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- Chris answered 9 years ago
As far as RemoteApp goes, there is no difference whatsoever. The RemoteApp technology itself belongs to Microsoft, and it comes from the underlying Windows installation. As such, a RemoteApp is just a RemoteApp on all Windows computers/servers. It doesn’t really matter where the RemoteApp comes from, how it is initialized, etc. (seeing as it’s still relying on the underlying Remote Desktop/RemoteApp capabilities of the Windows operating system itself).
That being said… RemoteApp functionality on a Windows server is traditionally enabled by creating a separate “application” server via installing the full gamut of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) server roles onto an instance of Windows Server Standard or Datacenter. However, you cannot install RDS on a Windows Server Essentials server seeing as doing so messes up the default configuration of the Essentials server (Remote Desktop Gateway, Remote Web Access, etc., etc.), and will cause you nothing but grief in the long run.
The WSE RemoteApp product resolves this issue by allowing you to use RemoteApps with your Essentials server without having to install the full gamut of RDS server roles onto the Essentials server. Rather, it utilizes the underlying RemoteApp functionality that is part of the Essentials server itself in order to work its magic (it does not enable any of the RDS server roles on the Essentials server, nor does it change the default configuration of the Essentials server in any way). Additionally, WSE RemoteApp is built as a standard “Windows Server Solutions” add-in that allows the product to deeply integrate itself (and the RemoteApp functionality it affords) into the Essentials server’s built-in Remote Web Access website, Launchpad, Dashboard, etc.
- Mike answered 9 years ago
First off… See that little yellow warning symbol overlaid on the little green lock icon that’s located up in the address bar of the browser in your screen shot? The symbol indicates that the SSL certificate of your current Anywhere Access / Remote Web Access configuration is not valid, or not properly configured. Therefore, you’ll need to go back and set up/configure/repair Anywhere Access / Remote Web Access again on your Essentials server (and make sure that everything is properly configured so that you don’t receive any errors during the configuration process). For some additional help with doing that, please see the various links that are provided down in the “Successful Connections Require Secure Remote Web Access Setup!” section of this page.
If, after you have your Essentials server’s Anywhere Access / Remote Web Access functionality properly configured and working (i.e. without that little yellow warning symbol overlay), you still receive that “SSL Certificate Error – Mismatched Address!” error message, then please see the following for a fix for the mismatched address problem:
- Mike answered 9 years ago
- last active 9 years ago
First off… See that little yellow warning symbol overlaid on the little green lock icon that’s located up in the address bar of the browser in your screen shot? The symbol indicates that the SSL certificate of your current Anywhere Access / Remote Web Access configuration is not valid, or not properly configured. Therefore, you’ll need to go back and set up/configure/repair Anywhere Access / Remote Web Access again on your Essentials server (and make sure that everything is properly configured so that you don’t receive any errors during the configuration process). For some additional help with doing that, please see the various links that are provided down in the “Successful Connections Require Secure Remote Web Access Setup!” section of this page.
If, after you have your Essentials server’s Anywhere Access / Remote Web Access functionality properly configured and working (i.e. without that little yellow warning symbol overlay), you still receive that “SSL Certificate Error – Mismatched Address!” error message, then please see the following for a fix for the mismatched address problem:
- Mike answered 9 years ago
- last active 9 years ago
The trial version of WSE RemoteApp is fully functional with the following limitations:
1. It can be used for up to a maximum of 21 days, with occasional nag screens along the way reminding you that your evaluation period is currently in progress.
2. It runs as the “Starter Edition” where you are limited to being able to allow up to a maximum of 3 of your users access to the add-in, and publish up to a maximum of 15 RemoteApp programs.
3. The RADC web feeds feature is not available.
4. The multiple simultaneous connections feature is not available.
- Mike answered 9 years ago
- last active 9 years ago
The WSE RemoteApp download is a trial version that is automatically converted into a full version once you purchase a license and register it.
The trial version of WSE RemoteApp is fully functional with the following limitations:
1. It can be used for up to a maximum of 21 days, with occasional nag screens along the way reminding you that your evaluation period is currently in progress.
