This post is more than 5 years old
21 Posts
0
6760
How to delete integrated shortcuts icons from desktop for multiple farms
The admin guide suggests the following: An AppPortal command line parameter, /autodelete, is available. This command line parameter removes all farm definitions and desktop integrated shortcuts upon exiting AppPortal, so that any autoload farms are reloaded.
This does not seem to work when you have more than one farm loaded and using Desktop Integrated mode. I am using the registry key option to manage the loading of multiple farm entries. When you have multiple farms it is only possible to set one farm as the default farm and connected. The integrated shortcuts icons placed on the user's desktop will remail even if the farm is not connected. Initially the user has to connect to the other farms using the Session Connect/Disconnect option, and once the integrated shortcuts icons are placed on the desktop, a user only needs to click on the integrated shortcut icon to force the reconnection and start the application.
The problem is that I currently have several Farms that the users can connected to and as a result users have integrated shortcuts icons onto their desktops for all the farms. I now want to add a new Farm an would like to remove all the integrated shortcuts icons from the original farms, only leaving the integrated shortcuts icons for the new farm, but leaving the original farms available but not connected.
I thought the /autodelete parameter would do this. However the /autodelete parameter only removes the icons from the default farm. This means that when I set the new default farm to be the new farm, it does not possible to remove the published icons that belong to the other farms except by using Connect/Disconnect option in the Quest client from the system tray.
Any suggestions as to how to remove these unwanted desktop integrated shortcuts icons automatically?
DELL-David Y
228 Posts
1
September 21st, 2011 13:00
Hi Chris,
I have managed to reproduce your original issue by further testing the AppPortal configuration. I found that if you remove a farm from the configuration AppPortal will no longer delete the DI icons for that farm. The switches we have discussed, both /AutoDelete and /Uninstall, will only remove the icons for farms that are currently configured on the AppPortal client.
I therefore believe the legacy icons you are seeing on your desktop belong to a farm configuration which has since been removed. For removing these one suggestion is to recreate the farm configuration so that /AutoDelete can clean up as it goes. Alternatively you may decide to manually remove them using a login script, once removed they will not return since only your current configured farms will populate the icons and these will be removed on AppPortal exit.
There is also a solution in our knowledgebase that documents all the switches for AppPortal please follow this link https://support.quest.com/Search/SolutionDetail.aspx?id=SOL61483&category=Solutions&SKB=1
I hope this helps
David
DELL-Andrew W1
378 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 10:00
The command:
pnap32.exe /uninstall
Gets rid of the shortcuts. Haven't tried it with loads of farms but from what you've described, you should be using that instead of/as well as the autodelete.
Cheers.
DELL-David Y
228 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 10:00
Hi Chris,
I have tested what I believe you have setup and found that using the /AutoDelete switch does indeed remove all DI icons including those from disconnected farms, when closing AppPortal.
I set up 2 farms to auto load on opening AppPortal using the command line /DI /AutoDelete. The first farm remained disconnected but has icons remaining from a previous AppPortal DI session. I then connected to the second farm and the DI icons where displayed.
Once I closed AppPortal the /AutoDelete kicked in and removed the DI icons from both farms, which is what I believe you were looking for.
Also, the suggestion from Andrew may be a way to force the removal of those stubborn icons but is not something you can deploy on as a long term solution. The /uninstall switch simply starts AppPortal, deletes all the DI icons and then terminates. So you cannot use this with any other command line options.
You may want to try using the /log switch on your current setup. This logs the information to a file and may give you an indication of why those icons are not being removed.
Kind Regards
David
DELL-David Y
228 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 10:00
Hi Chris,
I will take a look at this and see if we have any workarounds to provide a solution to your issue. I will let you know once I have some further information or some questions for you.
kind Regards
David
DELL-Andrew W1
378 Posts
1
September 21st, 2011 12:00
Hi,
The problem with my suggestion is that it doesn't actually launch AppPortal, it only deletes the shortcuts.
Eg, run pnap32 /uninstall
then run pnap32 /di
So if you wanted to run it reguarly, you'd need to build a .cmd file to run pnap32 /uninstall and then run the pnap32 /di
Andrew.
groots
21 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 12:00
Andrew,
I like your suggestion. Have not seen that parameter detailed anywhere
I have test this in my environment - I need to point out that I am dealing with desktop integrated mode and I am using the "/di" option. I tried the command "pnap32 /di /unistall" and this does not work.
groots
21 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 13:00
David,
I have done some more testing and I may not have explained the exact behaviour correctly. I can concur that the /autodelete option removes all desktop integrated shortcuts icons, but the issue is when does this actual happen. It turns out that it happens when you close the AppPortal (which also happens when you log off).
So back to my issue. The users currently have a number of desktop integrated shortcuts icons from the farms I would like to remove. Changing the logon script to use the "/autodelete" option does not remove the desktop integrated shortcuts icons on their next logon. It will remove the icons when they log off (ie. when the appPortal closes).
So the question still remains - how can we remove the unwanted icons without having to log off once after using the "/autodelete" option.
DELL-Andrew W1
378 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 13:00
No it will remove the DI shortcuts... David is working on a better suggestion for you though, look out for his message shortly
groots
21 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 13:00
Andrew,
My apologies. I need to learn how to spell "uninstall". You are correct about the operation of the "/uninstall" option.
I would appear that the "/uninstall" options runs when pnap32 is started which solves the problem where "/autodelete" is functional when you close pnap32. So using a script to control this process may just do the trick.
groots
21 Posts
0
September 21st, 2011 13:00
Andrew,
If you run pnap32 /uninstall it bring up the appPortal client and removes all the published applications, but if you already have previously used the /DI option and have all those icons on the desktop, they are not removed from the desktop, but from the appportal - yes.