Publishing a app with Windows 2003 Terminal Services?
This may be a really bad question, but is it possible to publish just a application with Windows 2003 Terminal Server? I already have users set up to get a desktop session when they log in but we are testing out a new app and the question came up if its possible to not give the user a desktop but just access to a application only? I know Citrix will do this but will Windows 2003 Terminal Server and if so, how? Thanks
I use Citrix for published apps, but here are some ideas: To start, you could use a mandatory profile with highly restricted access, then:
check out the options under Admin Tools-->Terminal Services Configurations-->Connectio
You could similarly use "Remote Desktop Connections" interface to configure which program launches, so could have 10 entries each pointing at same server but a different app.
Another option (if using a published desktop) is to use a logon script to build a Start Menu on the fly each time someone logs in. This way user only get start menu options for the programs for which they are AD group members, for example. You would also restict file system access using the same AD groups for those apps.
check out the options under Admin Tools-->Terminal Services Configurations-->Connectio
You could similarly use "Remote Desktop Connections" interface to configure which program launches, so could have 10 entries each pointing at same server but a different app.
Another option (if using a published desktop) is to use a logon script to build a Start Menu on the fly each time someone logs in. This way user only get start menu options for the programs for which they are AD group members, for example. You would also restict file system access using the same AD groups for those apps.
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If you are considering upgrading, here are a couple articles comparing TS 2008 versus Citrix in terms of feature sets they offer:
http://www.brianmadden.com/blog/BrianMadden/Windows-2008-Terminal-Services-versus-Citrix-Presentation-Server--XenApp-Citrix-has-nothing-to-worry-about
http://www.citrix.com/site/resources/dynamic/salesdocs/Citrix-XenApp5-Terminal-Services-2003-2008-Feature-Analysis.pdf
http://www.brianmadden.com/blog/BrianMadden/Windows-2008-Terminal-Services-versus-Citrix-Presentation-Server--XenApp-Citrix-has-nothing-to-worry-about
http://www.citrix.com/site/resources/dynamic/salesdocs/Citrix-XenApp5-Terminal-Services-2003-2008-Feature-Analysis.pdf
You can configure an RDP session to the Terminal Server to automatically launch a program on connection. Then, when the user exits the application, the TS session is logged off automatically. The user never sees a desktop.
Now from your message I imagine that you are trying to achieve one of these:
You want the user to only see the application they require: It is possible to set the user's shell in Group Policy to be just the application you require for them to use. This wouldnt provide them the usual "explorer" interface.
You want to deploy them an application: You can do this in Group Policy, under User/Software you can deploy/publish an .msi to the user.