2. It runs as the “Starter Edition” where you are limited to being able to allow up to a maximum of 3 of your users access to the add-in, and publish up to a maximum of 15 RemoteApp programs.
3. The RADC web feeds feature is not available.
4. The multiple simultaneous connections feature is not available.
- Mike answered 9 years ago
I resolved this issue, but, when I download the .rpd file and I launch it, while “WSE RemoteApp Launcher” is loading, I have an error with the gateway identity of remote services.
And there is other problem with the folders redirection.
How can I do to resolve this problem?
Thanks.
- Guest answered 9 years ago
Printing to a local computer’s printer from within a WSE RemoteApp session requires two basic things. First, you must enable printer redirection within the WSE RemoteApp session (which you can tell you have not yet done since the “Printers” setting is greyed out). Second, you must install the drivers for the printer on BOTH the client computer, AND ON THE SERVER itself.
I have a nice How To/FAQ article that walks you through doing all of that. You can find the article here:
- Mike answered 9 years ago
- last active 9 years ago
I’m not familiar with Linux as I don’t use it. However, the Remote Desktop Connection client you use needs to be able to support RemoteApp functionality and not just the normal Remote Desktop functionality. In Windows, Microsoft handles all of that for you via their native Remote Desktop Connection client (or via their Microsoft Remote Desktop UWP app on Windows 10). However, since I’m not familiar with Linux, I do not know if a Remote Desktop Connection client that supports RemoteApp is available for the platform (and preferably with RDP 8.0 or greater support as well).
That being said, instead of attempting to scavenge one of the .RDP files from WSE RemoteApp’s Remote Web Access connection, you are much better off attempting to locate a RemoteApp and Desktop Connections (RADC) client that works in Linux. That way, you’ll receive a properly formatted .RDP file directly from the add-in’s RADC web feed that will work as you intend it to (for more information see: Connecting From Mac/iOS/Android/Windows PC/Mobile Computers and Devices). Again though, I’m not sure if a RADC client is available for Linux or not. Sorry that I don’t have a better answer for you on this one.
- Mike answered 8 years ago
We regularly use Quicken 2017 with WSE RemoteApp and have never had any issues with it whatsoever. I personally have yet to look at Quicken 2018, but I assume that it is very similar to the existing 2017 version, and if so, it should also work just fine with WSE RemoteApp as well.
Since Quicken is a “per-user” application (meaning that each user has access to their very own Quicken data file), the best way to setup Quicken for use with WSE RemoteApp is to create a sub-folder named “Quicken” off of the specific user’s pre-existing “Users” server folder, and then store their Quicken .QDF file and Quicken .QDF-backup files within that user-specific Quicken sub-folder. For example, if your Essentials server’s “Users” server folder is located at “S:\ServerFolders\Users“, then the user “Mike” should be using the folder “S:\ServerFolders\Users\Mike\Quicken” to store their user-specific Quicken .QDF data file and backup files in (or in UNC format it would be “\\Shared Folders\Users\Mike\Quicken“).
Other than that, you could also use the “STORAGE” page of the server Dashboard to create a new server folder named “Quicken“, and only grant (full read and write) access to the folder to the specific user that will be using Quicken. The user can then store their .QDF and .QDF-backup files within that folder (i.e. “\\Shared Folders\Quicken“).
Hopefully that will resolve the issues you are currently having.
As for community support on my website… It clearly states on the Ask Question page (when you are not currently logged in) that you can post as a guest by simply proceeding to fill out the fields on the question form, or that you can log in or register in order to post as a registered user (so that you don’t have to wait for your question to be moderated in order for it to be posted to the site). The pinned Welcome to Questions & Answers post over on this site’s Questions page also clearly states this information as well. Thus, I’m not exactly sure how much more apparent I can make it for my users. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
Lastly, I went and registered for the site just to make sure things are working properly… I typed in my desired Username and (valid) Email address on the register form, answered the required captcha question, and clicked the “Register” button. I was immediately sent an email message with a link asking me to set my password. When I click on the link, I was taken to a page on this site where I could type in my chosen password. From there, I was able to log in successfully (and update my profile, etc.). Thus, everything appears to be working just fine for me here.
