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Internet Explorer Personalisation with RES Workspace Manager

February 1st, 2012 @ Simon Pettit // No Comments

Looking at user settings, below are some recommendations for managing Internet Explorer with RES Workspace Manager. These are not RES “best practices” but tips and tricks picked up in the field after a number of deployments.

1. Configure IE User Settings at a global level (or as an ‘auto launched’ application) so that they get applied to the user’s session at log on. There are lots of applications that rely on these settings and if they’re loaded in the background, they may not be available when needed and cause confusion.
2. Do not use “Zero Profile” mode User Tracking for Internet Explorer. I’ve seen lots of deployments with this enabled and it generates very large User Settings (UPR2 and UPF2) files as IE touches lots of files and registry keys when running. This will certainly result in slower log on/off times and is not required - use the built-in User Settings template.
3. Keep user Favo(u)rites, Cookies and History User Settings separate from the IE application User Settings, i.e. define two User Settings. This is contrary to the default User Settings template supplied by RES, however, but this allows users to reset the general settings for IE without affecting the their personal Cookies, Favo(u)rites and History.
4. We have found that when using the default User Settings template supplied by RES it doesn’t capture any typed URL history in Internet Explorer. To resolve this issue just add the registry key : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs to the IE application User Settings.
5. If you have multiple managed instances of Internet Explorer, i.e. shortcuts to URLs that point to IEXPLORE.EXE make sure you link the settings back to the “master” IE application. Creating “snapshots” of the same keys and files/folders can cause major inconsistencies to the user’s environment as RES Workspace Manager loads different settings depending on which shortcut is used.

Enjoy ! Additional comments and recommendations are more then welcome!

Thanks,

Simon

Simon Pettit

“Simon Pettit is an experienced virtualisation consultant, with a keen interest in enabling organisations to benefit from a dynamic and managed computing environment – Citrix Certified Administrator in XenApp, XenDesktop and XenServer. He is a consultant working for Virtual Engine Limited, the Dynamic Desktop Delivery Specialists, providing consultancy services on various desktop virtualisation solutions to European organisations.”

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