[HOW TO] Get the Winapp client runing on Terminal Servers

[Paul Agerbeek]

This Post has been changed on 19-October-2006 as we have found a better more reliable way of using the WinApp client on terminal servers. here is the changed procedure

After a lot of testing we figured out how to get the Kayako WinApp client running on Terminal Server environments . This actually is not the way to have software running on Terminal Servers but if you (as I am) are able to automatically manipulate the registry settings of the Kayako client for each user you can run the Winapp client on terminal servers.

From developer point of view.
The LiveResponse errors were caused by the fact that:
1) The application tries to read/write/change the accounts.xml and cash.xml files from the C:\Program Files\Kayako\LiveResponse\ folder on the terminal server. And because in a normal situation a user is never allowed to manipulate any file on a terminal server this gives the problem. This is the reason why I proposed changes in my previous mails to the development team.
2) In some cases (and with Kayako more often) the Terminal Server Profile from a user is corrupt. This also gives problems with the kayako WinApp client. To solve this you need to remove the Terminal Server Profile of the user so a new one can be generated.
3) Most companies who use Terminal Service Infrastructures also use Citrix software for management and performance improvement. This can also give problems if you have the Citrix memory optimizations for this application active!

Here is the procedure on how to set the client up on Terminal Servers.
What are we going to do?
We are going to fool the Kayako WinApp Client in thinking that it works on a dedicated M:/ drive while in fact it is running from the users Home Drive. In this way each user has his own version and files available preventing file lock problems ect. Also we are going to use the registry settings for a user for auto login.

Kayako LiveSupport How To:

1) On the Terminal servers set up an M:\ Drive (or any other drive letter you want to use for this procedure) pointing to e.g. a share on your file server called VirtualProgramFiles.
2) On all the Terminal servers, after de-installing the previous version install the WinApp client on M:\Program Files\Kayako ect (use the predefined path and only change C:\ for M:\). Now all registry entry's point to M:\.........
3) Export the registry entry's for later use from HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software>Kayako>LiveResponse>Liv eResponse.
4) Make a fixed M:/ drive for each user (via scripting e.g.) that points to the users homedrive\VirtualProgramFiles\
5) Copy the files from Fileserver/VirtualProgramFiles/ to the users homedrive/VirtualProgramFiles/
6) Change the registry you have saved before and make it as the expample registry that is attached to this post (Change the Value valServerURL 'http://www.yourdomain.com/support' into your own URL and make sure that in the value valUserName the user inlog id is placed at the moment the user starts the application. Also the value valPassword is an encripted version of the password. All our users login automaticly and have the same password therefore we do not have to change this value.

2) (only for Citrix Users)
On the Executable C:\Program Files\Kayako\LiveResponse\Liveresponse.exe with the right mouse button Show Citrix memory optimizations and click the markers out.


ON ERRORS TRY THE FOLLOWING.
1) If you still have an application Error at a user remove the Terminal Server Profile from that user. The folder KAYAKO in application data in that case is corrupt.
- How to remove the Terminal Server User Profile:
a) Make sure that the user is logged out.
b) Remove the User Profile on the server where the terminal server profiles are stored e.g. \\Servername\Terminal Server Profiles\userID , click with the right mouse button on the users folder and select Properties. Then go to Tab Security – Advanced - Owner click now on Administrator and put a marker on Replace owner on subcontainer and objects -> click apply and OK.
c) Now you can delete the Terminal Server User profile by deleting the complete users folder. The next time the user logs in his new profile will be generated automaticly and clean. Be aware that in a normal situation the user loses his personal settings. (We do not have this problem as we are using specialised management software)

2) Removing all entry's exept <kayakoaccounts></kayakoaccounts> from the accounts.xml file in the users homedrive/VirtualProgramFiles/Program Files/Kayako/LiveResponse/LiveResponse/ folder can also solve a problem. Because we use the registry for a user login, the information in this file is automaticly entered at the first user login and startup of the WinApp application.

3) Re-Copy all the files from Fileserver/VirtualProgramFiles/ to the users homedrive/VirtualProgramFiles/

In our case this works but we still have frequent problems e.g. when users change their kayako profile settings. In that case we do one or all of the procedures above and then it works again.


IMPORTANT ADDITION!!!!!
After still having problems with the same error type with an other application we have set up at the same way as the Kayako WinApp and also having found out that the problem does not occur if you are running it as a domain administrator we decided to set up a special NT-Group with domain admin rights that we have set on each users homedrive/VirtualProgramFiles/ . After this the user has no problem running any application within this folder!!!! This is also a good solution for all applications you need to run user specific on terminal Servers that are initially not ment for this environment. Most of them work excellent this way!

Good luck and be carefull , manipulating the registry is always something you need to do in a controled fashion. If you are going to do this all actions and impacts are at your own risk and responsiblily .