Issue: How to run PPPClient.exe with a group policy or logon script
1. Open Group Policy Management
2. Right-click the Group Policy object that applies to the users in question and click Edit
3. Under User Configuration, expand System and then Logon
4. Double-click Run these programs at logon
5. Select Enabled
6. Click Show
7. Click Add and enter the UNC path to PPPClient.exe, along with any command line parameters
Example: \\myserver\myshare\pppclient.exe nowatcher workingdirectory="C:\Temp"
8. Click OK and close the GPO
Or just add the following to the logon script:
start \\server\share\ppp\pppclient.exe
Issue: How to run PPPClient.exe with elevated privileges.
Here are the examples of using the p= and u= switch to run pppclient.exe
with elevated rights:
\\server\share\ppp\pppclient.exe u=example.domain.com\username
p=password
J:\ppp\pppclient.exe u=example.domain.com\username p=password
* Note: PPPClient.exe is still ran in the users space but when attempting operations that require elevated privileges it runs those procedures with the user specified with the u= switch.
Descripton: All command line parameters for PPPClient are preceded by a single space on the command line, and do not use a "/" or other delimiter.If a parameter value includes spaces, the entire value should be enclosed in double quotes.Unless specified, multiple parameters can be used simultaneously, separated by a single space.An example that meets all these requirements is "y:\ppp\pppclient.exe nominimize path="c:\ppp temp".
Solution:
NOMINIMIZE
Displays log window on client workstation. This is most useful for troubleshooting, and overrides the global setting in PPPAdmin, Client Options.
NOWATCHER
Forces PPPClient to exit instead of entering Printer Watcher mode after initial configuration of printers. This is used when you don't want PPPClient to continue running on the client machine, watching for printer installs.
u=example.domain.com\username p=password
Use the u= and p= to specify the domain user that you want PPPClient.exe to use instead of the user that runs PPPClient.exe. (Elevated privileges)
HideOnInvalidPath
Causes the PPPClient.exe to remain hidden even if it is unable to connect to the configuration file to receive instruction to run open or hidden. The downside to using this option is you don't know the pppclient.exe is not able to find the config file in the <ppp_install_dir>/mem folder. The good side of it is users will never see the pppclient log window. Usually this parameter is used with the WorkingDirectory parameter so that if the server is down that is holding the ppp configuration database the PPPClient.exe will remain running silent (although doing no work) until the next time the user logs in and the server is back up.
WORKINGDIRECTORY=
Followed by a path, optionally enclosed in double quotes. This parameter is used to tell PPPClient where to look for the PPP configuration files. By default, PPPClient looks in its own directory, but if you want to run PPPClient from a local directory, for example, and still keep the configuration files in one location on the server, you could use a command like this:
c:\ppp\pppclient.exe WORKINGDIRECTORY="y:\apps\ppp"
Issue: PPPClient stalls the login script or batch file
Description: Starting with version 6, PPPClient has a feature named Printer Watcher.After configuring all installed printers, PPPClient slips into the background and waits for more printers to be installed in order to configure them.Because of this, PPPClient doesn't exit until the user logs out or shuts down.
Solution:
1. MICROSOFT: If starting PPPClient from a batch file (.com or .bat), simply putting in the path and filename to PPPClient will make the batch file to wait for the program to finish.Use the Start command, and the batch file will continue without waiting for the program to finish.
Example: start y:\pppclient.exe.
2. NOVELL: If starting PPPClient from a login script, use the @ symbol instead of the # symbol.@ will allow the script to continue, while # will wait for PPPClient to exit, which won't happen.See Novell TID 2905212 for more information. Back to Top
Issue: Distribute PPPro Client Package fails to copy PPPClient.exe
Description: This tool performs a basic file copy to the remote location.As such, if the pppclient.exe file is in use, or running on client computers from that location, the file may not be overwritten.Unless you are upgrading your PPPClient.exe file, this is not a problem, since the PPPClient.exe file is not altered when making changes to printer configurations.If you are upgrading or updating your software, PPPClient.exe will need to be overwritten.
Solution:
1. Peform the distribution after hours when no end-users are logged in or using the PPPClient.exe file. Back to Top
Issue: How to migrate / move printers to a Microsoft cluster
Description: When migrating printers from a server to a Microsoft Cluster there doesn't seem to be a server object in Active Directory for the "virtual server" that I want as the target server.
Solution: First we need to make the cluster servers (virtual server objects) show up in Active Directory so we can select them in the Printer Migrator application as a target server.
* On the Windows server open "Cluster Administrator" (start - Administrative Tools - Cluster Administrator)
* Select the Cluster that you are wanting to migrate printers to
* Select the "Resources" folder and select the appropriate "group" folder containing the virtual server you want to see in Active Directory.
* In the right pane right click on "Network Name" and select properties
* Select the "Parameters" tab
* Check the "Enable Kerberos Authentication" option (resource must be offline to enable). This option may not be available when running "Cluster Administrator" from a Windows 2000 desktop. Try remoting into the cluster name and accessing the "Cluster Administrator" from the cluster server.
Now your virtual server object will show up in Active Directory (by default it will populate into the "Computers" container). Open Printer Migrator and simply select any printer from eDirectory and the target virtual server (cluster server) and the printers will be copied to the virtual server. By migrating the printers to the virtual server object the printers will failover with the cluster resources because the printers have been installed to the virtual server and not the actual physical server.
NOTE: The migrated printers will still be viewed in Active Directory under the current server node that is hosting the resource (this is standard Windows behavior).
