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Set up Working Papers in a Citrix or terminal server environment

Many firms choose to host their applications in a Citrix or terminal server environment for accessibility and maintenance purposes, with staff accessing the applications through a remote connection. This type of environment is applicable to Working Papers, which can be installed on standalone Citrix/terminal servers and Citrix server farms for access by your staff.

Environment requirements

Your firm's Citrix or terminal server environment must use one of the following supported operating systems:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019 with Citrix/Terminal Services
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016 with Citrix/Terminal Services
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Citrix/Terminal Services
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Citrix/Terminal Services
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Citrix/Terminal Services

For optimal performance, you should scale the server's hardware configuration based on the number of user sessions. We suggest the following specifications per user session:

  • 1 CPU core
  • 8GB RAM
  • 80GB disk space

For example, an environment hosting 4 concurrent sessions should have a quad-core CPU, 32GB ram and at least 320GB disk space.

Installation requirements

Prior to installing Working Papers onto your Citrix or terminal server, ensure that you complete the following processes:

  • Verify that the remote workstation meets the system requirements for Working Papers
  • Uninstall any previous versions of Working Papers
  • Delete any previous versions of Working Papers from the file system (you can retain any existing files in the Data folder, but must delete all other Working Papers program files, including both *.exe and *.dll file extensions)
  • Delete any previously published Working Papers installations
  • Reboot the server

You can complete the following optional processes to enhance user management and security:

  • Use roaming profiles to manage the users that access multiple Citrix servers or a Citrix farm
  • Install the Data Store Administration Tool and create a new data store
  • Enable protection in the Working Papers file

Install Working Papers on a Citrix or terminal server

You can install Working Papers onto your Citrix or terminal server using either Control Panel or Command Prompt. For information on how to perform a silent (unattended) installation, see Perform a silent installation.

To install Working Papers using Control Panel:

  1. In Windows Server, launch Control Panel.
  2. Click Programs | Install Application on Remote Desktop....
  3. Double-click the Working Papers installation file.

Working Papers is installed on the server. If you've installed Working Papers on a Citrix server, complete the process by publishing the application to your Citrix client sessions.

To install Working Papers using Command Prompt:

  1. In Windows Server, launch Command Prompt.
  2. Type change user /install and press Enter.
  3. Right-click on the Working Papers installation file and select Run as administrator.
  4. Complete the installation wizard.
  5. When installation is complete, type change user /execute in Command Prompt, then press Enter.

Working Papers is installed on the server. If you've installed Working Papers on a Citrix server, complete the process by publishing the application to your Citrix client sessions.

Publish Working Papers to Citrix client sessions

For Citrix users to be able to access Working Papers from a remote workstation, you must first publish the application to your client sessions. For more information, or alternate publishing steps (for different versions of Citrix), see the Citrix Support Center.

To publish Working Papers to Citrix client sessions:

  1. Open a remote connection into the Citrix server.
  2. Launch Citrix Studio.
  3. In the Console Root menu, click Citrix Studio (QA) | Delivery Groups, then select the delivery group in the main window.
  4. In the Actions menu, click Add Applications.
  5. The Add Applications dialog displays. Click Next.
  6. On the Applications page, click the Add… drop-down menu and select From start menu….
  7. Select Working Papers from the applications list and click OK.
  8. Click Next, then Finish.

Working Papers is published to the Citrix client sessions and can now be launched from a remote workstation.

Customize the SmartSync path (Citrix only)

We recommended that you host SmartSync on a fast network share that is available to Citrix users and servers. This ensures that users manage their sync copies from the same location, regardless of the server they are currently assigned to. Each user should be assigned a unique path on the network share.

Paths in Working Papers always resolve to a UNC entry (e.g. \\FileServer\path\) rather than a locally specified path (e.g. C:\path\). In order to correctly store engagement files in the appropriate location, there are two paths that you must configure:

  • Client file path: Set to the folder containing the top-level parent file that all sync copies are made from.
  • SmartSync path: Set to the folder where you will store the sync copies for each user. This should be a different network share for each user. Users who are not in a Citrix session may set a local system path.

