Using Windows Terminal Services to Run a Single Application


Check out MSTerminalServices.org, a new resource for Windows Terminal Services and Citrix focusing on all aspects of server based computing and thin client computing.


Introduction


Some users require only a single application. Installing a costly computer for this seems a bit unnecessary knowing that Windows Terminal Services have been available for quite some time.


However, since Windows is designed to deliver a lot of UI components as well as serve multiple applications it requires some work to get this done. With the benefit of Group Policy and some scripting magic, publishing a single application to users is easy.


All of you, planning on implementing complex Group Policy scenarios should download GPMC for Microsoft. It really helps you out when planning and troubleshooting group policy.


Group Policy


My Terminal Server has users which get only one application but also regular users who get a desktop with a few application. To facilitate this I set up one policy, All Users, for all of the users connecting to the Terminal Server, and App1, for users getting the first application.


These are the settings for all the users, as copied from GPMC. What it does is leave a clean UI for users, removing most of the Task Bar and Start Menu. It also hides the terminal server’s disk drives, leaving the users access only to their own home directory.











All Users


 

Computer Configuration (Enabled)
No settings defined.

User Configuration (Enabled)


Windows Settings
 
Folder Redirection
   
My Documents
   
Setting: Basic (Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location)
    
Path: D:\Users\%USERNAME%\My Documents


Options: show



























































































































































































































































Grant user exclusive rights to My Documents
Disabled
Move the contents of My Documents to the new location Disabled
Policy Removal Behavior Leave contents


 


Administrative Templates




Control Panel



Policy
Setting
Prohibit access to the Control Panel Enabled

Desktop

Policy
Setting
Do not add shares of recently opened documents to My Network Places Enabled
Don’t save settings at exit Enabled
Hide My Network Places icon on desktop Enabled
Prohibit user from changing My Documents path Enabled
Remove My Computer icon on the desktop Enabled


 



Start Menu and Taskbar



Policy
Setting
Add Logoff to the Start Menu Enabled
Do not display any custom toolbars in the taskbar Disabled
Force classic Start Menu Disabled
Hide the notification area Enabled
Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings Enabled
Remove access to the context menus for the taskbar Enabled
Remove All Programs list from the Start menu Enabled
Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down command Enabled
Remove common program groups from Start Menu Enabled
Remove Documents menu from Start Menu Enabled
Remove Drag-and-drop context menus on the Start Menu Enabled
Remove Favorites menu from Start Menu Enabled
Remove Help menu from Start Menu Enabled
Remove links and access to Windows Update Enabled
Remove My Network Places icon from Start Menu Enabled
Remove Network Connections from Start Menu Enabled
Remove programs on Settings menu Enabled
Remove Run menu from Start Menu Enabled
Remove Search menu from Start Menu Enabled
Remove Set Program Access and Defaults from Start menu Enabled
Remove user’s folders from the Start Menu Enabled
Turn off personalized menus Enabled

System/Ctrl+Alt+Del Options



Policy
Setting
Remove Task Manager Enabled

Windows Components/Windows Explorer



Policy
Setting
Hide these specified drives in My Computer Enabled

Pick one of the following combinations
Restrict A, B and C drives only

Policy
Setting
Prevent access to drives from My Computer Enabled

Pick one of the following combinations
Restrict A, B and C drives only

Policy
Setting
Remove Windows Explorer’s default context menu Enabled
Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu Disabled

Windows Components/Windows Explorer/Common Open File Dialog



Policy
Setting
Items displayed in Places Bar Enabled

Places to display:
Item 1 MyDocuments
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4
Item 5

The second group policy handles the publishing of the application.


App1

Computer Configuration (Enabled)
No settings defined.


User Configuration (Enabled)



Windows Settings

  Scripts
    Logon

     Name
Parameters
     D:\Netlogon\app1.vbs


 


Administrative Templates




Desktop


Policy
Setting
Hide and disable all items on the desktop Enabled



Start Menu and Taskbar


Policy
Setting
Turn off personalized menus Enabled


As you can see the group policy does not do much except clean the desktop and run a login script.


Scripting Magic


The following script runs an application and logs you off when the application closes. It also deletes a few pesky icons if they appear on the start menu.


The script enumerates all the running instances of app.exe if none of those instances belongs to the logged on user it logs off the session. If the WMI syntax looks complex, don’t worry. All you have to do to use this script is change the application path and the application name.


On Error Resume Next
Set fs = CreateObject (“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject (“WScript.Shell”)


‘Get the username and profile directory
MUser = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings (“%USERNAME%”)
MUserProfile = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”)


‘Delete icons
fs.DeleteFolder MUserProfile & “\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories”,True
fs.DeleteFile  MUserProfile & “\Start Menu\Programs\*.lnk”


‘Run the app


wshShell.Run “c:\myapp\app.exe”


‘ Connect to wmi
set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:root\cimv2”)
Do
  found = false
‘ List the processes
strQuery = “Select * from win32_process where name=’app.exe'”
set colProcesses = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery)


for each proc in colProcesses


   ‘ Get the reference class linking processes to sessions to get the session object path
   strQuery = “References of {win32_process.handle='” & proc.handle & “‘} where ResultClass=Win32_SessionProcess”
   set colSessionReferences = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery)


   for each oSessionReference in colSessionReferences
      ‘Get associators of the session object that are user accounts (linked by win32_loggedonuser)
      strQuery = “Associators of {” & oSessionReference.antecedent & “} where AssocClass=win32_LoggedOnUser”
      set colUsers = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery,,48)
        for each user in colUsers
         if user.name = MUser then found = true
      next
   next
next
Loop While found = true


‘Run the Windows 2003 logoff utility
wshShell.Run “c:\windows\system32\logoff.exe”


Conclusion


With some scripting and Group Policy tweaking, serving a single application to users can be simple and cheap. Both mechanisms are flexible and can be used for much more, catering to various needs.


Check out MSTerminalServices.org, a new resource for Windows Terminal Services and Citrix focusing on all aspects of server based computing and thin client computing.

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