Re: Changing from App mode to Remote Admin mode via registry

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

Sorry, thought I explained what I was trying to do...

We want to put a small note in our documentation about switching from
application mode to remote administration mode.

We'd like to do this because our application doesn't install right now in
application mode on Windows 2003 Server when the installer is running
remotely. I explained all this with my original post.

I am familiar with the GetSystemMetrics API call. We're already using it to
detect whether a session is remote or local. I can also detect if terminal
services is installed and if we're in app. mode vs. remote admin mode with
some other calls I'm making.

Presently our warning message for the uninstallable case reads something
like the following:

"This product cannot be installed on this server in it's present
configuration. Please install the product locally or in remote
administration mode."

I prefer a remote install in remote admin mode to a local install in
application mode for two reasons:

1. The admin won't have to travel to a server and deal with getting physical
access to the machine. I'm told this can be quite a process for some server
sitting in a datacenter far away from the admin.

2. Our product breaks all network comm. when it's installed, and for a local
install in app mode, comm. is not restored until the reboot. For a remote
install in remote admin mode, the interruption is very minor.

So I would like to provide our users with a suggestion in our user manual of
how to move from application mode to remote admin mode so that they can
install our product and then move back to application mode.

If this was Windows 2000, I could do this pretty easily by telling them to
reconfigure the server via the Windows Component portion of the Add/Remove
applet.

Because it's Windows 2003 Server there does not seem to be a way to do this
easily. It would be good to know if Microsoft supports making this mode
change or not; no one here has said whether or not they do and this was
clearly supported for Win2K.

You've posted before about the TSAppCompat value in the registry with some
authority. I'll ask you what I asked Rob: how are you so sure that it can't
be used to toggle from app. mode to remote admin mode? Is there a KB article
or some other resource that tells you that this is unsupported on 2K3?

TIA,

Steve Sawkins

"Vera Noest [MVP]" <Vera.Noest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns97E2A36D27F63veranoesthemutforsse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What exactly is it that you want to achieve?
If you want to enforce that your application is installed from the
physical console, you can check that in your installation
procedure:

From http://ts.veranoest.net/ts_faq.htm

Q. How can my script / application detect if it is running in a
Terminal Services client session?

A. You can detect if your application is running in a remote
session by calling GetSystemMetrics().
The following function returns TRUE if the application is running
in a remote session and FALSE if the application is running on the
console.

BOOL IsRemoteSession(void)
{
return GetSystemMetrics( SM_REMOTESESSION );
}


_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
*----------- Please reply in newsgroup -------------*

"Steve Sawkins" <ssawkins@xxxxxxxxx> wrote on 14 jun 2006:

So does Microsoft offer a way to change from Application mode to
Remote Administration mode for a Win2K3 terminal server without
uninstalling terminal server?

Again, a Windows 2000 TS could legitimately do this(it was in
the GUI), and the knowledge base article indicated that the
value was modifiable. The only "not configurable" value in the
KB article was the ProductVersion.

Would you recommend some of the WMI provider stuff for Terminal
Services? I notice that there's a Win32_TerminalServiceSetting
class with a ChangeMode method that lets the caller set the mode
to one of three values:

Value Meaning
0 Remote Desktop for Administration or Personal Terminal
Server. 2 Per Device. Valid for application servers.
4 Per Session. Valid for application servers.


I haven't had much success with these, but I can't find any
other sanctioned way of doing this.

Steve

"Rob Leitman [MSFT]" <robleit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:%23LyMk%23vjGHA.4508@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This registry value is a side effect of changing the TS mode,
not what causes the change.

There are many registry values, but most aren't meant to be
modified directly. Think of it as internal data.

Rob

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no
rights.
See the TS FAQ at

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/centers/term
inal/terminal_faq.mspx

"Steve Sawkins" <ssawkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6krig.11274$921.5051@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wouldn't "definitely" be a bit too definite?

There is a knowledge base article (KB #243215) that
references the registry
entry for a Win2K terminal server. The article describes the
values as
one
of " a number of administrator-configurable values " that
should be changed
"only to troubleshoot a problem or better define the user
experience for the
sake of administration".

Changing the value from the GUI was supported for aWindows
2000 server; has
Microsoft decided that this was too risky for 2K3?

The value is present in a 2K3 terminal server, so it must
serve some purpose. I didn't add it, so that puts it in a
different class than a value
that would not normally be present.

Can you point me to a KB article that discusses this for 2K3,
or can you be
a bit more precise about the risks associated with changing
this value?

And thank you...I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
If we need
to
open up a support incident I'm prepared to do that. It just
seemed like
a
minor question.

Steve

"Rob Leitman [MSFT]" <robleit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:erQ6vk$iGHA.5036@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
That is definitely unsupported. Can't you just tell the
users not to install from a remote session?

Rob

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no
rights.
See the TS FAQ at


http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/centers/term
inal/termin
al_faq.mspx

"Steve Sawkins" <ssawkins@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23qU6Ni1iGHA.4304@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We're considering advising users to change the TSAppCompat
value and reboot
to move from Application Mode to Remote Administration
mode so that they
can
install our product. We can't install properly on a Win
2K3 server
running
TS in app. mode. if the user is logged in remotely.

Are we remiss in suggesting this? Will license servers or
unused
licenses
be
affected?

Simple tests in our lab here bear out the fact that this
does seem to change
the mode completely after a reboot, but we have not tested
exhaustively.

I've seen posts here on the TSAppCompat value that
indicate that
changing
modes is not as simple as changing the value, but I'd like
to have
our
users
avoid uninstalling Terminal Services so they can install
our app.

If we can't suggest that they do this, is there any other
way to move
from
app. mode to remote admin. mode, install our application,
and move back?

TIA,

Steve Sawkins
Apani Networks


.

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