After the network shares are in place, create a script to set the default SmartSync path for each user during login. The following script illustrates how you can automate user login in a Citrix environment:

  • SET SyncPath = \\File_Server\path\to\sync_copy_folder_root\
  • IF NOT EXIST %SyncPath%%UserName% MD %SyncPath%%UserName%
  • REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Caseware International\Working Papers\20xx.xx\Settings" /v SyncPath /t REG_SZ /d %SyncPath%%UserName% /f

In this example, File_Server\path\to\sync_copy_folder_root\ is the path to your SmartSync network store and 20xx.xx is your current version of Working Papers. To test the login script, launch Working Papers through a Citrix session and verify that the correct SmartSync path is set in Tools | Options | Default Paths.

Note: Users who work off site with a local copy of Working Papers (rather than through a Citrix session) can set their SmartSync path to their local drive rather than a network share. Changes to their file will synchronize automatically when they return to the office or connect over a VPN.

Post-installation optimization

After installing and publishing Working Papers, you can complete some optional optimizations to improve the overall performance of the server environment. Performance is typically affected by CPU load and network bandwidth, so as a general consideration, we recommend that you allocate adequate resources to these areas.

Optimize your server's performance by completing any of the following server level adjustments:

  • Increase CPU processing power and number of cores in multi-user environments
  • Increase RAM in multi-user environments
  • Move your Working Papers files from the local drive (tsclient) of the computer accessing the server to a different location, such as a mapped drive on your network (this also ensures that clients who are not using a Citrix session can access the files)
  • Install templates on the local storage of a virtual machine instead of shared storage (this also improves read/write operations for Knowledge Library files)
  • Disable Fairshare as it limits access to resources on the virtual machine, even if resources are available (Working Papers and CaseView are fairly resource heavy)
  • Enable sharing of resources between virtual machines if there is less load on certain virtual machine servers

You can also implement performance optimizations at the software level. Consider the following adjustments:

Optimization Description

Disable Live Update, the User List and background pagination

Live Update, the User List and background pagination all consume network bandwidth and CPU processing power. Disable these functions to improve overall performance.

To disable Live Update, the User List and background pagination:

  1. Navigate to the Working Papers installation folder (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Caseware).
  2. Open the CV.VER file in Notepad.
  3. On a new line, type liveupdate=0.
  4. On a new line, type UserListWindow=0.
  5. On a new line, type BackgroundPagination=0.
  6. Save and close the CV.VER file (ensure that the Save as type field is set to All Files (*.*) so that the file is not saved as a text file).

Note: Disabling Live Update from Tools | Options | Advanced | Networking only affects the active Working Papers file instead of all files. This is not preferable for Citrix or terminal server environments.

Disable file history and auto-compare

File history and auto-compare settings can affect the performance of networked Working Papers environments. Modifications to these settings are unique to each file.

To disable file history and auto-compare:

  1. Open the Working Papers file where you want to disable file history.
  2. On the ribbon, click Engagement | History.
  3. On the Settings tab, clear the checkbox beside each item where you want to disable file history. The more checkboxes you clear, the less bandwidth the file consumes.
  4. On the Auto-Compare tab, set Automatically compare documents to None. Click OK.

Disable autosave

CaseView's autosave function can increase network traffic.

To disable Autosave:

  1. Open a CaseView document.
  2. On the ribbon, click Tools | Options | Auto Save.
  3. Deselect Enable Autosave. Click OK.

Optimize the data store

If your firm is using a data store, you can use the Data Store Administration Tool to perform the following optimizations:

  • Click Settings and change the Synchronization drop-down menu to Only on program startup
  • Click Settings and change the Track Engagement drop-down menu to either Track But Do Not Share with Firm or Disable Tracking

If your firm needs to use the Track and Share with Firm setting (for monitoring the files that users are working on in Caseware Tracker), you can reduce the ping frequency to increase bandwidth.