Did you check your spam folder to make sure that the registration email sent to the email address you provided didn’t get trapped as junk in your email client? Are you certain that you entered in a valid email address (with no typos, etc.)?
- Mike answered 8 years ago
- last active 8 years ago
Mike, thank you for the quick response.
First of all, as for posting a question in community support as a guest, this option is not obvious (nor mentioned) if you go through the “SUPPORT” tab on your website as I did. The only “apparent” options are to “View All Questions and Answers”, “Login” or “Register”. It would not have been an issue if I was able to register easily as should have been the case. However, for some unknown reason, your website does NOT like my primary email address (<<snip>>). When I registered with this address, I never received an email response. I did NOT receive any kind of error message or any indication that there was a problem with my email address so I assumed that I would quickly receive a response — but I never did. After not receiving a response for well over an hour, I tried again. Your system would NOT let me register again. It said that I was already registered. So I had to try requesting a new password instead but that didn’t work either. I tried this a couple of times. Again, there was no error message but I just never received a response (and, yes, I did check my “spam” folders and found nothing).
Later in the day, I tried once again to register, only this time using my secondary google email address (<<snip>>). This address worked and I quickly received an email response. So, for whatever reason, your system has no problem registering me with either of my email addresses but, for some reason, cannot send a response to my primary address “<<snip>>”.
As for my issues with Quicken 2018:
The “file-in-use” issue seems to be a one-time problem that just occurs the first time the Quicken data file is backed-up to the server. On my primary computer, the issue only occurred the very first time I did the backup. The next several times, after doing a backup to the server, the data file reloaded without any issues. When I set Quicken up for the first time on my wife’s computer, there was a similar, but slightly different, issue. On her computer, after doing the first backup to the server, as was the case with my computer, the Quicken data file would not reload automatically after the backup. However, I was able to reload the data file just by clicking on its name in the Quicken “file” menu. I did NOT get a “file-in-use” error. Furthermore, as with my computer, this issue did not occur with subsequent backups.
As for the way I use Quicken, I don’t want to use it as a “per-user” application. I have always used a single data file for all of mine and my wife’s financial data and see no reason to separate our financial data into two files. Everything is much simpler with one file. I use a “ServerFolders\Documents\Quicken\Quicken Data” folder to store the Quicken data file(s) and a separate “Backup” folder for the backups. I use the “ServerFolders\Documents\Quicken” folder instead of using a separate “ServerFolders\Quicken” folder. This works well for our needs. I just want to use your program to give my wife easy access to our financial data. Hopefully, I won’t have any more issues.
- DRepke answered 8 years ago
- last active 8 years ago
I’m not exactly sure why you aren’t receiving an email back from the site when using your primary email address to register. I’m not able to replicate the problem here, and to date, no one else has mentioned a similar problem that I am aware of. I am glad to hear that you were able to work around the issue by using a secondary email address in order to register on the site.
I’ve updated the support page in order to try and make it a bit easier for folks who want to use our Questions & Answers forum as a guest. I’ve added a “Continue as a guest” option, and I’ve also made it a bit more apparent on the “Ask Question” page that you can post as a guest by simply filling out the fields on the page (without the need to log in or register). Again, the main advantage to registering an account is so that you don’t need to wait for your questions to be moderated before they get posted in our Questions & Answers forum.
As for your issue with Quicken… I’m glad to hear that it appears to be working properly for you now. Thanks for letting me know.
- Mike answered 8 years ago
- last active 8 years ago
I assume that you mean WSE RemoteApp 2016 here. If so, what version of WSE RemoteApp 2016 is currently installed on your Windows Server 2016 Essentials server (as of this writing, the latest version of WSE RemoteApp 2016 is 1.255.1421.0)?
Also, what is the exact name of the application (as well as its version number) that you have published as a RemoteApp program in WSE RemoteApp 2016?
Have you tried updating the program to its latest version?
Have you tried rebooting the Essentials server just to see if that happens to shake things loose for you?
Can you provide a screenshot of the error so that I can get a better picture of exactly what’s going on there?
