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Windows XP provides several new features
that make it a useful and in fact powerful platform for hosting /
running both the NetCFax server
and the NetCFax client, but the way
it does this can also create a certain amount of
confusion. We hope these notes will help you understand how this
system works a little more clearly, and how NetCFax has been
optimized to take advantage of these new features made available
in XP Pro.
With the release of 2.70 and
Pro 3.10 you can now run the single installed NetCFax client
under as many
different Windows login accounts as you wish, ALL AT THE SAME
TIME. Each will use (and save) it's own configuration system
automatically.
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Overview
The "Fast Task
Switching" system (FTS)
Windows XP Pro provides a new system Microsoft call "Fast
Task Switching" (FTS) that is supported/enabled by what is called
"Windows Terminal Services" (WTS). This system
lets you have multiple (Windows) login accounts on the same machine, and to
switch between them without (necessarily) having to close the
programs running in that account down and then logging out of the account
before doing so.
To use this, the FTS system has
first to be enabled and configured by a Windows login account that has Administrator
rights. (Please see the Windows Help system for more information
on how you do this).
It is also a useful fact that that any programs (such as
the NetCFax client) that are
left running under that previous account ARE STILL RUNNING when
you use the FTS system to login to Windows XP using a
different Windows login account.
NB - This also means that every
Windows login account running on this XP machine is actually running the SAME PROGRAMS, not
their own individual installations of the program...
The Remote Desktop Sessions
system
Windows XP Pro can also be configured to provide Remote Desktop
Sessions to other
networked PC's, making it similar in some ways to the Windows
Server 2000 and 2003 environments in some ways, except only
one RDP session can be being used (actively logged into) the XP
machine at any one time.
Both the NetCFax server
and the NetCFax client can
be run under any RDP Session in virtually the same way as
if you were running it directly on the XP Pro machine after
logging into it physically. If
you try to login and use an RDP session on an XP Pro machine that
already has another RDP Session open and actively in use, you will
be warned that you cannot do so without forcing the other session
to be closed. But If that happens, ALL PROGRAMS RUNNING on
that other RDP Session (such as a fax server or client) will still
continue to run normally....
PLEASE NOTE that if you require
support on setting these RDP sessions up, or even setting FTS up,
we will be happy
to do so if you subscribe to one of our personal support sessions.
Otherwise, and
because our free product support system does not cover providing
this Windows specific information, you will need to check your XP documentation
and the Windows Help system for the information you require.
We suggest
that you also ensure you understand what happens when a login is
made using the active RDP session on an XP machine, as you cannot login to
the XP machine itself when a Remote Desktop session is actually logged
into it. If you need further help or information on these
systems, please contact Microsoft directly.
Installing and setting up NetCFax
under XP Pro
Naturally, as is the case with virtually all Windows based software today, you
must login to Windows using a Windows login
account that has full Administrator rights before you can install
either the NetCFax server or the NetCFax client. You
also need to ensure that you have completed the full installation
for both, including installing the fax printer drivers before you
attempt to use either of them normally. Once
they are fully installed, you must always login to Windows XP using
a Windows login account that has administrator rights to start and run the NetCFax server,
as the fax server cannot be run by anyone without these access
rights, such as the Restricted/Limited access accounts. The NetCFax client
can of course be run
under any Windows XP login account with Administrator, Power user or
even Restricted access rights, and under any type of login when
using an RDP session hosted by
the XP machine. Once
the Fax server has been started you can of course also run the
NetCFax client using the same
Windows login account if you wish, or you can log out of
that account entirely, which will still leave the fax server running and
accessible to all networked fax clients, or you can use the FTS feature to login
to Windows under a different Windows account and run a NetCFax client
there. The NetCFax client
can be used when logged in to XP Pro under any type of Windows login account
on that machine perfectly normally, and several different Windows account
can be running it at one and the same time. The
NetCFax server will also be accessible to the NetCFax clients on other
machines on your network, always providing that they can connect to the
XP machine on the specified TCP port. (7488 by default)
There are two different ways to
approach this, and both are very effective, so it depends on your
preferences more than anything else.
