Thin clients

LANDesk Handheld Manager provides extensive inventory management and software distribution for thin clients. For additional information on LANDesk Handheld Manger, see the Handheld Manager help section.

NOTE: This product installs with Management Suite automatically. It only needs to be activated. Contact your reseller to purchase a license if you want to use this feature.

Thin clients running Windows CE

Windows CE Thin client requirements

• Neoware E100 (ce5)
• HPT5520 (ce5)
• Intel X86 for thin clients

To install the LANDesk agent on thin client devices running Windows CE

Neoware E100 (ce5)

1. From the Neoware thin client, open an Internet Browser such as Internet Explorer.
2. Enter http://[core name]/ldhm-clients in the address field.
3. Click the neoware-ce5 link.
4. Select the newoare-ce5.CAB link.
5. Click Run this program from its current location. Click OK to install the CAB file.
6. The agent is installed to the \diskonchip directory, which is a hidden directory.

HPT5520 (ce5)

1. From the HP thin client, open an Internet Browser such as Internet Explorer.
2. Enter http://<core name>/ldhm-clients in the address field.
3. Click the hpt5520-ce5 link.
4. Click the hpt5520-ce5.CAB link.
5. Click Run this program from its current location. Click OK to install the CAB file.
6. The agent is installed to \Hard Disk\LANDesk

To uninstall the LANDesk agent from an HP device, go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > View or Remove Programs. Click LANDesk Software, Inc.. from the list of applications and click Remove.

Distributing registry files to Windows CE devices

You can send .REG registry files directly to Windows CE devices. The format of these files matches the standard Windows registry export format with two exceptions. Instead of the normal Windows registry format header, the first line of Windows CE-based .reg files must start with one of the following strings:

• LDHM Generic Registry File: Installs to all Windows CE devices
• LDHM Handheld Registry File: Installs only to handheld Windows CE devices
• LDHM Thin-client Registry File: Installs only to thin client Windows CE devices
• LDHM <DeviceType> Registry File: Installs only to the device type specified.

Thin clients running Microsoft Windows XP Embedded OS

For thin clients running the Microsoft Windows XP Embedded OS, the standard desktop agent that is installed on any Windows desktop is used instead of the Windows CE agent. The LANDesk Windows Configuration can be run on a thin client running XP Embedded the same way it would be installed on a standard desktop client machine. Most of the LANDesk agent features available on Windows XP desktop device will work on a thin client device running Windows XP Embedded. For example, hardware and software scanning, remote control, and software distribution will all work on an XP embedded thin client device.

Features supported for thin clients running XP embedded OS:

• Unmanaged device discovery
• Agent pull
• Hardware inventory scanning
• Software inventory scanning

NOTE: Delta scans for both software and hardware scanning will not work on thin clients that use a write filter (such as the Wyse s90 device) when the write filter is enabled.

• Management Gateway via remote control
• Remote control
• Software distribution

NOTE: the Wyse write filter must be disabled in order to perform a software distribution task on an XP embedded thin client. If the filter is enabled, a falsely successful distribution may be reported.

• Extended device discovery

Working with thin client configurations

Handheld Manager's Windows CE thin client support includes the following features:

• Creating and deploying thin client agent configuration CAB files in the Windows CE agent configuration window
• Creating and deploying custom Windows CE thin client configurations in the Thin-client configuration window

Custom Windows CE thin client configurations allow you to customize the thin client initial connection manager dialog. Each Handheld Manager thin client configuration can add three configuration entries:

• Internet Explorer: Launches an Internet Explorer session with start page, search page, and cache size you specify. Appears in the thin client's connection manager as "Preset_IE_Configuration."
• Remote Desktop: Launches a Remote Desktop connection with the server and options you specify. Appears in the thin client's connection manager as "Preset_RDP_Configuration."
• Citrix ICA: Launches a Citrix ICA connection with the server and options you specify. Appears in the thin client's connection manager as "Preset_ICA_Configuration."

