Sharing Additional Shared Folders
Afternoon Mike,
When you right click the tray icon for WSERemote, the default ‘Company’ shared folder of WSE 2016 is shown. Is it possible to included other shared folders? (I have certain files that have to be run on the local PCs so they can interact with other software that can’t be installed on the server.)
UPDATE. Sorry, I should have suggested adding the ‘Shared Folders’ root instead of the ‘Company’ Folder – ie \\SERVER\Shared Folders – as users are used to seeing that on their desktop and file explorer window anyway.
Many Thanks
- The Lazy Slug asked 7 years ago
- last edited 7 years ago
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Alas, I’m afraid that the list of server folders that appear in the notification area context menu is fixed and cannot be modified. That being said, you can easily publish a shortcut to whatever folder(s) you want in WSE RemoteApp by doing the following:
- Open the server Dashboard and go to the “WSE RemoteApp” page.
- Click on the “RemoteApp Programs” subtab.
- Click on the “Publish RemoteApp Programs” task.
- Click on “Add Another Program…” and browse to/open: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
- When you are prompted to “Add a shortcut to the program?“, answer “Yes“.
- Click “Next” and finish publishing the new “Windows Explorer” shortcut.
- Select the newly published “Windows Explorer” shortcut in the list of published RemoteApp programs, and click on the “View the RemoteApp programs properties” task.
- In the RemoteApp Properties window that appears, click on “Properties“, and set the “Target” value of the shortcut to the folder that you wish to publish as a RemoteApp program (e.g. “\\SERVER\Shared Folders“, etc.), and click on “OK” to save your changes. NOTE: Make sure that the users have permission to access the folder that you are publishing.
- Complete the RemoteApp Properties wizard as desired. NOTE: You can change the name of the shortcut (e.g. to “Shared Folders“, etc.), change the folder’s icon, set its comment/tooltip, set its allowed users, etc. all from the RemoteApp Properties wizard as you see fit.
You can then repeat the above steps as many times as you’d like in order to publish multiple different folder shortcuts as RemoteApp programs.
EDIT: I’ll certainly look into adding a “Shared Folders” shortcut to the add-in’s context menu (Although I’m not sure if it’s really required seeing as the users should already have access to it from their client computer’s desktop [i.e. from the “Shared Folders” shortcut that gets added to their desktop when the Windows Server Essentials Connector software is installed on their client computers]. I suppose that there can be cases where the connector software, and hence the shortcut, is not installed on the user’s client computer though.).
- Mike answered 7 years ago
- last edited 7 years ago
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for that. It’s a great workaround for what I’m after.
In my case, WSERemote is a remote solution for a) when the onsite server dies and we have to use an offsite one, or b) users need to work offsite. I’d rather not use a VPN for bandwidth as well as security reasons and therefore users won’t have the ‘Shared Folder’ on their desktop from the Connector software.
You’re solution sounds a great way for users to get access to the files that have to be use on the local desktop so I’ll give it a go tomorrow.
Many Thanks again for your help and keep up the great work!
David
- The Lazy Slug answered 7 years ago
- Glad to hear that my suggestion of publishing a server-side folder as a RemoteApp program works for you. BTW, I’ve gone ahead and replaced the context menu’s “Company” folder with a “Shared Folders” folder in the next release of WSE RemoteApp. Hopefully I’ll have the next version of the add-in available for release sometime next week. Thanks for the suggestion.
- FYI, the updated version of WSE RemoteApp with the new “Shared Folders” link on its notification area icon’s context menu has just been released (i.e. Version 1.255.1290.0 or greater).
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Was just about to update my reply when I saw your reply that the folders are all opened on the ‘server side’, which I hadn’t realised – sometimes it’s difficult noticing that programs are actually running remotely!!!! Having said that, files can be copied and pasted locally, so it’s still a good solution for me.
Glad you liked the ‘Shared Folders’ suggestion. I think I’ll go with your solution in the next update.
Cheers again!
- The Lazy Slug answered 7 years ago
- Yes, published RemoteApp programs always run server-side (as that’s the nature of the RemoteApp design). That being said, in the next update release of WSE RemoteApp, the context menu’s new “Shared Folders” share will actually open client-side if possible. Otherwise, it will fallback to opening server-side. Not that it really makes much of a difference seeing as files can still be copied and pasted either way (as you mentioned).
- NOTE: In the latest release of WSE RemoteApp (Version 1.255.1293.0 or greater), the context menu’s new “Shared Folders” share will now open server-side by default (instead of client-side as I previously mentioned). The reason for this change is so that files stored within the shared folders share open within the server-installed associated application (i.e. within the published RemoteApp program), instead of within the client-installed associated application (which may not even exist!). For example, if the user double-clicks on a Word document within their shared folders share, the document will now open with the instance of Microsoft Word that is installed on the server, instead of with the instance of Microsoft Word that is installed on their client computer (which most likely won’t even exist). If you’d rather have the shared folders share open client-side (which is not recommended), you can simply hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard while clicking on the “Shared Folders” item.
- Hi Mike. I just wanted to check if the ‘holding down the SHIFT key’ bit is designed to open the file ‘client side’ if you’ve connected via RADC or Remote Web Access? (i.e. not directly connected to the local network.)
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Sounds good!
I’ll keep an eye out for that.
- The Lazy Slug answered 7 years ago
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