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Installing Rainmeter in Corporate Environment

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rrt1966
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Joined: March 23rd, 2016, 4:38 pm

Installing Rainmeter in Corporate Environment

Post by rrt1966 »

Hi,

We're packaging RM for deployment in a corporate environment to display a countdown clock on the desktop for a go-live event.

Specifically, after install is complete, we copy in a custom RAINMETER.INI into the %APPDATA%\RAINMETER folder. This RAINMETER.INI points to the countdown clock skins folder on a read-only network share. This is so that every users gets a consistent experience and also if we need to make a quick change to the skin, it appears immediately to all users (once they logout and log back in again).

Installation works fine if a workstation has only one user but not if it is a shared workstation. In that case only the user who installed Rainmeter sees the countdown meter. Other users who login afterwards won't get it.

Any recommendations? According to the install page, the /STARTUP switch will launch RM automatically when Windows starts but this is only for the user who initially installs RM.

https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual/installing-rainmeter/

Thanks,
Roland
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NighthawkSLO
Posts: 21
Joined: October 22nd, 2014, 7:11 pm

Re: Installing Rainmeter in Corporate Environment

Post by NighthawkSLO »

https://github.com/rainmeter/rainmeter/blob/master/Build/Installer/Installer.nsi#L723-L726

Specifically the SetShellVarContext current makes it so it creates the shortcut into the user's startup folder not all users. This is hard coded in but reply if you want me to send you a modified installer of the current version with only that changed.
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jsmorley
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Re: Installing Rainmeter in Corporate Environment

Post by jsmorley »

The same process that installs the custom Rainmeter.ini to %APPDATA% could also copy a Rainmeter.lnk shortcut you create to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp".
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jsmorley
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
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Re: Installing Rainmeter in Corporate Environment

Post by jsmorley »

Just an entirely unsolicited word of advice, we have removed the "silent install" process from Rainmeter 4.0, and it won't be supported going forward.

While we really don't think Rainmeter is a good fit for a business environment, as it aggressively wants to be under the control of the end-user, I suspect you can so some things with a process like this:

Install Rainmeter in "portable" mode somewhere on your PC.
Edit Rainmeter.ini to point to the shared read-only folder where you want the skin(s).
Edit Rainmeter.ini to load the desired skin.
Create a shortcut Rainmeter.lnk for Rainmeter in the portable folder.
Zip up that portable folder.

Create some batch file, VBS script, PowerShell script, or whatever you like to:

Unzip that folder somewhere on the user's PC.
Copy Rainmeter.lnk to "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp".
Start Rainmeter.

Note that while this will offer some protection for the skins, Rainmeter.ini must always be writable by the end-user. So you really can't "lock down" the installation. They will absolutely be able to just Edit Settings and change the SkinPath if they feel like it.

While we are not in the business of telling people what they should or shouldn't do with Rainmeter, it is our position that Rainmeter is so staggeringly insecure in any shared environment, so targeted at the "hobbyist" end-user, and so aggressively "open", that if I ran an IT department, and someone suggested using it on our corporate LAN, they would be frog-marched out by security with their cardboard box of personal possessions by the end of the day.

I would keep the red Swingline stapler.

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MrGoodBytes
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Joined: June 15th, 2016, 1:22 am

Re: Installing Rainmeter in Corporate Environment

Post by MrGoodBytes »

rrt1966 wrote:Hi,
Any recommendations? According to the install page, the /STARTUP switch will launch RM automatically when Windows starts but this is only for the user who initially installs RM.
I've implemented Rainmeter in our corporate environment and following Microsoft best practice I set a "Run" key to automatically start Rainmeter for each user who logs onto a device:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"Rainmeter"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Rainmeter\\Rainmeter.exe\" \"C:\\ProgramData\\Rainmeter\\Config\\Rainmeter.ini\""

See here for more information: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa376977(v=vs.85).aspx

I would recommend against copying the shortcut into the "Startup" folder in a corporate environment as it could have adverse effects should a user manually launch it.

jsmorley wrote: Note that while this will offer some protection for the skins, Rainmeter.ini must always be writable by the end-user. So you really can't "lock down" the installation. They will absolutely be able to just Edit Settings and change the SkinPath if they feel like it.
This is the reason I'm looking for a different product with similar capabilities.
micheale
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Joined: September 28th, 2017, 7:02 am

Re: Installing Rainmeter in Corporate Environment

Post by micheale »

jsmorley wrote: ... it is our position that Rainmeter is so staggeringly insecure in any shared environment, so targeted at the "hobbyist" end-user, and so aggressively "open"
Why? you create a platform for hackers?
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