V4 VDI/Shared Session install - Promenta Documentation

This section describes a special installation scenario and is not automatically covered by the standard licence. Additional fees may apply. Please check with Promenta before using this installation scenario.

Scenarios

Several installation scenarios are possible when VDI type infrastructure is used.

Scenario A : The user treats the Virtual Machine as their own system and manages it themselves. This is similar to a laptop user and hence this standard scenario is applicable. This Virtual Machine scenario should be treated the same as the standard local installation. AWS Workspaces, Azure VMs and similar apply. Please review the information here

Scenario B : The Virtual Machine infrastructure is centrally managed using a “master image”. This scenario uses the multi-session capability of Windows 10/11. Each user receives a copy of the image as their machine. The user can update their own data under the local and roaming profiles. In this scenario the VDI installation can be done as per the below in the master image.

Scenario B is also known as : Server-context install, Shared-session , Shared-desktop.

Scenario B : Description

In this scenario

Each user has their own Windows logon account
Each user has their own Windows desktop
Multiple users share the same Windows host server – either a dedicated server or a virtual server.
The Windows host server has a single Administrator account

Prerequisites

Microsoft Excel must be installed and active for each user
(Optional) If running the Promenta PCA app – .net 8 framework is required. It will be automatically installed during the Promenta PCA install.
Network access to the SAP server infrastructure
Internet access to the Microsoft download website for Edge WebDriver update (unless you will manually update the Edge WebDriver)
Each user will have their own local data folders ( \APPDATA\Roaming\Microsoft\Addins\ ) with full update permission
Group Policy : noextensibilitycustomizationfromdocument for excel must be deactivated. This setting is delivered deactivated in Windows 10/11. It is currently delivered active in Azure InTune desktops.
- [HKCU: Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\toolbars\excel\noextensibilitycustomizationfromdocument]

In addition : it is assumed you already have a working stand-alone Promenta installation and a working ini file.

Ini File

The ini file requires similar settings as per the stand-alone ini file. The settings below are required for VDI setup

<PC_Port_List>9515-9530</PC_Port_List> This is the list of allowed ports. There should be enough ports available for the number of expected simultaneous users.

<Tmp_Path>[StdPath]\tmp</Tmp_Path> You must use the [StdPath] as this will evaluate to C:\Users\<windows user id>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\AddIns\Promenta\tmp

Installation using Promenta installer

Definition : Server-Context install – this installation makes the functional components (the add-in itself) and the configuration (ini file) available to all users by installing into the server context instead of installing into each user’s own context.

You will install the Add-in using the Combined Installer and select the “Server Install” option

This will install the Add-in files here :

main file : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\XLSTART\Promenta_Webflow.xlam

ini file : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\XLSTART\Promenta\Promenta_Excel_RFC_Service.ini

PromentaCA application : C:\Program Files\PromentaCA\PromentaCA.exe

Installation log file will be written to C:\Users\<AdminUsername>\AppData\Local\Temp\Setup Log<DATE>