Lastly, have you tried performing a standard Remote Desktop Connection to the server and signing in as the user who is having trouble running the program, and then attempting to launch the program directly from the user’s server desktop (instead of running it as a RemoteApp program via WSE RemoteApp)? Note that by default WSE RemoteApp’s “Shell Locker” feature blocks standard users from accessing their full server desktop, and so the user will receive a prompt to enter in admin credentials in order for them to be able to sign in to their full server desktop (if you haven’t already allowed them access to their full server desktop that is).
- Mike answered 8 years ago
All of our RemoteApp-based add-ins (WHS/WSE RemoteApp, etc.) include a feature called “Shell Locker” that blocks standard users from being able to access their full server desktop on the Essentials server (unless they can provide admin sign in credentials in order to continue). The Shell Locker feature is enabled by default seeing as most server admins see having standard users access their full server desktop as a security risk to their server. However, the Shell Locker feature can be disabled for all standard users (or just bypassed for select standard users) if desired by the server admin.
To disable or enable the Shell Locker feature:
1. Open the server Dashboard and go to the add-in’s main page (“WSE RemoteApp“, etc.).
2. Click on the “Server Access Settings” task.
3. Under the “Access Restrictions” section of the Server Access Settings dialog box that opens, check the “Block remote connections to the desktop” checkbox in order to enable the Shell Locker feature (or uncheck it in order to disable the feature).
4. Click the “Select Users” button to allow select standard users to bypass the enabled Shell Locker feature and be able to sign in to their Essentials server desktop.
5. Click on the “Save” button (in both dialog boxes) in order to save any changes you’ve made.
Lastly, please note that WHS/WSE RemoteApp also has a feature that allows the admin to publish the Essentials server’s desktop as a RemoteApp program so that their users can access it (as a nested session) from within the main WHS/WSE RemoteApp Launcher window. When enabling this feature for your users, you also allow them to bypass the Shell Locker feature (which is a requirement in order for them to be able to sign in to their Essentials server desktop).
To publish (or unpublish) the server desktop as a RemoteApp program for your standard users:
1. Open the server Dashboard and go to the add-in’s main page (“WSE RemoteApp“, etc.).
2. Click on the “RemoteApp Programs” sub-tab.
3. Click on the “Publish server desktop” task.
4. Check the boxes next to the standard users who you want to publish the server desktop for (and bypass the Shell Locker feature).
5. Click on the “Save” button in order to save any changes you’ve made.
- Mike answered 8 years ago
Mike,
Thank you for your reply. I am not sure what I did, but this morning it works like advertised… and does it very well.
Not to nest issues under the same post, but I notice when you open File Explorer and right click on a folder or try to create a new folder by right clicking or using the Ribbon menus, File Explorer quits. There is no error, it just closes.
I have File Explorer published. Am I missing something?
- jroberts answered 8 years ago
Glad to hear that Shell Locker is working for you again.
As for File Explorer crashing… I’m not able to replicate this one here on any of our in-house test servers, and to date, you’re the only one who’s mentioned such a problem that I am aware of.
What version of Windows Server Essentials are you using (2012, 2012 R2, 2016, etc.)?
Are you certain that your Essentials server (and client computers) have all of the latest Windows Updates installed on them (just in case it’s a known problem that Microsoft has already addressed with an update)?
Not that it should matter in this particular instance, but are you running the latest release of WHS/WSE RemoteApp (which, as of this writing, is Version 1.255.1421.0)?
Lastly, are you certain that the standard user has proper permissions to create a new folder within the parent directory (or drive)? I can easily see the crash happening if there is a permissions issue going on there.
Other than that, you can try signing in to the user’s full server desktop (by bypassing Shell Locker via providing admin credentials in order to continue), and then looking in the “Applications” log of the Event Viewer applet (i.e. Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Applications) to see if it gives any indication as to why File Explorer is crashing on the user.
- Mike answered 8 years ago
Thanks for the reply. It works now. I don’t know what was happening, but it crashed every time before.
I’ll let you know if it happens again. I just need it all to work before I register it.
