Startup and template locations in Citrix TS session and local session

[John Nurick]

'Morning all,

Following a take-over I'm trying to work out how to make our Word and
Excel 2003 add-ins and templates work properly both in an ordinary local
session of Windows 2000 Pro (whether or not connected to the network)
*and* in remote sessions via Citrix terminal services.

Citrix is the new element (also it's change from a Windows to a Novell
network).

Until now, the setup has been:
*A Word add-in (stored on the local drive in C:\Templates\Startup) so
it's always available) and templates (in C:\Template)
*An Excel add-in and Book.xls (both stored in C:\Templates\Excel).
*These locations are stored in Word's Options|File Locations (Startup
and User Templates) and Excel's alternate startup folder.
*Updated templates are pushed out automatically in the login script.

Now, I need to get things working smoothly in four scenarios:

1) Local session on company PC connected to the network
2) Local session on company PC disconnected from network (e.g. working
on a train or plane)
3) Citrix session with client on company PC.
4) Citrix session on non-company PC (e.g. logging in from a home
computer or a workstation in a client's office).

1 and 2 are no problem. But I can't so far see how to handle 3 and 4 in
away that ensures that things in the documents and workbooks that
reference the add-ins will "just work" without having to re-attach
templates or edit links.

If anyone's been here before I'd be very grateful for advice.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi John

I recently went through something similar (for the Word side of things
anyway). We did not distinguish between your scenarios 3 and 4, but we had
an extra requirement. One of the Word add-ins itself creates an add-in that
is user-specific (it stores the user's signature blocks). So we wanted
people to be able to move from machine to machine within the office and
still have their own signature blocks add-in. Therefore, the Word Startup
folder could not be on the local machine.

While I don't understand a lot about how Citrix works, this is what we did:

1. Everyone has a 'home' H: drive on the network.
2. Create H:\WordStartup.
3. Create H:\WordTemplates.
4. At login on an ordinary machine (ie non-Citrix), run a script that does
the following:

(a) If there's an H:\ drive, then the user must be connected to the
network. Therefore:
1. Copy any updated templates to H:\WordTemplates and copy any updated
Word add-ins to H:\WordStartup.
2. Copy any updated templates to C:\TemplatesOrWhatever and copy any
updated Word add-ins to C:\WordStartupOrWhatever.
3. Change the registry settings that hold the User Templates folder
info, and set Word's User Templates folder to H:\WordTemplates
4. Change the registry settings that hold the Word startup folder info,
and set Word's startup folder to H:\WordStartup.

(b) If there's no H:\ drive, then the user must be disconnected from the
network. Therefore:
1. Change the registry settings that hold the User Templates folder
info, and set Word's User Templates folder to C:\WordTemplatesOrWhatever
2. Change the registry settings that hold the Word startup folder info,
and set Word's startup folder to C:\WordStartupOrWhatever

So, when the user is connected to the network, Word is using the templates
and add-ins on H:. And when they're not connected, Word is using the ones
that are on C:.

(I'm a bit hazy about the next bit....) when a user uses Citrix, it can see
the H:\ drive, and therefore uses the templates and add-ins on H:.

I was a bit sceptical about this plan when it was first proposed. But it
seems to be working OK for about 400 not-very-tech-savy users. I doubt the
users have any idea what's going behind the scenes.

I can't offer any comment about the Excel side of things.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[John Nurick]

Thanks, Shauna. No time yet to think this through: too many more urgent
problems arising from last weekend's rollout. What you suggest sounds
scary, so it's good to know it works. Whether there's chance of getting
it implemented, however...

John

Hi John

I recently went through something similar (for the Word side of things
anyway). We did not distinguish between your scenarios 3 and 4, but we had
an extra requirement. One of the Word add-ins itself creates an add-in that
is user-specific (it stores the user's signature blocks). So we wanted
people to be able to move from machine to machine within the office and
still have their own signature blocks add-in. Therefore, the Word Startup
folder could not be on the local machine.

While I don't understand a lot about how Citrix works, this is what we did:

1. Everyone has a 'home' H: drive on the network.
2. Create H:\WordStartup.
3. Create H:\WordTemplates.
4. At login on an ordinary machine (ie non-Citrix), run a script that does
the following:

(a) If there's an H:\ drive, then the user must be connected to the
network. Therefore:
1. Copy any updated templates to H:\WordTemplates and copy any updated
Word add-ins to H:\WordStartup.
2. Copy any updated templates to C:\TemplatesOrWhatever and copy any
updated Word add-ins to C:\WordStartupOrWhatever.
3. Change the registry settings that hold the User Templates folder
info, and set Word's User Templates folder to H:\WordTemplates
4. Change the registry settings that hold the Word startup folder info,
and set Word's startup folder to H:\WordStartup.

(b) If there's no H:\ drive, then the user must be disconnected from the
network. Therefore:
1. Change the registry settings that hold the User Templates folder
info, and set Word's User Templates folder to C:\WordTemplatesOrWhatever
2. Change the registry settings that hold the Word startup folder info,
and set Word's startup folder to C:\WordStartupOrWhatever

So, when the user is connected to the network, Word is using the templates
and add-ins on H:. And when they're not connected, Word is using the ones
that are on C:.

(I'm a bit hazy about the next bit....) when a user uses Citrix, it can see
the H:\ drive, and therefore uses the templates and add-ins on H:.

I was a bit sceptical about this plan when it was first proposed. But it
seems to be working OK for about 400 not-very-tech-savy users. I doubt the
users have any idea what's going behind the scenes.

I can't offer any comment about the Excel side of things.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word