Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit

Chapter 8 - Advanced Deployment Methods

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Using Microsoft Systems Management Server to Deploy Visio
Deploying Visio 2002 SR-1 on Windows Terminal Services

The special requirements of some organizations or environments require advanced tools and methods for deploying Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1. If client computers have limited disk space or processing speed, you can deploy Visio on a Windows Terminal server and allow users to run Visio features remotely. If you are deploying to a mixture of Windows clients or you want more control over the timing of the installation, Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 provides a robust distribution model for deploying Visio.

Using Microsoft Systems Management Server to Deploy Visio

Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) is a network administration tool that helps deploy and maintain Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 on client computers. SMS is particularly useful in large or complex organizations where administrators need more precise control over the deployment process. For example, by using SMS you can query client computers for software requirements before you install Visio and target the installation only to computers that meet your criteria.

Using Systems Management Server can provide administrators with the following advantages:

• Tools to deploy to a large number of clients or across multiple sites

• Ability to push or force installation of Visio on client computers

• Means to deploy Visio to a mixture of Windows clients

• Means to deploy to users who do not have administrative rights on the local computer

• Greater control over the timing of installation

• Advanced reporting and troubleshooting tools

Note   You must have Systems Management Server version 2.0 with Service Pack 2 to deploy Visio 2002 SR-1.

If your organization has Systems Management Server version 2.0 with Service Pack 2 in place and you plan to use it to install Visio, the following Office XP Resource Kit tools provide additional information and support:

• Using SMS 2.0 to Deploy Microsoft Office XP

  This white paper is available on the Office XP Resource Kit Web site. It supplements existing information on Systems Management Server and focuses on methods and scenarios specific to Office XP.

• Package definition files (SMS files)

  SMS files contain the information required for Systems Management Server to create a software distribution package. The SMS file for Visio is Vis2002.sms.

Note   The SMS white paper is available in the Office XP Resource Kit Toolbox. To download the white paper, see the section Using SMS 2.0 to Deploy Office XP in the Office XP Resource kit. To create the Visio SMS file, see the Appendix of this document.

See also

For general information about installing Visio, see Planning a Visio 2002 SR-1 Deployment in Chapter 2 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.

For more information about Systems Management Server 2.0, including information about upgrading to the latest version, see the Systems Management Server Web site.

Deploying Visio 2002 SR-1 on Windows Terminal Services

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with Microsoft Terminal Services and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server provide a thin-client solution in which Windows-based programs are executed on the server and remotely displayed on the client. If your users have computers with limited disk space, memory, or processing speed, you can install Microsoft Visio 2002 to run in this environment.

How Visio works with Terminal Services

With Terminal Services, you install a single copy of Visio on the Terminal Services server computer. Instead of running Visio locally on their hard disks, multiple users can connect to the server and run Visio from there.

Note   Visio Setup detects that it is being run under Terminal Services and it preconfigures all the proper options.

Following is an overview of how you use Visio with Terminal Services:

1. The administrator installs a single copy of Visio on the Terminal Services computer.

2. Users install Windows Terminal Services Client on their computers.

3. Users log on to the Terminal Services computer, start Windows, and run Visio from within the Windows session.

Visio runs on the Terminal Services computer, and only the Windows display is transmitted to users computers.

In the Terminal Services environment, Visio separates application and user data and uses environmental information supplied by Terminal Services. This arrangement allows multiple Terminal Client users to run from the same Visio installation.

To improve performance in the Terminal Services environment, Visio optimizes certain functions in Visio to reduce the amount of network traffic necessary to update the users display. For example, in the Terminal Services environment, Visio features display a text-based splash screen instead of the standard graphics-based screen; the text-based screen is faster to display.

How to install Visio on a Windows Server with Terminal Services

You install Microsoft Visio on a Microsoft Windows 2000 server with Terminal Services enabled, or on a Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server computer, in much the same way that you install Visio on a client computer. With some careful planning and a few modifications, Visio performs well in the Windows Terminal Services environment.

To run Visio in a Terminal Services environment 

1. Install Visio on the Terminal Services computer.

2. Set default Visio feature settings for Windows Terminal Client users.

Note   If you are installing Visio on a Windows 2000 computer, you must enable Terminal Services before running Visio Setup. To configure the installation automatically for that environment, setup needs to detect that Terminal Services is enabled.

Install Visio on the Terminal Services computer

To install Visio, run Visio Setup on the Terminal Services computer. You can run Setup from a network administrative installation point or from the Visio CD.

Note   Before you install Visio on a Terminal Services computer, log on to the server with administrative privileges.