- jroberts answered 8 years ago
Can you please provide a screenshot of the error message you are getting so that I can get a better idea of what’s going on there?
Also, in situations such as this, it’s best if you take WSE RemoteApp completely out of the picture when making a remote connection to the server (via its Remote Desktop Gateway). That way you can easily tell if the problem you are having is directly related to WSE RemoteApp, or if it is simply a problem with the standard/default configuration of your Essentials server.
You can do that by attempting to connect to the server Dashboard from the Essentials server’s built-in Remote Web Access (RWA) website. Since WSE RemoteApp uses the exact same underlying functionality of the Essentials server in order to make its connections, this means that if you’re not able to successfully connect to the server Dashboard from your Essentials server’s built-in RWA website, then the issue is with your Essentials server’s Anywhere Access/Remote Web Access configuration (etc.), and not with WSE RemoteApp.
To connect to the server Dashboard from your server RWA website:
1. Open the server Dashboard and go to the “USERS” page.
2. Double-click on one of your standard users in order to view the user’s properties.
3. In the user properties window that appears, click on the “Anywhere Access” tab, and make sure that the “Allow Remote Web Access and access to web services applications” AND “Server Dashboard (administrator required)” check boxes are checked, and then click on the “OK” button in order to save your changes.
4. Go to your server’s RWA website (e.g. https://YourDomainPrefix.remotewebaccess.com/remote or https://YourDomainPrefix.YourCustomDomain.com/remote) and sign in as the same user from steps 2 & 3 above.
5. Once the user is signed in, click on the tile with the name of your server that’s located within the “Devices” widget.
6. When prompted, open the [servername].rdp file, and then attempt to remotely connect to the Essentials server’s Dashboard by signing in using your admin credentials (and NOT the standard user’s credentials!).
Are you able to successfully remote connect to your Essentials server’s Dashboard this way?
If not, then that’s your problem… i.e. You won’t be able to remotely connect to WSE RemoteApp until you can first successfully remote connect to the server Dashboard from your server’s RWA website since they use the exact same underlying functionality. You’ll need to figure out what is causing the problem, and your best bet there is to run the Anywhere Access setup wizard again (i.e. from within the server Dashboard, click on the “Settings” link that’s located in the upper right-hand corner, click on the “Anywhere Access” tab/link, and then click on the “Repair” button. Note that you might also need to click on the “Set up…” button in the Domain name section and set up your domain name again).
For additional help please see:
Successful Connections Require Secure Remote Web Access Setup!
- Mike answered 8 years ago
- last active 8 years ago
For your first question… Please see: Microsoft Licensing
For your second question… As long as the (accounting, etc.) program can be installed directly onto the server running Windows Server Essentials, and will run successfully from a standard Remote Desktop Connection (i.e. assuming that the author hasn’t specifically blocked it from being run remotely), then it should indeed work just fine with WSE RemoteApp. That being said, WSE RemoteApp has a fully functional 21-day evaluation period, and so the best thing for you to do is to install the add-in on your server, publish the program as a RemoteApp program in WSE RemoteApp, and then check for yourself to see if it works as desired.
- Mike answered 8 years ago
- last active 8 years ago
There are currently two different “versions” of WSE WorkFolders (i.e. “WSE WorkFolders 2016” and “WSE WorkFolders 2012 R2“). The version you choose to download and install on your server should be based upon the version of Windows Server Essentials that you are currently running on your server. If you have Windows Server 2016 Essentials installed on your server, then you want to use WSE WorkFolders 2016. If you have Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials installed on your server, then you want to use WSE WorkFolders 2012 R2.
Additionally, the different “editions” of WSE WorkFolders (i.e. Student, Starter, Basic, Standard, Professional, etc.) are based upon the number of users that you will be allowing access to Work Folders. Therefore, you would want to purchase a license for the edition that matches the number of users you will be allowing access to Work Folders on your Essentials server. The 21-day trial version of WSE WorkFolders runs as the 5-user “Starter Edition“.
Other than that, all of the “Versions” and “Editions” of the product are identical as far as functionality is concerned.
- Mike answered 8 years ago
- last active 8 years ago