You can only deploy one configuration at a time to thin client devices. There can only be one of each entry type (Internet Explorer, Remote Desktop, and Citrix ICA). You can't change the default name that appears in the thin client's connection manager. Once you create a configuration, you can't go back and edit it. If you need to make changes to an existing configuration, create a new configuration and include the changes you want.

Once you have a configuration, deploy it by following the procedure below. The thin client configuration files are stored on the core server in the \Program Files\LANDesk\ManagementSuite\LDHM\packages folder. This corresponds to the following Web share: http://<core server>/ldhm-packages.

To distribute software to a thin client device

1. Copy the program you want to install to a Web share. The default share location on the core server is \Program Files\LANDesk\ManagementSuite\LDHM\Packages. This corresponds to the following Web share: http://<core server>/ldhm-packages.
2. Click Tools > Distribution > Scheduled tasks, and click the Schedule thin client task button. Browse to the program you want to install and click Next.
3. Enter a Script name and click Next.
4. Adjust the download options you want and click Next.
5. Finish the wizard.
6. From the network view, drag handheld clients that you want to receive the package to the task you created in the Scheduled tasks window.
7. From the task's shortcut menu, click Properties and configure the task or select Run now. Once the start time arrives, the job status will change to Working and the job results will change to Policy has been made available, indicating that the file has been made available to the handheld the next time the handheld distribution agent runs (the default is once an hour). You can force the agent to run by running wcesdclnt.exe on the handheld.

Scanning for custom registry settings for Wyse thin clients running Windows CE

Handheld Manager’s inventory scanner allows you to customize which registry settings are scanned for on thin clients. This feature is supported for Wyse thin client devices running Windows CE. To scan for custom registry settings, create a text file named “ldcustkeys.ini”. In this text file, enter in the registry settings that the inventory scanner should scan for. For example:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ActiveSync\Address\IP

; \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Color\BaseHue

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AirSync\Restriction

• To comment out a line, begin the line with semicolon
• Each registry key should be on a line by itself
• Incorrect registry keys will be ignored

Supported registry types include:

• String Value
• Multi String Value (Multi strings will separated by a comma)
• Binary Value (will be display in Hex format)
• DWORD Value

Copy the ldcustkeys.ini file to the following directory on the core:

• C:\Program Files\LANDesk\ManagementSuite\LDHM\clients\wyse-ce5

The new registry settings will appear in the inventory tree view for the device under OS > Thin Client Info.

About the New thin client configuration dialog box

Use this dialog (Tools > Handheld > Thin-client configuration) to create new thin-client configurations.

About the Internet Explorer tab

Use this tab to create a new Internet Explorer connection manager entry.

• Enable Internet Explorer: Adds this Internet Explorer configuration to the thin client's connection manager.
• Start page: The full URL to the start page you want this entry to open.
• Search page: The full URL to the default search page this entry will use.
• Cache size: The amount of cache, in kilobytes, you want the browser to use.
• Kiosk mode: When checked, launches the browser in kiosk mode, without a menu or status bar.

About the Remote Desktop tab

Use this tab to create a new Remote Desktop connection manager entry.

• Create Remote Desktop connection: Adds this Remote Desktop configuration to the thin client's connection manager.
• Name: The name that appears in the thin client's connection manager. You can't change this.
• Server: The server that you want to connect to.
• Low speed connection: Makes the session faster over low-speed connections by disabling the desktop background, window and menu animation, and window contents while dragging.
• Use connection bar: Enables the Remote Desktop connection bar at the top of the session screen.
• Connect local devices: Select the check box for any devices whose resources you want to use locally.

About the Citrix ICA tab

Use this tab to create a new Citrix ICA connection manager entry.

• Create Citrix ICA connection: Adds this Remote Desktop configuration to the thin client's connection manager.
• Connection title: The name that appears in the thin client's connection manager. You can't change this.
• Name: The connection name this entry will connect to.
• Colors: The number of colors this connection should use.
• Compress data stream: Whether compression should be enabled.
• Use disk cache: Whether the local disk cache should be enabled.
• Sound: Whether sound should be enabled, and if so, the local volume for audio.