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We have an issue with our terminal server and quickletter in SIMS.net. This issue is a simple one - when one user is writing a quick letter, no other user can. The process locks the quickletter file and doesn't unlock until the letter is finished and closed. Now, is there anything I can do to combat this? Or should I be logging a request with our SIMS team?

There seem to be a fair few posts about how best to deploy sims and to permit users to update sims without makingthem local admins and how to control permissions on local drives. To eliminate all of this how many people have successfully deployed sims using terminal services (Windows server 03?, 08? Citrix?). Are ther any other problems with doing it in a TS environment? I'm hoping that by putting the TS server and the SIMS server on a fast network link the apparent slowness in the application (either due to a busy network or a slow user computer) will disappear. Anyone running SIMS server under vmware? We've only got ESXi (budget cuts prevented us moving to esx this year) so have no load balancing. If we could get the SIMS server and the TS server for SIMS on the same box that would be great. Any feedback/warnings appreciated! ChrisJ

We have a rather major issue with SIMS.net Assessment Manager when used with Terminal Services on Windows Server 2003, and Citrix XenApp 5. The issue we have is that when a report is run from AM which would pull in data for a pupil to output via a Word template (ie. this is a pupil report sheet, which contains grades for all their subjects), it outputs the report but doesn't include any data. When running the report on a Windows XP machine, it works fine. If we can't solve this issue, we are going to have to scrap our use of thin clients in our admin team... So any suggestions would be useful.

Good morning everyone, We have a Server 2008 Terminal Services server in place in our server room that serves SOLELY as a TS server. Since it has been set up, it simply hasn't worked correctly at all. I'm turning to Edugeek to see if anyone has any configuration suggestions to get this server behaving properly. The main issues, are that drives simply decide not to map (seemingly randomly) and IE8 point blank REFUSES to inherit the correct proxy settings that all the other computers on site use perfectly. One student can log in and all the net settings are correct, and another student can log in at the same time and gets nothing. Once the server has been restarted, we see a decrease in these issues until the following day, where everything goes to pot again. At the moment, the server sits in Active Directory in the same OU as other computers. All the other computers in that OU work totally fine. It's almost as if the server is totally ignoring the policies. Now I have had very little involvement in the delployment of this Server as it was done by by ex-boss who is "no longer an employee of the school". Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this Server refuses to play ball? Are there any other considerations that need to be taken with Server 2008 serving as a TS server? Has anyone else ever implemented Server 2008 as a TS server? I would love to hear some constructive ideas. Many thanks, Sven.

We want to set up a system whereby our users can make themselves familiar with windows 7 prior to us rolling this out across our domain completely. With office 2010 this was simple, we set up a windows server 2003 box as a terminal services server, and install office 2010 on it. We'd like to do something similar with windows 7, however I can't see that this is possible due to licensing issues and the fact that windows 7 isn't designed for so many concurrent users logged in. I have one idea, but would be grateful for any other suggestions about how we could potentially achieve this. Thanks.

Hi, I'd like some guidance on giving primary school teachers remote access. I have an an external ip forwarded to 172.16.1.226 on port 443. The PDC sits on 172.16.1.2 and a secondary dc on 172.16.1.5. My first thoughts were to turn the SDC into a terminal server and change it's IP to 172.16.1.226 but 5 Cals were in the region of £600. Now I've turned my attentions to OpenVPN to give them remote access to their mapped drives but I can't get my head around what needs installing and where. I presume OpenVPN server needs to be installed on the 172.16.1.226 computer. This means my PDC would need to have 172.16.1.226. Or is there a way of forwarding traffic to 172.16.1.226:443 to 172.16.1.2:443 posibly using Smoothwall? Many thanks for offering any help.

