RDM installation on Jumphosts for multiple Users

Hello,

Well, its the topic du jour as I was looking into this for other support calls, but I had not though it would occur also on jump hosts.

I am in the middle of updating the documentation for Terminal Services deployment, as this problem seems to be popping up mostly in that area.

I have a dozen tabs opened in my browser, and the reasons are varied and depend on so many factors, but the conclusions are that:

• we must force deployment for ALL USERS

• all of the installations/upgrades must be performed with elevated privileges.

• you must always choose the Complete setup type

My current recommendation (I'm looking for an easier method...)

For NEW installs, run the installer from an elevated command prompt by using the ALLUSERS=1

[code]msiexec /I Setup.{APP}.{Version}.msi ALLUSERS=1[/code]

In your case, we have to fix the Windows Installer Database. I need to get this tested on a mix of machines with/without our apps, but according to the MSI documentation, again from an elevated command prompt:

[code]msiexec /I Setup.{APP}.{Version}.msi ALLUSERS=2[/code]

using the 2 means that

If the value of the ALLUSERSproperty is set to 2, the Windows Installer always resets the value of the ALLUSERSproperty to 1 and performs a per-machine installation or it resets the value of the ALLUSERSproperty to an empty string ("") and performs a per-user installation. The value ALLUSERS=2 enables the system to reset the value of ALLUSERS, and the installation context, dependent upon the user's privileges and the version of Windows.

I do not like the dependent upon the user's privilege in there, hence my recommendation to run from an elevated command prompt.

I must also recommend that you disable our automatic check for upgrades for those machines, plain users should not try to upgrade them.

I will follow up as needed if my conclusions change.

Best regards,

update 1:

Well, on my Windows 10 workstation it does install for all users by default, it even pops up the confirmation to elevate the privileges. We will move on to server OSes for further investigations.

Maybe a fourth recommendation to add though, install from a "persistent" source that is accessible to all users e.g. c:\deploy. The Windows Installer technology does copy the msi under another name to an internal folder, but we have seen too many support cases for missing packages that we've grown not to trust that historical file to always be there.

Hi Maurice,

thank you for your answer!

I tested your approach with slightly success, but I have follow up problems.

First of all I have to admit that we do not have roaming profiles in that environment and cannot use them in any case. Currently we have about 70 jumphosts and more than 50 users.

I had a clean deinstallation of RDM and the Agent and reinstalled both from the .msi file with given parameters. Then I started RDM locally on the jumphost with my administration user and entered the license key. I then first tried from my local machine with the administration user, this works fine.

Then I started RDM locally with the non administration user and got the installation prompt as well when trying to start RDM on the jumphost. Now this works in the user context, it finds the sources and runs the installation even the user has no local Administration rights, but I expected this prompt to disappear completely. It forces a reboot too and the user has to enter the license key on the jumphost again!

So in our Environment every of the 50+ users would have to install the RDM 70 times and has to enter the license key 70 times as well.

Is there any possibility to deploy in this Scenario without having every user to run though that manual tasks?

Another problem is, that users have to enter the license key even if we have supplied it within the datasource. So a user starts a freshly installed RDM, clicks on cancel when asked for the license key, adds the datasource which contains the license and does not get it working. Maybe this is because we are still on evaluation?

Thanks in adavance for you help!

Best regards

Jan

Hello,

First issue, the installation:

How did you install the agent? Have you used the separate installer or you are simply using the Tools - RDM Agent command?

Best regards,

Hi Maurice,

I used the MSI file for the installation of the agent with the same parameters you named for RDM client installation.

Best regards

Jan

Hello,

I guess we need to enable logging and look at the logs.

Could you add those options to your command line?

/l*v "log.log"

Best regards,

Hello,

I had exactly the same problem.

The users points on the file C:\Users[b]AdminUsername[/b]\AppData\Local\Devolutions\Install\RDMInstall.xml

I copied it to another "public" location on the server and searched all occurences of this path in the registry in order to update it.

In Exemple :

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\7B32D57D57B5297488EAD9B0F04F0493]

"37A15607434EFD148837A7AF1349D541"="C:\Users\AdminUsername\AppData\Local\Devolutions\Install\"

The problem occur again at each update

Regarding the licence key I exported the configuration of a licenced RDM to a default.cfg file in c:\Program Files (x86)\Devolutions\Remote Desktop Manager

Hope it can help

Best regards