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iShadow Docs: Getting Started

Manual Installation

Manual Installation of iShadow Desktop is very simple on either workstation or server class operating system and is independent from multi-user support offered by Microsoft RDS (aka Terminal Services), i.e. switching to “application server mode” is not necessary.

Standalone installer for iShadow Desktop is packaged as “iShDsk.exe” which can be downloaded as executable or as compressed ZIP file “iShDsk.zip” from www.ishadow.com.

On execution installer will check presence of iShadow Desktop installation and will offer automatic uninstall which will be followed by a new installation. This process is designed to preserve the original configuration and does not need manual uninstall of the older version prior to the installation of the update.

Updates to iShadow Desktop that is packaged as part of iShadow Application suite require full installer for iShadow Application Suite, since both installations use the same default location %SystemDrive%\%Program Files%\iShadow (C:\Program Files\iShadow on 32-bit Windows or C:\Program Files (x86)\iShadow on 64-bit).

First Configuration

On first launch user is prompted for the location where to store iShadow Desktop configuration files. These files have “*.TEC” filename extention. This file is encrypted and can be moved at any time to another location. Double-clicking on this file will automatically launch iShadow and preserve file location for future use in Windows Registry‘s HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive, so configuration kept unique for each user even on multi-user systems being saved with user’s profile.

Note that configuration files are user specific and cannot be used directly from other accounts even if the PIN used to encrypt the file is known – please use export procedure to create “*.TEK” files (used exclusively with iShadow Desktop configuration backups) to be re-imported in this scenario.

Exact path for “*.TEC” configuration file can be located at [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Teknica Software, Inc.\iShadow\INIT] Registry location under the [DESKTOP] value.

If you intend on using Citrix ICA connectivity, make sure to download and install Citrix Receiver (aka Citrix ICA client) to enable iShadow Desktop support for ICA: http://receiver.citrix.com. While RDP capabilities are already built into most Windows OS, VNC engine is built into iShadow Desktop. Inability to support ICA connectivity does not affect other application features with both RDP and VNC functionality fully supported.

Once uninstall is complete a new window with iShadow version number will be displayed (see Fig. 2). If you plan running application immediately after installation keep “Run iShadow Desktop now” check box checked (default).

Licensing

There are several licensing options:

  • CL, aka “Console license”
  • MUL, aka “Multi-user license”

Console license is suitable for installation on Workstation OS, Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 8.1 for example. It can also be used on Server OS (Windows 2003 through Windows 2012 R2) when multi-user environments associated with Microsoft Terminal Services or Remote Desktop Hosts are not enabled.

Multi-user licenses are designed for multi-user environments and cover unlimited number of users per licensed machine.

Each license is issued per computer name, multiple computer names can be included in a single license.

If you need to confirm correctness of computer name to be licensed with iShadow, here is a link to check with: http://52.8.51.138/computer-names/

There are 3 options to apply the license:

  • Have license ready prior to installation and follow prompt to import the license (the best option)
  • Download and run licensing utility to import the license (utility is included with iShadow) installation): http://52.8.51.138/downloads
  • Drop LICENSE.VDL into iShadow folder and restart iShadowDesktop.exe to apply

iShadow Desktop is an ideal companion to iShadow Application Suite (“iShadow” for short). In addition to all functionality available with a standalone version of iShadow Desktop a few additional features are activated when installed as part of iShadow Application Suite. The most noticeable feature is the remote control capability (i.e. “shadowing” in Citrix terminology) available for both RDP and ICA sessions.

Installer for iShadow is packaged as “iSetup.exe” which can be downloaded as executable or as compressed ZIP file “iSetup.zip” from www.ishadow.com/downloads

iShadow Application Suite integration

iShadow Desktop installation is done alongside with the other iShadow components and is fully integrated without any specific installation input required. Note, that iShadow Desktop licensing is incorporated within iShadow licensing model requires “MUL” license, i.e. users of iShadow Desktop installed on iShadow capable server are fully licensed to use iShadow Desktop and are granted an unlimited user license at the licensed server.

Unattended Installation

Unattended installation of iShadow Desktop is accomplished by adding switch “/S” – execution of “setup.exe /S” at command line will be unattended without any prompts for user input.

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