[Shu-cdromlan] Re: cd-roms needing write access to the server

[Martin Sapsed]

Hi all,

I've copied this to cd-rom-networking@jiscmail.ac.uk since the question was
asked there too...

Jon Knight wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Preston,A wrote:
> > In order to run a networked version of FAME CD-ROM (from Bureau van
> > Dijk) all users need write access to the server where the CD is
> > installed.  For obvious reasons we are not happy to proceed on this
> > basis and this is not the first CD-ROM I have encountered which will
> > only work in this way
> >
> > I wonder if anyone out there has found a clever fix or 'over-ride' to
> > get round this problem?  Any replies to me will be treated in strict
> > confidence!
>
> One trick I've used with our Ultra*Net CD-ROM server in the past
> (including for FAME I think before we moved to the Web version) is to
> install the product on my clean test workstation in somewhere like
> C:\temp\productname using InCtrl3 (available from
> <URL:ftp://ftp.zdnet.com/acq/downloads/pub/zd/PCMag/pcminctr.zip>) to
> check what it installs and what registry changes it makes.

I used to use InCtrl - i think there's a V4 now too - but found the
registry information only half usable. I now prefer InstallRite - a free
download from
http://www.epsilonsquared.com/installrite.htm - which gives you usable .reg
files for the registry alterations.

>                                                            Move any DLLs
> that a naughty installer tries to put in somewhere silly like C:\windows
> or C:\windows\system back into C:\temp\productname.  Then check it works
> OK on the test workstation.  Keep tweaking until you've got all the
> naughty new files in the one place and it works.  Basically I'm doing a
> local product install but the CD-ROM image just happens to be on an N:
> drive delivered over the LAN from the Ultra*Net server.
>
> Next make a self extracting ZIP archive of the installation in
> C:\temp\productname and put that on our Ultra*Net server.  Now in the
> Ultra*Net launch script for this product I download the self-extracting
> ZIP, make the C:\temp\productname directory on the client PC (if it
> doesn't already exist), unpack the s/e ZIP (ie run it), add in any
> required registry entries (which we know about because InCtrl3 tells us
> about them) and then run the c:\temp\productname\superprogram.exe product
> executable.  The Ultra*Net script waits for the product's main window to
> disappear and then tidies away all the cruft in c:\temp.  Bingo - one
> working product usually!  You might need to salt to taste for products
> that look for host based keys and the like but experience has shewn that
> they tend to be pretty grotty anyway and soon get ditched by the
> users/librarians (at least round here.  If CD-ROM vendors make things too
> painful folk will now just go elsewhere and their products will either be
> dropped by us or consigned to the single standalone CD-ROM workstation.
> "Hurrah!" for the Internet and the WWW! :-) ).

Similar to my initial thoughts but I didn't think of zipping it...

> Bit of a pain in the bottom but it does mean that I can run (for example)
> Bowker's Global Books In Print and the new GBIP Archive off the Ultra*Net
> server without writing to the server's filestore _and_ have it put into a
> writable space on what in some cases are fairly locked down NT
> workstations in labs.

I have all of GBIP on a server apart from the ini file bits. A few
alterations to the glbipw.mnu file means you can have them elsewhere. All I
have to do on the server is update the t01 file for each CD. I wouldn't
fancy heaving that around!

> Works for me.  YMMV. :-)

Sounds like you've got a similar opinion of many software writers to me...!

Cheers,

Martin

--
Martin Sapsed                           To have no errors
Information Services                    Would be life without meaning
University of Wales, Bangor, LL57 2UX   No struggle, no joy.
Fax: +44 (0)1248 383826