:encrypted_password /printers /sound /nowallpaper /fullscreen /noclose /wait /t /batch

 

It's possible to remove the close button, minimise and auto hide the connection bar by editting the RDP file you use to connect (assuming you use an RDP file) - will post the options when I'm in tomorrow.

[FN-GM]

It's possible to remove the close button, minimise and auto hide the connection bar by editting the RDP file you use to connect (assuming you use an RDP file) - will post the options when I'm in tomorrow.

 

I have already done this but it still appears for a few seconds.

[Cache]

I have already done this but it still appears for a few seconds.

 

Ah ok. I don't mind it appearing there because they can't do anything with it and as soon as the mouse moves of it they can't get it back.

[chackett]

Currently i use MSTSC as the shell instead of explorer

 

I played around with this but how have you got it to respawn once exited?

[atamakosi]

I'm looking for something similar except I would like students to be able to use their personal usernames so they can save their work to their profile folder from the terminal server. Ideally it would also be nice if they didn't need to login twice, once to the PC and then again to rds. I've still not quite figured out how to replace explorer with mstsc. Can you possibly share your vbs script please? Edited February 9, 2012 by atamakosi
spelling

[plexer]

It's a gpo setting.

 

For a bit of info:

 

How To Change The Windows Xp Shell. - Discuss Anything

 

Ben

[FN-GM]

I'm looking for something similar except I would like students to be able to use their personal usernames so they can save their work to their profile folder from the terminal server. Ideally it would also be nice if they didn't need to login twice, once to the PC and then again to rds. I've still not quite figured out how to replace explorer with mstsc. Can you possible share your vbs script please?

 

No Problem, the good thing with my VBS script is when you log off the session it will log off the host. RDP is set so you dont need to authenticate twice. I shall post it when i get home.

[FN-GM]

Hi, just thought i would give this another shot. Does anyone know anything i could use apart from MSTSC?

 

Thanks

[Arthur]

Shelly (download link at the bottom of the page) or Thin Kiosk?

[FN-GM]

Shelly (download link at the bottom of the page) or Thin Kiosk?

 

Shelly will only reopen another app automatically when you close it. Thin Kiosk is for Citrix not RDS. Thanks

[AndrewMorgan]

Shelly will only reopen another app automatically when you close it. Thin Kiosk is for Citrix not RDS. Thanks

 

 

ThinKiosk will work with Remote Desktop Services Web access.

 

A

[Arthur]

I thought it did too. As you say on your blog, "Tested" doesn't mean "will only work with".

[glennda]

I wrote a simple batch file which i ran every 20 seconds (the load on the client is minimal so shouldn't make a difference.

 

it did this

 

check if mstsc.exe is running if so got end of script

if not running run mstsc.exe -parameters -more

end

 

setup as a scheduled task. If the rdp session is closed within 10/20 seconds the rdp file was launched again and able to connect.

[FN-GM]

MSTSC isnt good enough for us really.

 

Will ThinKisok work if you don't have web access setup? Thanks

[jus10mh]

Did anyone ever find an answer to this?

 

I'm looking to do the same thing...boot Win7 Thinpc directly into a remote desktop session and loop it back on logout.

[AndrewMorgan]

Did anyone ever find an answer to this?

 

I'm looking to do the same thing...boot Win7 Thinpc directly into a remote desktop session and loop it back on logout.

 

Hi,

 

ThinKiosk now supports this use case.

 

http://andrewmorgan.ie/2012/09/21/thinkiosk-3-0-general-release/

[jus10mh]

Hi,

 

ThinKiosk now supports this use case.

 

ThinKiosk 3.0 General Release « AndrewMorgan.ie

 

 

Thanks Andrew. I'm going to download now and check this out. This is exactly what I'm looking for!

[jus10mh]

Thanks Andrew. I'm going to download now and check this out. This is exactly what I'm looking for!

 

 

Andrew, downloaded and loaded it up on a test computer. I really love it and can't tell you how much I appreciate your efforts. You just saved me a tremendous amount of time.

 

Two questions.

 

- I currently have thinkiosk set up to automatically run mstsc process. Thinkiosk also replaces the windows shell. When it boots up, it has the top bar which is great and mstsc fires up just fine. However, the background is black, is there anyway to change that?

 

- I saw on your website that you recommend having these thinclients added to the domain and loggin on with a domain account. Is best practice to just create one universal AD account for these thin clients and then have them automatically login on windows boot up?

[tmcd35]

Just incase anyone is looking for another answer this is what I do -

 

I have replaced the explorer shell with a batch file.

 

either

 

:loop
mstsc
goto loop

 

or replace mstsc with Microsofts RDPMan.exe

[AndrewMorgan]

- I currently have thinkiosk set up to automatically run mstsc process. Thinkiosk also replaces the windows shell. When it boots up, it has the top bar which is great and mstsc fires up just fine. However, the background is black, is there anyway to change that?

 

- I saw on your website that you recommend having these thinclients added to the domain and loggin on with a domain account. Is best practice to just create one universal AD account for these thin clients and then have them automatically login on windows boot up?

 

 

Hi!

 

The black screen is the windows wallpaper, I think you can use group policy to amend this if you wish: Best Practice: Using Group Policy to configure Desktop Wallpaper (“Background”)

 

I prefer the domain account as you can use group policy to manage and maintain the kiosks. I generally use a single domain account as it's just much easier to do that way.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I greatly appreciate it.

 

FN-GM, I can't respond to your DM as your inbox is full, but to answer your question, yes it can, use the process launcher with the latest version.

 

If either of you need more help, feel free to email me andrew(at)andrewmorgan.ie

 

A

Edited September 21, 2012 by AndrewMorgan