Can Photoshop CS4 be deployed on Windows remote desktop server?

[uminds]

I tried installing Photoshop extended CS4 on a Windows Remote Desktop server (Windows 2008 R2 64bit) and it said it requires at least Windows XP or Vista 64bit as the OS requirement. I can either continue or quit. Can someone verify if this product can be deployed in RDS enviroment?

Thanks

[John T Smith]

As far as I know, Photoshop does not install to a server

[uminds]

This is for RDS server, formerly Terminal server from Microsoft. It is really for deploying Windows applications from a centralized location. I know Photoshop is a desktop application, but it might be an exception on RDS server. Adobe Acrobat is one of the supported applications on Terminal Server.

[the_wine_snob]

Man, this is going back into the dark ages, but there was a thread by an IT-guy on deploying PS over the network (fully licensed # of seats). I would suspect that that thread was from the older forum, but maybe it was archived by someone. It might take some heavy Googling, but the steps might still be around someplace. I'm guessing that this was at least 5 years ago.

Good luck, and if you do find the steps, please update this thread, as some other IT-person will likely benefit from it.

Hunt

[dantech1]

Hi

This is not "going back to the dark ages".  VDI is now the in thing and using thin client with Virtual desktop and RDP7 is the way I plan to go with my network in the school I work in.  I too need to get not just Photoshop but the main packages from CS4 Premium working on Server 2008 r2.  Can it be done?

Mark

[Jerry C Whitaker]

Restarting this thread...did anybody find out if it can be done, namely, deploy CS4 programs on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 with Remote Desktop Server running? It would be nice if that was the case.

[Noel Carboni]

Keep in mind special licensing arrangements (i.e., other than the typical single user license) would have to be made.  I haven't seen all the options, but its absolutely certain that the normal single user license is for just that - a single user only.

Also note that Photoshop OpenGL operations do not appear to be able to be remoted over RDP connections (not between Windows 7 SP1 systems, anyway, per my testing), so your users would lose the OpenGL-specific functions and likely find that the Photoshop graphics-intensive operations are sluggish compared to what they would see if they were running the application locally.  This could push the application from "usable" to "not usable".

Frankly, I don't think remote desktop operation and Photoshop are a good match, especially if you're thinking of having more than one user running it at one time.  Even if it can be made to run multiple instances, its resource management philosophy kind of assumes it's the center of the computing universe for a single user on the machine.

-Noel

[dantech1]

Hi

True, but my experience says that Photoshop runs fine. Not sure what OpenGL does, but everything I have done on Photoshop on the server seems fine. We have a full school wide site licence for CS4 so this is not an issue for us. I suspect that things will change when we upgrade to SP2 of Server 2008 r2 which I think is out now. If graphics performance is an issue look at Virtual Desktops which is my next progression on. It is awesome - just need tons of time to investigate the licensing issue and build a test environment. I did set it up once and went on a course on it and it really is the way forward.

Mark

[Noel Carboni]

dantech1 wrote:

True, but my experience says that Photoshop runs fine.  Not sure what OpenGL does, but everything I have done on Photoshop on the server seems fine.

Do you see acceptable performance with multiple users on it simultaneously?  If so, that's good.

My concern was that I don't know how productive users need to be, but an application coming up and appearing to run but then being sluggish and balky in real use might make the difference between it being usable and just a frustrating experience for all concerned.

It's SP1 that's just come out for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, and this has the new RemoteFX feature.  That's what I tested with.  Photoshop CS5 refuses to use the GPU through the remote interface.  I didn't test CS4, but I hold little hope that it will use OpenGL through RemoteFX, because OpenGL accelerator information simply does not appear to be passed through RemoteFX.  It's pretty neat to see Aero work through RDP, but that doesn't help us here.

-Noel

[dantech1]

Hi Everyone

The answer to this is emphatically yes! I have done it and am using it every day with 50 thin clients (10Zig). I have a server farm with two identical HP G6 servers with 36Gb of ram in each. These serve 50 thin clients and other PC's login to them too.

The trick is to install the software properly. Because my servers are running remote desktop services (formerly terminal services) there are two ways to do this. There is a control panel feature called "install application on remote desktop..." which is a wizard you follow. However there is a quicker command line method.

1. Login to the server as administrator

2. Open a DOS prompt (Start/run/cmd) and

3. Type "change user /install"

4. Install the software from the CD in the usual way.

All my students/staff have an icon on the remote desktop allowing them to double click each Adobe app I wanted them to be able to use. The entire RD desktop is group policied down tightly so they cannot do anything which could harm the servers.

Hope this helps. This was the turning point for me because if this did not work the entire thin client solution would have been abandoned. Once I had tested this on a Virtual Server I went ahead and ordered the project to go ahead. I akso have Office 2010 running fine now too. The biggest problem is creating the original profile and remembering to run all the software apps before completing the profile. If you don't do this every time a student logs in they have to respond to the setup questions you get when you first run Office and Adobe etc.

Mark

[Jerry C Whitaker]

Mark:

Thanks for the input. It worked. Interestingly, I first tried installing CS5 but the install just stopped. I then tried CS4 and it installed without trouble. For CS5, I have a downloaded copy of the software; for CS4, I have an actual physical DVD. I may explore this issue further at some later point. For now, having CS4 run is quite sufficient for testing and evaluation.

I realize that using thin clients will impose some amount of performance penalty, but my expectation is that the overall performance will be acceptable for most user tasks most of the time. I take it from your post this has been your experience. I will still provide a stand-alone machine for the small number of projects where the application is taxing the limits of the computer, and any limitations imposed by Remote Desktop are not acceptable.

Certainly, the software needs to be properly licensed, which Adobe is more than happy to provide. Through the thin client approach I hope to eliminate the maintenance and management headache of maintaining multiple, essentially identical, machines. And, I hope to reduce (by some small percentage) power costs.

We'll see how it goes...

Jerry

[dantech1]

Hi Jerry

Excellent!

Pleased that my experience has helped you. My TC's are 10Zig and the time to load CS4 from cold to seeing the screen ready to work is actually quicker than any PC in school. Like you we have CS4 on every PC that we can, which is most of them now and if anyone needs to use this they can.

Good to hear about your CS5 test. I wish I could afford to upgrade to CS5 but to be honest CS4 is hardly used by most people. Adobe want us to completely rebuy the CS5 license. The IT Co-Ordinator insisted that we had to buy Dreamweaver but I have only seen a few students on the diplomas course actually use it! I use Photoshop on my own PC and it can take about 4 seconds to load up but on the TC's it takes 2.

Mark

[bluequest]

Hello Mark,

I own a small web design and development company. I use a small server with low specs and linux as os.  I want to use Photoshop and Dreamwever most and want to install on server and want my folks use it from server.  Cant buy licence for each and every one of them and that stops me expanding the infrastruce.

So can I use Linux server editions and install Photoshop on it and later use it from my normal PC ?

Please let me know about it.

God bless

Rgds

KK