After playing with various systems (trying to force freerdp onto the ThinPro install, trying to use Windows FLP, getting angry and mashing keyboards etc...), I decided to create my own install to do exactly what I want instead. This supports NLA, Session Broker (Connection Broker or whatever it is called) and anything else that FreeRDP works with. It contains a custom login screen, to allow details to be entered before connecting to the RDS farm). I used the current stable Debian release - which I believe is "Squeeze". 1. Download the network install CD image (i386, ‘Small CD’). 2. Either create a bootable USB memory stick to install it, or burn to CD 3. Boot your thin client from your installation media 4. Install as a normal Debian install 5. When prompted what options to install, choose only SSH Server. You should be prompted to enter a proxy – enter an http proxy if you have one, with the port also. 6. Once it has finished and rebooted (remember to remove the installation media), you should now have a console to log in to. Log in as root. 7. Enter the following 2 commands (it deletes manpages, to free up space): rm -rf /usr/share/man/?? rm -rf /usr/share/man/??_* 8. Enter the following command (it deletes all the copyright notices, to free up space): rm /usr/share/doc/*/copyright* 9. If your network does not and will not use IPv6, run the following command to free up space: rm /lib/xtables/libip6t_* 10. Run the following command (remove some unneeded files, more space freeing): apt-get remove debian-faq manpages ispell aspell iamerican ibritish aspell-en laptop-detect 11. Now to install things. Run the following command: apt-get install fluxbox 12. You won’t actually use fluxbox, but it is one of the smallest DM’s that fulfil a dependency for the following package. Once that is installed, run: apt-get install gdm 13. We should do some cleanup, to ensure there’s enough space to continue. Run the following command: rm /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb 14. Now you can install a bunch of packages at once: apt-get install linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils wx2.8-i18n python wxgtk2.8 python-wxtools xfreerdp libfreerdp-plugins-standard 15. Now that you’ve got all the packages needed, you should give the machine a reboot. This will present gdm to you. 16. Either using SSH or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2, bring up a console. 17. Log in as root. 18. Run the same command as in line 13: rm /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb 19. Now, enter “alsamixer” 20. It should bring up a mixer interface. You want to use the arrow keys on all of them, except “Mic Boost”. The up key will increase the volume for the channel that is selected (it will be highlighted in red at the bottom). If the little box at the bottom of the bar contains “MM” press the “M” key on the keyboard. This will unmute the channel. You can move to different channels using the left and right keys. You may not wish for “Beep” to be on full; a suite full of thin clients turning on at once all beeping loudly might be annoying! 21. We now need to set up the python script to act as the login screen. The following is a basic login form, that wraps around freerdp to pass the login details. Edit and use as appropriate. It is also attached, should the formatting not be right on the post. import wx import wx.xrc import sys import os class BonsaiThinConnectForm ( wx.Frame ): m_textCtrl1 = None m_textCtrl2 = None def __init__( self, parent ): wx.Frame.__init__ ( self, parent, id = wx.ID_ANY, title = u"Login to RDP", pos = wx.DefaultPosition, size = wx.Size( 180,170 ), style = wx.DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE|wx.TAB_TRAVERSAL ) self.SetSizeHintsSz( wx.DefaultSize, wx.DefaultSize ) panel = wx.Panel(self) bSizer1 = wx.BoxSizer( wx.VERTICAL ) self.m_staticText1 = wx.StaticText( panel, wx.ID_ANY, u"Username", wx.DefaultPosition, wx.DefaultSize, 0 ) self.m_staticText1.Wrap( -1 ) bSizer1.Add( self.m_staticText1, 0, wx.ALL, 5 ) global m_textCtrl1 m_textCtrl1 = wx.TextCtrl( panel, wx.ID_ANY, wx.EmptyString, wx.DefaultPosition, wx.Size(150,-1), 0 ) m_textCtrl1.SetFocus() bSizer1.Add( m_textCtrl1, 0, wx.ALL, 5 ) self.m_staticText2 = wx.StaticText( panel, wx.ID_ANY, u"Password", wx.DefaultPosition, wx.Size(150,-1), 0 ) self.m_staticText2.Wrap( -1 ) bSizer1.Add( self.m_staticText2, 0, wx.ALL, 5 ) global m_textCtrl2 m_textCtrl2 = wx.TextCtrl( panel, wx.ID_ANY, wx.EmptyString, wx.DefaultPosition, wx.Size(150,-1), wx.TE_PASSWORD ) bSizer1.Add( m_textCtrl2, 0, wx.ALL, 5 ) self.m_button1 = wx.Button( panel, wx.ID_ANY, u"Login", wx.DefaultPosition, wx.DefaultSize, 0 ) self.m_button1.SetDefault() bSizer1.Add( self.m_button1, 0, wx.ALL, 5 ) panel.SetSizer( bSizer1 ) self.Layout() self.Centre( wx.BOTH ) # Connect Events self.m_button1.Bind( wx.EVT_BUTTON, self.OnLogin ) self.Show() def __del__( self ): pass # Virtual event handlers, overide them in your derived class def OnLogin( self, event ): if m_textCtrl1.Value: if m_textCtrl2.Value: os.system("xfreerdp -u " + m_textCtrl1.Value + " -p " + m_textCtrl2.Value + " -d DOMAIN -f --plugin rdpsnd RDSFARMADDRESS:3389") sys.exit() app = wx.App(False) frame = BonsaiThinConnectForm(None) app.MainLoop() 22. Save the python above into a file and store it in /usr/bin 23. Now we need to create the custom xsession to run that as the desktop environment. Create a new file in /usr/share/xsessions/ called custom.desktop, and in that file place the following text: [Desktop Entry] Name=Custom Comment=Custom Session to run ~./.xsession Exec=/home//.xsession X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain= 24. Save the above and now it is time to make the script itself. Create a new file in the home directory of the user account you set up during installation (I used ‘user’, so this would be /home/user) called .xsession. In that file, enter the following: #! /bin/bash python /usr/bin/pythonfilecreatedearlier.py logout 25. Save the above file, now we need to give it some execution rights. Use the following command to edit permissions: chmod a+x /home/user/.xsession 26. Now, on the GDM login screen, click the Actions button and select Configuration Manager from the menu. Enter the root password when prompted. 27. On the Security tab, tick the “Enable Automatic Login” box, and choose the user account that we’ve been working with. 28. Now tick the ‘Enable Timed Login’ box and select the same user account. 29. Change the Pause before login to 10 seconds (if you want it to be even less, see the notes at the end). 30. If you wish to change the GDM theme, under the Local tab, make any changes you need to (I chose a less ‘Debian’ branded one). 31. On the “General” tab, select “Custom” from the “Default session:” menu. 32. Once you’re happy with the look and feel, click “Close”. 33. Back on a console, we now want to edit the grub menu, so it doesn’t display the different options (as the machine would simply be reimaged if it breaks). Edit the file /etc/default/grub, changing the option “GRUB_TIMEOUT” to equal 0. 34. You should be done now. All aspects of the system are in place. You can now reboot and test. If you want to lower the gdm autologin time, you need to edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf. Change the line which starts with “TimedLoginDelay” to equal the time you want in seconds. BonsaiThinConnect.zip

