Unattended desktop client configuration

With the use of Microsoft's Group Policy Management, you can easily configure the Acronis Access Desktop client on multiple machines remotely. The only thing end users will have to do is install, start the client and enter their password. The Group Policy Management also ensures that users cannot change/replace the correct settings by accident. If this happens, they can simply log off and when they log in, the correct settings will be re-applied.

Creating and configuring the Group Policy Management object:

  1. On your domain controller, open the Group Policy Management console.
  2. Right-click on your desired domain and select Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here....
  3. Give it a name and press OK.
  4. Expand the Group Policy Objects section and select your new policy.
  5. Under the Scope tab select the desired sites, domains, OUs, groups, users and/or computers.

Creating the folder and registry entries:

In this example we will create entries for the Username, Sync-Folder, Server URL, the Auto-Update checkbox and if the client should connect to servers with self-signed certificates.

  1. Expand the Group Policy Objects section and right click on your new Policy Object.
  2. Select Edit and expand User Configuration -> Preferences -> Windows Settings.

Creating the sync folder:

  1. Right-click on Folders and select New -> Folder.
  2. Set the Action to Create.
  3. For the path, enter the following token: %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\AAS Data Folder

Creating the registry:

  1. Right-click on Registry and select New -> Registry Item.
  2. Set the Action to Create.
  3. For Hive, select HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
  4. For the path, enter the following: Software\Group Logic, Inc.\activEcho Client\
  5. Now do the following for the desired entries:
  6. For the Username:
    1. For Value name enter "Username".
    2. For Value type select REG_SZ.
    3. For Value data enter the following token: %USERNAME%@%USERDOMAIN%
  7. For the Server URL:
    1. For Value name enter "Server URL".
    2. For Value type select REG_SZ.
    3. For Value data enter the address of your Access Server. e.g. https://myaccess.com
  8. For the Sync-Folder:
    1. For Value name enter "activEcho Folder".
    2. For Value type select REG_SZ.
    3. For Value data enter the following token and path: %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\AAS Data Folder
  9. For the Auto-Update:
    1. For Value name enter "AutoCheckForUpdates".
    2. For Value type select DWORD.
    3. For Value data enter "00000001". The value "1" enables this setting and the client will automatically check for updates. Setting the value to "0" will disable the setting.
  10. For the Certificates:
    1. For Value name enter "AllowInvalidCertificates".
    2. For Value type select DWORD.
    3. For Value data enter "00000000". The value "0" disables this setting and the client will not be able to connect to Acronis Access servers with invalid certificates. Setting the value to "1" will enable the setting.