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lyptus

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Run a Windows Application from the server

Hi:
   I have a Windows Application developed using C# and SQL Server. I have created an install msi for the same. What I would like to do is run the application from the server rather than installing the msi on each client computer. Is there anyway I can achieve this ?

Thanks in advance,
Aditya Barve
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frodoman
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Unless you've designed the application from the group up as a client-server application (sounds as though you haven't) then your options are limited.

If your server is set to allow it, your users could use Terminal Services or Remote Desktop Connection to connect remotely to the server and run your application.  In this situation though you should understand that the application is being run on the server, not on the user's desktop.
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lyptus

ASKER

The other way I thought about was to install the application on the server and have users access the application by means of short cuts which point to the application on the server. I was wondering if there were potential problems /performance issues in doing so.

Thanks,
Aditya
As long as your users have the necessary permissions to access the server then they should be able to launch the application; however, if you are relying on input/output the interface would be generated on the server, not on the user's desktop.  If the application is just a process that doesn't require interaction then it should be fine.  If interaction is required then I don't think this would work.

The only performance issue would be the communication over your network which is going to be the case no matter what approach you take.
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If you want to run a .Net application from a server shared folder, you need to adjust the security.

Open the Control Panel
Open Administrative tools
Open Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1 Wizards
Click Adjust .Net Security
click Next
Select Local Intranet
Change the level of trust to Full
click next
click Finish

But before doing this, you will have to install all requirements on each PC (like the .Net framework itself and maybe Crystal Reports and ADO depending on what you are using).

If you don't want to install anything at all, you will need to access your server using tools like Terminal Server or PCAnywhere or Citrix.
Actually that's very good idea...   we tend to "install" our applications on a shared folder of a file server.   Actually, in our case, we rarely have an official "install"... we just copy the executable and *.config file.

The only thing we put on the user's PC is a shortcut.   The application "runs on" the client PC... just like it was installed locally.

This concept allows you update the application with a single stroke... without touching the client PCs at all.

Pay attention to emoreau's comments above...
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ASKER

I was wondering if there was a way by which I could propogate those security setttings automatically on the client pc .

Thanks,
Aditya
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graye
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