When users have been logged in Via Duct for about 3 to 5 minutes, the workstations Via Duct screen disappears off the desktop. Or, a message appears stating that 'Another user has logged on with the same user ID'. The user is then logged off and Via Duct closes.

Via Duct maintains files in the SignIn directory of Via Duct, on the network drive. The file is created when a workstation starts Via Duct. The architecture of the signin file includes the ability to determine the license type of the Via Duct workstation (TE or Regular). This license flag is set with the archive bit status. A change to the status of the archive bit can cause Via Duct to think that the license type of the workstation has changed thereby generating the above symptoms.

Archive bits can be changed by software that runs system backups and on mirrored drive systems.

• Verify that the network \viaduct\signin directory is setup for all rights for all the Via Duct workstations.
• Verify that backup software, and mirrored systems do not access the directory.
• If the software or system does not allow for exclusion of the viaduct\signin directory, then setup your backup software and mirrored systems software in such a way that the archive bit status is not tampered with during the process.
• Start "usermon" from the Via Duct administrator PC.
  • Check the "Signed-In User" list for workstation ID's with negative numbers, workstation ID's in lower case, and workstation ID's with excessively large numbers.
  • Verify that the workstations with negative numbers or excessively large numbers are in fact not logged in. Log the workstations out.
  • Verify that all workstation ID's that are in lower case are TE versions of Via Duct. If a regular workstation ID appears in lower case it indicates that the archive bit of the signin file has been changed. This change will cause Via Duct to suspect a licensing error and the workstation will display the symptoms.
• Verify that the Via Duct Icon properties reflect the following:
  • The target (Windows 95) or Command Line (Windows 3.11) is the path to Viaduct.exe on the network server (i.e. K:\viaduct\viaduct.exe)
  • Start In (Windows 95) or Working Directory (Windows 3.11) is the path to the sub-directory on the local drive of the workstation where the viaduct.ini resides (i.e. C:\viaduct.ws)
• Start Via Duct at the workstation go to Help:Via Duct info

Verify that each workstation is running the software from the correct mapped location to the server, that each workstation has a unique workstation ID, and that the initialization file is correctly located on the workstations' local drive.

Via Duct version 3.5b no longer uses the archive bit of the sign-in files for identification purposes.

18 August 1997 gjm
© Via Systems