The Office 2000 Client Platform

Office 2000 Requirements in a Windows Terminal Server Environment

Organizations that use Microsoft Office 2000 in cross-platform, legacy hardware, or terminal-based environments can use Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (Windows Terminal Server). The Windows Terminal Server platform allows different types of hardware platforms to act as Windows-based terminals running Windows-based 32-bit applications from a back-end Windows NT-based server.

This configuration is a particularly compelling solution for managing the coexistence or migration period of an enterprise upgrade to Office 2000. Running Office 2000 under Windows Terminal Server can also help reduce management costs by shifting the primary hardware requirements from the user’s computer to the server, which is maintained centrally. Running Office 2000 as a Windows Terminal Server application is a scalable solution that helps reduce cost of ownership without compromising productivity.

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How the Windows Terminal Server platform works

Windows Terminal Server contains both server and client components. The server components can host multiple, simultaneous client sessions on Windows NT Server. The client components contain only the minimum amount of software necessary to start the client computer, establish a connection to the server, and display the user interface.

All other operating system functions run on the server, including applications such as Office 2000. Each user that runs an application on Windows Terminal Server opens a separate instance of the application on the server, and all customizations are stored in a per-user storage area.

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How to run Office 2000 under Windows Terminal Server

To run efficiently on the Windows Terminal Server platform, an application must meet the following requirements.

Separate application settings and user settings

Users running applications on Windows Terminal Server must be able to customize their applications and have their settings persist between sessions, without interference from settings for other users.

In Office 2000, application-specific settings are stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree in the registry. User-specific settings can be stored as files or as registry entries. User settings stored as files are located in the Windows\Profiles\<Username>\Application Data folder, and user settings stored in the registry are located in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER subtree.

Flexible path names in the registry

Installation locations can change, leaving hard-coded path names pointing to invalid sources. To run well under Windows Terminal Server, an application must have the flexibility to redirect the path as necessary.

The Windows installer, which is included with all editions of Office 2000 and Windows 2000, keeps track of installation locations and installed files. If the default server is unavailable, the Windows installer redirects the connection to the next available source.

Support for environment variables

Environment variables are useful for administrators who want to create a different storage path for each user. For example, an administrator might want to store all users’ Microsoft Excel files on one server by setting the path to the following:

X:\Userdata\xl\%Username%

To work correctly, the environment variable %Username% must be expanded for each individual user. Because the Windows Terminal Server platform saves files using hard-coded paths, ordinarily it would not correctly expand an environment variable if the server were mapped to a different drive letter. However, Office 2000 applications use the detection capabilities of the Windows installer, which automatically detects the next recognized storage location.

Use of the Temp folder for nonpersistent data

Previous versions of Microsoft Office store some user data files in the Temp folder. Under Windows Terminal Server, however, storing user data in the Temp folder creates a security risk and can cause conflicts between user settings, because all settings are stored in the single server-based Temp folder.

To avoid this problem, Office 2000 was redesigned to use the Windows\Profiles\<Username>\Application Data folder and the My Documents folder as the defaults for user data storage.

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Benefits of Windows Terminal Server

Office 2000 detects when it is running on the Windows Terminal Server platform and optimizes its behavior automatically. For example, when Office 2000 is running on Windows Terminal Server, it displays lower-resolution application splash screens that display more quickly.

Running Office 2000 in the Windows Terminal Server environment is a desirable option for corporations that require complete central control over the user environment, even to the level of total system lockdown. To configure and control user settings in Office 2000, administrators use systems policies. Office 2000 provides the same level of support for system policies when running on Windows and Windows Terminal Server platforms.

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See also

For information about installing Office 2000 in a Windows Terminal Server environment, see Using Office 2000 with Windows Terminal Server.

For information about using system policies in Office 2000, see Ongoing Configuration of Office on Users' Computers.