Dynamics CRM 3.0 Outlook Client on Terminal Services

Posted on May 22nd, 2006 mitch  Print No comments

A couple of months ago I installed the CRM 3.0 Outlook client on a Windows 2003 Terminal Server using the using the TS Client Deployment Kit.

As part of the configuration, you need to modify the command script ( terminstall.cmd ) that actually does the work. Here is a segment of the customization area:

REM *** Set below values for your deployment ***
REM ********************************************************
REM *** SOURCE = Location where the PST file, mail merge templates and CrmForOutlookTsInstaller.exe are located ***
SET SOURCE="\crm1TSClient"
REM *** Path where Microsoft CRM is installed ***
SET CRMPATH="%ProgramFiles%Microsoft CRM\\"
REM *** CRM Server to use ***
SET WEBAPPURL="http://crm"
REM ********************************************************


I edited the required variables and values and ran the command file.  Everything looked like it worked, but when I launched Outlook from a Terminal Server session, it didn't work.  Actually, it was very irritated with something, but what, I could not quite figure out.

THEN, I look at the MSCRMClient registry hive and noticed there was a double-quote ( " ) within the values of two of the directory names that the CRM client used. That is a bad thing and it was causing the CRM client to fail.

After having wasted more time than I wanted to admit, I finally figured out what happened.

Do you see that pair of backslashes ( \\ ) at the end of the CRMPATH variable above?  That is not a typo. The backslash character is used as an "escape" character that allows you to embed special characters in scripts, etc. The two backslashes will actually be converted by Windows into a single backslash.

But, since I didn't know that at the time, I removed it and made the remaining backslash an escape character for the double quote and it actually inserted that closing double-quote into the registry key.

Cleaning Up the Mess

If you have done the same thing that I did, here is how you fix it:

1. Run terminstall.cmd again to uninstall the current installation.
2. Manually delete any files it left in the installation directories you specified.
3. Edit terminstall.cmd and restore the double-backslash you removed.
4. Rerun the terminstall.cmd installation script.

Dynamics CRM

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

3,755 views