.EXE over Network

Jim_Kiy

I have an application that when its on the local computer it will open only once.
If I move that application to a shared folder on a server it can be opened from multiple machines.How can I limit the application to only running in one instance?

swampgas

Jim_Kiy wrote: »

I have an application that when its on the local computer it will open only once.
If I move that application to a shared folder on a server it can be opened from multiple machines.How can I limit the application to only running in one instance?

There's no easy way to do this - generally such restrictions are baked into the application itself.

You could wrap the app in a batch file which checks for a lock file when it starts, and refuses to start if the lock file is present. If the lockfile is missing, it creates it and starts the app.

However this is fragile - anyone can run the app instead of the batch file, and if the app crashes the lockfile is left behind and has to be manually removed.

my $.02

Zab

Is this supposed to defeat people actively trying to circumvent it? Do the other PCs have write access to the shared drive?

rolion

move application on to a dedicated folder and share that folder with maximum users equal with ... 1 !
That will give access to only 1 'simultaneous' user, at one time !

PS:
in practice,i will setup to 2,one user can be system account,services,administrator and so on ! try it with 1 then with 2 if you get errors !

Jim_Kiy

Its already in a folder sounds like a good simple way to go.
Basically different users are viewing data and they can add notes and save it but if multiple users are adding notes they could overwrite each other..so I dont see a way around that only using it as orignally envisaged with one user.
Thanks for all the suggestions..