Question : Execute an exe file on a server share from a client

EE Experts,

I am about to deploy a new VB.NET application that I have been working on for a long time. All my demos for the customer have been from mine or his laptop. I refered to the MySQL database server as "localhost". I have already proven that I can execute the VB.NET as an application on the cllient and access the database server on a network host. That is no big deal.

Here is what I really want to do and I know that this can be done because I had a PowerBuilder application that I maintained as late as 1999 (user community was 5 users) that did it where the EXE file and supporting DLL files was on an NT network server share and the users of it had Read/Execute permission to that share and could run that application from their client PCs using Windows 95 as the workstation OS. I don't recall if the NT network server was the domain controller that authenticated their logon privileges or not. But if it was not, an authenticated domain user should still be able to execute an EXE file on a stand alone network server share I do believe.

I want to do the same thing only my workstation OS is Windows XP and/or Windows Vista and my server OS is Windows Server 2003 -- possibly Windows Server 2008. I'll know when I see my users new equipment being installed tomorrow by my client's IT hardware and network provider. It is a small office with just 3 users. My users will have one network server which I assume will also be the domain controller. I don't know if they are going to have active directory or not. In my opinion they don't need it. And 3 workstations which will probably be Windows Vista.

I have a bigger challenge for my development environment. My network server is Windows Server 2003 that is a domain controller with active directory on its own domain. My development environment is all Windows XP on a different domain with an old Windows NT 4.0 SP6 machine as the PDC. Can I do as I described above accross domains? If not I will have to move my development machines into the same domain that my Windows Server 2003 machine is the Domain Controller of. I need to know the implementation details of how to make this happen.

I already tried creating a share on my Windows Server 2003 machine, hostname=LAWOFFICE domainname=Subrogation1, and reference it from my client development machine using UNC (\\hostname\sharename\filename.exe) from a Mapped drive letter and it did not work. I can see the mapped drive letter in Windows Explorer on my development machine, hostname=compaq002 in domain dance. I was already connected to a share on the Windows Server 2003 machine which required that I enter a user ID and password that is valid in the other domain. The error message that I got was "ProgramName has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please tell Microsoft about the problem." I declined to tell Microsoft about the problem.

Thank you,
Ted Palmer

Answer : Execute an exe file on a server share from a client

Whether a domain is used or not, what type of server is used etc., makes no difference at all, that just defines the logon and authentication process, and a domain can be used to push policies, making systems more secure. With policies you could of course also define what apps a user is allowed to use and what he isn't allowed to run.

What does make a difference, is that most apps need to be installed to the workstation it'll run on, as there are registry settings that need to be set etc. So even if the app is located on a shared drive, it should be installed on every workstation (the app can still be located on the server) for it to work.