How to: Only map a drive if the server is up
Posted on September 1st, 2008
Logon scripts can be used to map drives for users. The general rule of thumb is to script in either vbs/kix/cmd files and first delete an existing mapping on the specified drive letter and map the drive as shown:
net use P: /delete
net use P: \\server.fqdn.local\share
There can be a delay in the logon time if this server doesn’t exist or is down for whatever reason. If there are many drive mappings during the logon process the delay can be substancial. To get round this problem a script can be run to only map a drive letter if the server is up.
This script is for a dos based cmd script although the same principle can be used for the other scripting technologies. The general process would take:
- Ping the server (once or more if needed)
- Save the ping results to a file (e.g. ping.txt)
- search the file for ‘request timed out)
- only map the drive if this doesn’t exist
- delete the temporary ping.txt file.
Command file
@echo off
net use p: /delete
ping server.fqdn.local -n 1 > z:\citrix\ping.txt
findstr “Request timed out” z:\citrix\ping.txt
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 net use P: “\\server.fqdn.local\share”
del z:\citrix\ping.txt
Kix version (doesn’t require a temporary file)
Shell ‘%comspec% /c ping server.fqdn.local -n 1 | find “TTL” > nul’
If not @ERROR
? “Ping reply was good”
use P: “\\server.fqdn.local\share”
Else
? “Ping reply was bad”
EndIf
Tags: drive mapping, findstr, netuse, ping, script
Filed under Scripts/Reg | No Comments »
Kix command reference guide
Posted on September 1st, 2008
Kix is a very good and useful scripting tool that is used in many organisations for logon scripts.
An online list of all commands can be found at scriptlogic.
Tags: command, kix, kix32, kixtart
Filed under Scripts/Reg | No Comments »
IE7: How to stop http://runonce.msn.com/runonce3.aspx from loading every time IE7 is started
Posted on September 1st, 2008
By default, on first launch of IE7 a runonce page is displayed.
Two registry values can be added to prevent http://runonce.msn.com/runonce3.aspx running for every user in a Citrix session.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
“RunOnceComplete”=dword:00000001
“RunOnceHasShown”=dword:00000001
These can be added by a logon scipt.
Tags: IE7, runonce
Filed under Applications, Scripts/Reg | 3 Comments »
How to show drive letters first in My Computer
Posted on August 26th, 2008
By default, windows explorer and My Computer show the drive description before the drive letter as shown:
This order can be changed so that the drive letter gets shown first, as shown:
To change this order so that the drive letter gets shown first add the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer
Add a REG_DWORD named: ShowDriveLettersFirst
Set the value to the desired level (4 is best)
- 0 – Show drive letters after description (default)
- 1 – Show network drive letters before description, and local drive letters after description
- 2 – No drive letter is displayed
- 4 – Show drive letters before description
You will need to logout and back in to view the change.
Tags: drive letter, order, reg, ShowDriveLettersFirst
Filed under Scripts/Reg, Windows 2003 | No Comments »
Hide the language bar
Posted on August 9th, 2008
VB script to hide the language bar from the Windows 2003 taskbar. Call from logon script.
WshShell.RegWrite “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\CTF\LangBar\ShowStatus”, “2″, “REG_DWORD”
WshShell.RegWrite “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\CTF\LangBar\ExtraIconsOnMinimized”, “0″, “REG_DWORD”
WshShell.RegWrite “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\CTF\Disable Thread Input Manager”, “1″, “REG_DWORD”
WshShell.RegWrite “HKCU\Software\Microsoft\MSUTB\ShowDeskBand”, “1″, “REG_DWORD”
Tags: language bar, script, Scripts/Reg, Scripts/Reg, vbs, Windows 2003
Filed under Scripts/Reg, Windows 2003 | 1 Comment »