STARTING THE NETCFAX SERVER ON
THE XP PRO MACHINE DIRECTLY
If you want to run it directly on the XP machine by logging
into that machine physically, you must do so using a Windows login
account that has Windows Administrator rights. Then start the
NetCFax server and once it is running, use the Fast task Switching option to Switch
users, but do not log into another account, leaving the
machine waiting for a login. The
NetCFax server will still be running in the login account
you used to start it under, and will be accessible to the entire
network, even though you have logged back out of the FTS session,
as all running programs always continue to run in a closed FTS
Session. STARTING THE
NETCFAX SERVER IN AN RDP SESSION ON THE XP PRO MACHINE
If you prefer to log into a Remote Desktop Session on the XP machine
(with Windows administrator rights) you can do so, and then start the
NetCFax server, within the RDP session. Once the fax server
is running, you can close that RDP session down again. The
NetCFax server will still be running in the RDP session,
and will be accessible to the entire network, even though the RDP
session has been closed down, as all running programs always
continue to run in a closed RDP Session.
In both of the above scenarios,
the
NetCFax server will still be running (in background) and it
is therefore available to all networked machines that are on the
same TCP IP subnet, which usually means all of your networked
machines. Connecting to
the fax server normally across the network For
any networked machines that are running Windows 98, ME, Windows
2000 Pro, or indeed any other version of windows, and have a fax
client installed on their own machines, they simply run the fax
client, and then login to the fax server that is running on the XP
Pro machine in the normal way. Connecting
to the fax server by logging into the XP Pro machine using any
available Windows FTS login account When
you log into the XP Pro machine that is running the
NetCFax server directly, irrespective of the account you
use, you can start the NetCFax client,
and connect to the fax server that is running on that machine in
the normal way. Connecting
to the fax server by logging into any Windows Remote Desktop
Session (on any Windows server system that provides them) When
you log into a Remote Desktop Session, you are actually running
everything on that remote machine. Assuming that RDP server makes
a NetCFax client
installation available to the RDP session, you can login
to the
NetCFax server, even though it is running on the XP Pro
machine, and use it in the normal way.
If you intend to run the NetCFax client
under a restricted (limited) Windows login account on the
XP machine itself, we
recommend that you check to ensure that the fax printer is set to
NOT use the normal print spooling, although NetCFax will normally
handle this for you automatically. To do so, go to My
computer - settings, open the Printers and faxes folder, and then
right click on the NetCPlus Fax Client Printer, select properties,
and then select the Advanced tab on the property sheet that will
appear. This tab is shown below with the setting changed to not
use spooling.  If
this setting is left to use the spooler, and you try to print to
the fax printer when logged into Windows with a restricted/limited
account, it is possible that the printer icon will appear in the
system tray, but nothing else will happen. If
this happens, close the NetCFax client, log in to Windows with an
administrator access account, change this setting, then restart
Windows completely.
Running the NetCFax Client
under different Windows login accounts Because,
as we have mentioned previously, there is only ONE SINGLE NetCFax client
installation on the machine, it soon becomes obvious that
the initial configuration of the client will be the same when
first started in any Windows login session. This is
of course true, but once you login to the NetCFax
Server, the NetCFax client has been
designed to save individual copies of the
configuration system for each NetCFax login account
that is used on this machine. These are resaved whenever you log out to a fax
server with the NetCFax client. (this is not linked to the Windows login account in any
way) Initially, if a fax login account has not been used on
this machine before, the system will create a new individual
configuration for that fax login account based on the normal
default configuration. Unless you use the
NetCFax roaming profile option, whenever you login to any available
NetCFax Server
from any Windows account on that machine, the NetCFax client
checks for an
existing configuration for that particular fax login account, and
if one is found, it automatically switches itself over to use
those settings. When you logout of the fax server again,
this configuration is automatically saved on that machine ready for the next time. This
may sound a bit complicated, but all it means really is that the
single fax installation on this XP machine will automatically
store each separate login configuration for each NetCFax client
login account
that is used, allowing each fax login account that uses this
machine to maintain and use
their own preferred settings.
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NETCFAX -
Networked fax system