Re: XPe/Office problems saving to USB Floppy Drives on thin-clients

From: Graham Prentice (gprentice__at__oakville.ca)
Date: 12/01/04 

Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 14:34:53 -0500

I forgot to mention that I was using an RDP client to terminal server
connection as well on my WinXP proSP2 machine when the term server session
PowerPoint save to my USB key worked properly.

Graham
"Graham Prentice" <gprentice_@_oakville.ca> wrote in message
news:%238enlu91EHA.1404@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Have the same problem here.
> Tried Office2003 sp1 using PowerPoint and file = 700kb.
> Using WinXPe thin clients HP t5700 and Server = Win2003 Enterprise Ed.
> terminal services
> Saved to USB key using mapped drive =fails.
> Saved to USB key using UNC path =fails.
>
> This is what's interesting:
> Tried same thing (saving 700kb powerpoint pres.) to USB key on my full
> WinXP pro SP2 workstation - and it worked properly!!!
>
> Whether it's related to XPe sp2????
>
> SP2 for WinXPe is coming out very soon....today?
> Regards,
> Graham
> "Graham Prentice" <gprentice_@_rocketmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23I0lvqz1EHA.936@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> Michael,
>>
>> I'm in the middle of running the same kind of environment here.
>> We have a public library with 150 x HP t5700 thin clients and WinXPe.
>> We are planning on running RDP client to Win2003 MSAD environment (Using
>> Netloan software).
>> The environment will be made available to the public in about a months
>> time.
>> While testing, I ran across issues with the RDP client that came standard
>> on the thin clients.
>> The bar at the top of the session couldn't be hidden - even when
>> selected.
>> The problem turned out to be the version of the RDP client.
>> The fix was to borrow msrdp from a WinXP Pro SP1 workstation.
>> I have also borrowed schtasks.exe and other files from WinXPpro to make
>> this work properly.
>>
>> What I am getting at is that you may want to try another RDP client.
>> I will try this in our environment tomorrow (we have Office2003) with
>> PowerPoint.
>> We offer our library patrons 50mb hard disk space as well as USB keys at
>> cost.
>> At one point we tried MSRDP from WinXPpro SP2 on our WinXPe thin
>> clients - but it had other minor issues with mapping the USB ports.
>>
>> If you have any full PCs around, try the RDP client / USB floppy / Power
>> Point save from there to try to isolate the problem.
>>
>> Good luck,
>>
>> Graham
>> "Michael Cox" <michael@saline.lib.mi.us> wrote in message
>> news:c3128d4.0411291557.2a121a10@posting.google.com...
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> Correct. We are currently using USB Floppy Drives connected to the
>>> XPe thin clients. The problem lies in the fact that these drives are
>>> not working with large files in Microsoft Office when attempting to
>>> write to the drive/disk. I have tried saving to the floppy drives as
>>> both \\tsclient\D and mapping \\tsclient\d to a: and saving to that,
>>> both produce the same results. The "save to..." dialog comes up
>>> quickly like it should, but when "save" is pressed an error message
>>> occurs saying "there was an error accessing ..."
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Michael Cox
>>>
>>>
>>> Rick Merrill <RickMerrill@comTHROWcast.net> wrote in message
>>> news:<qQ4pd.94264$5K2.82044@attbi_s03>...
>>>> Michael Cox wrote:
>>>> > Hello,
>>>> >
>>>> > It's quite possible that it is some kind of memory/timing issue, but
>>>> > we have been unable to figure out what it is exactly or where to go
>>>> > from here.
>>>>
>>>> Since you have remotely mounted drives (If I read it correctly) that
>>>> could cause a slow start in the "save to ..." dialog. Can you not let
>>>> the floppy be a local device or even a USB floppy?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> > We do currently allow users to save to the desktop since they are
>>>> > using mandatory profiles which reset the desktop when they
>>>> > logoff/logon anyway. But we would much rather they be able to work
>>>> > directly from the floppy like they did on our previous PCs (prior to
>>>> > the thin clients) as this is a public library and our "users" are
>>>> > transient patrons, meaning we would need to tell almost all of them
>>>> > to
>>>> > work from the desktop and then save to the floppy afterwards.
>>>> >
>>>> > Thank you,
>>>> >
>>>> > Michael Cox
>>>> > Saline District Library
>>>> >
>>>> > Rick Merrill <RickMerrill@comTHROWcast.net> wrote in message
>>>> > news:<g6Ood.661985$8_6.240415@attbi_s04>...
>>>> >
>>>> >>Michael Cox wrote:
>>>> >>
>>>> >>>Hello,
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>>We have recently setup a Win2k3 Terminal Server (no Citrix) and
>>>> >>>Neoware XPEmbedded thin-clients for public access in our library.
>>>> >>>We
>>>> >>>are having a problem with PowerPoint XP when trying to save to the
>>>> >>>floppy disks (or any other local drive on the thin-client, such as a
>>>> >>>memory key). I have them shortcuts to them on the desktop as
>>>> >>>"Floppy
>>>> >>>Disk" and "USB Device" mapped to \\TSCLIENT\A and \\TSCLIENT\E,
>>>> >>>which
>>>> >>>obviously point to a:\ and e:\ on the neoware client. The problem
>>>> >>>is
>>>> >>>that when we attempt to save to them in PowerPoint XP we almost
>>>> >>>always
>>>> >>>receive a "There was an error accessing \\TSCLIENT\A". This seems
>>>> >>>to
>>>> >>>occur more often as the size of the file increases as saving works
>>>> >>>correctly when it is just 3-4 slides, but around 5-6 and on the
>>>> >>>error
>>>> >>>starts to occur. Also, the Floppy Drive icon will always show up on
>>>> >>>the desktop, but when selecting the Desktop in the Save To... dialog
>>>> >>>of PowerPoint XP only the USB Device will show up, not the Floppy
>>>> >>>Drive, even though they are on the same place in the desktop. This
>>>> >>>problem only occurs with PowerPoint XP as it is the only portion of
>>>> >>>Office XP we have installed (our versions of Word/Excel/Publisher
>>>> >>>are
>>>> >>>all 2000).
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>>Although we seemed to have narrow down our problem to this: Saving
>>>> >>>even semi-large (50-100k) files via Office (2000 or XP) from our
>>>> >>>Neoware WinXPe thin clients to their locally connection USB floppy
>>>> >>>drives seems to result in the "The was an error accessing ..."
>>>> >>>error
>>>> >>>from Office. ...
>>>> >>
>>>> >>Sounds like a timing problem, doesn't it?
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>>The strangest part is that if the document/presentation is saved to
>>>> >>>the desktop and then copied to the floppy drive (via either address)
>>>> >>>everything seems to work great, regardless of size.
>>>> >>
>>>> >>And you don't want to let users save to desktop, rigth?
>>
>>
>
>