I've noticed a sudden and major slowdown on our citrix farm today - all due to one site being used by half a dozen girls. BBC - CBBC - Tracy Beaker - Fun and Games: Tracy Beaker Games to Play Looking at the memory usage of iexplore when that site is open, it averages at around 450Mb but goes up to 900Mb at one point! So, to any other Citrix/Terminal Services users out there - you may wish to block that site as a memory hog.

What sort of spec should i look for on a server(s) for Thin Client use? Early days on the project yet but I'm looking into using TC's in our library (7 PC's) and our 6th form study area (15 PC's) the current PC's are used for email / internet / MS Office type duties, the heaviest app they'd ever get used for would be MS Publisher so I think they're a prime candidate for replacement with TC's A friend in another school has just, or will be getting, a trial Axel box so i'll be going to have a look at that when he gets it but at the moment I'm thinking about the server end. With only 22, possibly going up to 25 / 26, clients I reckon 2 servers should do the job. So what sort of spec should I be looking at. Never used TC's in work so i'm pretty much clueless as to what spec I need. Cost, as ever, is also a big factor! Any input would be welcomed

I have an odd issue at the moment with internet explorer 7 and powerpoint 2003. Pupils can't seem to be able to copy images from IE and then paste them into powerpoint. The copy part seems to work fine, but when they try and paste, it does the usual 'egg timer' whilst it thinks about it, then nothing happens. No image is pasted. It works in my administrator account though. And I don't think it happens all the time. Any ideas?

Does anyone know if it's possible to install & use the Citrix ICA Client on a terminal server? We use an application hosted by a third party which is accessed via the Citrix client. At present this has to be installed on individual PCs and firewall changes made to enable access. We want to install the client on a terminal server and make the application available via a remote desktop session. We've been told that someone else tried this but it did not work, which surprises me. Any opinions? Thanks, Andy

It is my understanding that 2003 TS CALs cannot be installed on a 2008 server. Since I currently have a 2003 TS server in place and have built a new 2008 TS server, am I allowed to "trade in" my 2003 licenses for 2008 licenses? Is a trade-up allowed by Microsoft Clearing and is it done at no cost or am I going to be required to purchase new 2008 licenses outright?

I need a virtual CD drive per user on my terminal server. Daemon Tools only works per machine (and only up to four devices), Microsoft's Vitrual CD Control Panel won't install of 2008r2, and I'm waiting on a reply from Alcohol Soft (Alcohol 52%) regarding it, but I don't see any mention of terminal services on their website. Virtual CD seems to be the only one with support for terminal services. Is it my only option? It seems like something that might even be built into the OS.

I have a server 2008 R2 box configured with remote desktop and have setup some remote apps. I can logon to the website (https://myserver.mydomain.com/rdweb) then click on an app, enter my credentials again, and it runs fine inside my network. I am publishing the site through ISA 2006 and my external users are able to log onto the website, but when they click on an app they just keep getting prompted for credentials over and over again. The prompt just says ' Enter your credentials', for TS Gateway Server and Remote Computer and at the bottom says 'The logon attempt failed'. Can anyone help please? Thank you.

I have a random thing happening on my terminal services boxes where the sessions randomly lag by a few seconds. I've enabled disk caching as suggested by various bods, and i've fixed everything that was being thrown up in the event viewer so can't see what's causing it. The servers are highly specced, with 4GB (well, 3.4GB after windows messes with it all), dual 2.4Ghz quad core xeon's, and dual 143GB SAS 10k rpm hard drives, and gigabit connections. This problem occurs even when there are only 1 or 2 people logged on. So, any suggestions would be much appreciated!!