Set up Desktop App for Windows in Environments with Cloned Images

 

Administrators may want to set up the Desktop App in an environment that relies on cloning a machine from a template image. This may be done in several types of deployments, including:

• Deployments where images are used to provision machines for users.
  
  
• Deployments with virtual environments where there is a master image used to clone VMs as users log in (e.g. Citrix XenDesktop).

Following this guide will provide the best experience for users and device management capabilities for Admins. 

Configure the Master Image

1. Ensure that you only install in environments that meet the minimum system requirements for the Desktop App.
   
   
2. Install the Desktop App with any desired install parameters in the master image.
   
   Note: We do not recommend setting up any drives in the master image to prevent multiple users from using the same Egnyte account. Instead, drives should be added by each user or through a login script that makes use of the command-line tool detailed in the Configuration section of our mass deployment article.
   
   
3. After installing the app, delete the DeviceID key from the following location in the registry in the master image*: 
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Egnyte\Egnyte Drive
   
   
4. If you're using a virtual environment where your master image is cloned every time a user logs in, ensure that the following registry and hard drive locations are preserved and restored when a user logs out and logs back in. Doing this will ensure that users don't need to add a drive and sign in to Egnyte upon starting a session. It also prevents loss of any files which did not upload in the previous session:
   
   In the registry - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Egnyte
   On the hard drive - %localappdata%\EgnyteDrive

*Deleting the DeviceID key will ensure that each user receives a unique device ID when the app first starts and will allow the same user to login to multiple machines cloned from the same image.