To reduce the ping frequency:

  1. Navigate to the Working Papers installation folder (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Caseware).
  2. Open the CV.VER file in Notepad.
  3. Locate the StorePingFrequency property and change the value (default 120 seconds) to 500 or higher.
  4. Save and close the CV.VER file (ensure that the Save as type field is set to All Files (*.*) so that the file is not saved as a text file).

Troubleshooting

Consider the following solutions if you experience any difficulties while implementing Working Papers in a Citrix or terminal server environment:

Issue Solution

Users that access Working Papers using a network license are locked out of Working Papers

A user may have checked out a commuter license over the Citrix/terminal server. Commuter licenses are incompatible with Citrix/terminal server environments and will lock the application for all other users. The user member must check the commuter license back into the server to unlock Working Papers.

Users are unable to map to a local drive path from the Citrix/terminal server

This functionality is not supported.

Attempting to work in a locked down engagement file maxes out the Citrix/terminal server's processors

Milestone generation and redlining can both cause issues in Citrix/terminal server environments. Disable these features to restore performance.

To disable milestone generation:

  1. Open the applicable file in Working Papers.
  2. On the ribbon, click Engagement | History | Settings.
  3. Remove the Generate milestone action from all items.

To disable redlining:

  1. Navigate to the Working Papers installation folder (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Caseware).
  2. Open the CV.VER file in Notepad.
  3. On a new line, type NoAutoSetAutoCompareLockdown=1.
  4. Save and close the CV.VER file (ensure that the Save as type field is set to All Files (*.*) so that the file is not saved as a text file).

Error message indicating that the connection to the server was lost when attempting to print a large CaseView document

This issue is caused by a limitation in the Citrix universal printer driver (UPD) and is related to the size of the document. To resolve this issue, you can:

  • Increase the available space for temporary files on the client's local disk or RAM drive
  • Install the client's native printer driver on the Citrix server

Error 50 displays when creating a new SmartSync copy or taking an offline sync copy online

This error occurs when a SmartSync copy is stored on the workstation's local disk while accessing Working Papers from a Citrix/terminal server session. The storage locations must match. Either relocate the sync copy to the server or access Working Papers from the local workstation.

CWIN32.exe error displays when attempting to launch Working Papers

Clear the Working Papers registry settings on the Citrix server (contact Caseware Support for more information). If this does not resolve the issue, disable scanning in the CV.VER file.

To disable scanning:

  1. Navigate to the Working Papers installation folder (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Caseware).
  2. Open the CV.VER file in Notepad.
  3. On a new line, type DisableScanning=1.
  4. Save and close the CV.VER file (ensure that the Save as type field is set to All Files (*.*) so that the file is not saved as a text file).

Reconnecting a SmartSync copy to the network containing the top-level parent file causes sync copy duplication and other irregularities

Users who work on SmartSync copies and do not have continuous connectivity to the network containing the top-level parent file must enable the SyncResessionCopy setting.

To enable the SyncResessionCopy setting:

  1. Navigate to the Working Papers installation folder (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Caseware).
  2. Open the CV.VER file in Notepad.
  3. On a new line, type SyncResessionCopy=0.
  4. Save and close the CV.VER file (ensure that the Save as type field is set to All Files (*.*) so that the file is not saved as a text file).

Working Papers stops responding when SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager is enabled

Disable SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager or use the SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager Utility on the MetaFrame server to create exception entries for generic input fields. After creating the exception entries, SpeedScreen functionality is modified or disabled on the server.

Opening a signed out file causes poor performance

Clear your NetBios name cache to restore performance.

To clear the NetBios name cache:

  1. Launch Command Prompt.
  2. Type nbtstat -R and press Enter.

Error 30 displays when attempting to save/print to PDF

Reinstall Working Papers.

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