To install Visio on Windows 2000 with Terminal Services enabled 

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.

2. In the left-hand pane, click Add New Programs, and then in the right-hand pane, click CD or Floppy.

3. Put the Visio CD in the CD-ROM drive, and then click Next.

   or

   If you are installing from a network server, click Next, and then enter the location of the administrative installation point for Visio.

4. To run Visio Setup, click Finish.

To install Visio on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server 

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, click Install, and then click Next.

2. Click Browse.

3. In the root folder of the Visio CD, select setup.exe, and then click OK.

   or

   If you are installing from a network server, enter the location of the administrative installation point for Visio, and then click OK.

   Setup.exe is added to the Command line for installation program box.

4. On the command line, add the following command after setup.exe, separated by a space:

/l* "%WINDIR%\Visio 2002 Setup(0001).txt"

This optional command places the Setup log file in the Windows folder, rather than in the Temp folder, so that the log file is not deleted automatically by Windows.

5. Click Next.

6. Select All users begin with common application settings, and then click Next to run Visio Setup.

Note   When installing Visio on a Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server computer, you must use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel with the All users begin with common application settings option selected. This setting runs Setup in Install mode, which installs Visio for all Terminal Client users who connect to the Terminal Services computer. If you run Setup directly from the Visio CD, Setup runs in Execute mode, which installs Visio only for the user running Setup.

Running Visio in a Terminal Services environment is different from running it on individual users computers. When you install Visio on a Terminal Services computer, the users who connect to the server are limited to your Visio configuration and cannot install or remove features.

In other words, all users running Visio from the Terminal Services computer inherit the features you select during installation. If your users need different sets of Visio functionality, you may need several Terminal Services server computers—one for each unique Visio configuration.

Because of the multi-user nature of the Terminal Services computer, and users restricted access to the server, Visio Setup by default installs all features to the following installation state:

• Run from My Computer

  Most features are set to this state, because they work well in the Terminal Services environment. Features that normally default to Installed on First Use are set to Run from My Computer.

To accept the default Visio configuration, you do not need to modify the Setup feature tree. However, if there are Visio features that are not needed by your users, you can improve overall performance and conserve disk space by customizing the installation so that Visio Setup does not install these features on the Terminal Services computer.

Set default Visio feature settings

To improve performance in a Terminal Services environment, you can customize the default Visio user settings for all users logging on to the Terminal Services computer.

Customize Visio settings

Consider setting the following options in Visio.

Default Visio settings with Terminal Services

When you install Visio on a Terminal Services computer, Visio Setup automatically changes the default settings for the following options. Consider leaving these options as Setup sets them.

Microsoft Visio

Distribute customized Visio settings to users

You can use the following methods to deliver your customized settings to Terminal Services users:

Using the Custom Installation Wizard

If you install Visio on the Terminal Services computer from an administrative installation point, you can use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform on the administrative installation point with your customized settings. You then install Visio on the Terminal Services computer using that transform, and Visio users who log on to the Terminal Services computer will use your customized settings.

Note, however, that any files added to the transform will not be propagated to Terminal Services users. These include files that you add using the Add/Remove Files page of the Custom Installation Wizard. Also, programs that you add to the transform using the Add Installations and Run Programs page of the Custom Installation Wizard will not be executed for each user.

Note The Office XP Resource Kit includes the Custom Installation Wizard, which is installed by default when you run the Office XP Resource Kit Setup program. For more information, see the section Custom Installation Wizard in the Office XP Resource Kit Toolbox.

Find Shape Database

If hard-drive space is a concern when you install Visio 2002 SR-1 on a Windows Terminal Server, you can specify whether Visio 2002 SR-1 uses the Find Shape local database. By default, Visio 2002 SR-1 copies the ShapeGallery.mdb database to users profiles upon first use. Because this database is approximately 10MB, when multiplied by the number of users in your environment, this can require a significant amount of disk storage space.

To avoid this problem, you must add a registry key to the users computer. Alternatively, you can add the key to all computers by using the Custom Install Wizard.

To prevent Visio from using the Find Shape database 

1. Add the DWORD value "Index" to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Visio\Shape Gallery\

2. Set the value of Index to "0"

Making these registry changes will prevent Visio from copying the ShapeGallery.mdb database file to user profiles. If you make this change, users will not be able to use the "Find Shape" feature in Visio 2002 SR-1 to search for shapes locally, because the ShapeGallery.mdb database will not exist on their computer. However, they will be able to search for shapes over the Internet.

See Also

For more information about how to install a customized version of Visio, see Installing and Customizing Visio 2002 SR-1 in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.