Hello all, I am new to Zenworks and am having a bit of trouble with the configuration. My customer was running a Novell server until we upgraded them to a Windows environment. They were using an application launcher to manage shortcuts. Currently I have installed a trial version of Zenworks 10. From what I am reading 10 comes with an app launcher but I cant figure out how to configure it. I believe that I must configure different portions of Zenworks before I can configure the app launcher. (Policys, users, configuration, ect) I just cant find a decent how to on the net. Is anyone familiar with the product and willing to point me in the right direction? I have one test machine I am working with that I have already deployed the client to. Thanks

ZCM is very daunting at first especially if you're coming from a Netware/Zen7 environment. I haven't found any good instructions, so I figured it out myself. You need to add a user source. The user source will take users from the Active Directory. You will also need to create a user in AD that has permissions to read the directory. Preferably this user won't be able to log on to local machines though. Configuration of user sources is found in the configuration page in Zenworks webadmin. This part is a bit tricky, yet straightforward. I don't have the ZCM10 page on hand to tell you exactly how you need to do this, so hopefully you'll figure it out. You'll then need to port over your "bundles" from the old environment, or create new ones. Make folders to put the bundles in, for example "General Applications". Then put the bundles in the folders. To start an application the bundle will be a "Windows Bundle" and "Simple Application". The rest is like Zen7. Click the checkbox to change additional settings then assign the bundle to users or computers (I generally make the bundle available in the App launcher and start menu). Make sure the client is installed by going to http:\\servername:port\zenworks-setup. Note you must be logged into the client as the same user you use to administrate Zenworks. You can add additional users on the configuration page in the Zenworks webadmin tool. The bundles will appear in the Explorer NalView and start menu if you configured it. However, we want the application launcher! In the group policy for the users that you want to have the Application Launcher go to User\Administrative Tools\System\Logon\Run these programs at logon. Add "c:\program files\novell\zenworks\bin\nalwin.exe" to the list. NalWin still supports most of the same registry tweaks that the Zen7 launcher did, such as the ability to prevent the closing of the NalWin. Hopefully you'll work out the rest without much trouble! Regards, Adam Petronaitis Technitune

Thanks for the response! I am finding it useful already. When ever I tried to distribute the agent through the console it generated errors every time. The computer would actually lockup at reboot. So I have already learned something, I will post updates.

I have another question. Is it possible to point the Zenworks Application Launchers shortcuts (Windows Executable) to the local machine? This isn't a necessity, but helpful. Thanks

Update- Found a way to point apps to the local computer. Just type out the path insted of hitting the browse button. huh I guess I was expecting something more difficult. All my bundles are working correctly except for one..I am unable to create a shortcut to a word document. Im sure I will figure this out soon..My second problem is trying to configure the policy to not let the users close the Application Window on the workstations. I will post my finding to help the next person..Good Day! Thanks

To prevent the NAL from being closed start nalwin.exe with the /S switch from your group policy. This runs it in "shell mode" and as such you cannot close it (except with task manager, kill process). Also, to create a shortcut to a Word document do this: Make a bundle that starts Microsoft Word (c:\program files\microsoft office\office12\winword.exe) In the command line parameters box add the path to the document (i:\test\test.docx) It should now work as expected!

use of the term "upgraded" in the first post is very liberal. :p "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid" - Soren Kierkegaard.