Tcstartup

Contents

_tcstartup / Desktop settings

If you have started your NoTouch deployment with or after NoTouch Center 4.2 ("Cathedral Peak"), this article does not apply to you anymore.

This page is about a builtin connection of NoTouch Center and earlier LISCON Management Console named "Desktop settings" or "_tcstartup" in the management application and named _tcstartup on the client, but invisible to ordinary users.

Quick note: Don't use it - it's there for historic reasons and will be phased out. Create your own connections, configure them as you want, make them automatically start if desired, instead.

My system uses the _tcstartup/"Desktop settings". What should I do?

We recommend (but not require you) to change this as follows:

  1. Create a new connection
  2. Configure it as the current Desktop settings is configured.
  3. Enable connection autostart on the new connection.
  4. Deconfigure "Desktop settings":
    1. Set the connection mode to "Chooser"
    2. Disable connection autostart by setting its "Autostart at boot" parameter to off
    3. Unset other parameters that had been set
    4. The connection will disappear automatically as soon as no parameters besides the connection mode are set (NoTouch Center 4.2.0 and above)

NoTouch Center 4.2.0 and above

NoTouch center 4.2 will show _tcstartup connections only if

  • you have updated your installation from prior versions
  • and you had it configured in the prior version (at least a connection mode that is not "Chooser" and any other parameter)

That means, most likely in NoTouch Center 4.2 you will not see _tcstartup / Desktop Settings at all. And if you do, we suggest to follow the steps above to get rid of that legacy.

If however, you feel that NoTouch Center is hiding the _tcstartup connections in error, you can disable the automatic mechanism and force NoTouch Center to show _tcstartup connections by setting the following value in the Configuration properties:

  lmc.hideUnimportantTcstartup=false

(Note: We do not advise you to set the property and then continue to use _tcstartup. That is not the intention of the switch. The idea is still to migrate away!)

Background

Historically, LISCON OS had a "startup connection" that would define basic graphical properties, such as color depth and resolution, and bring up a kiosk-type chooser window (Control Center) allowing end users to start the desired connection. If one had only one connection, say a fullscreen RDP or Citrix connection, it was possible to configure the startup connection to be directly configured as such. This startup connection was/is named _tcstartup and as such not displayed to end users, neither in Control Center, nor in the start menu. Only a system administrator can see it in the configuration application after logging in.

Later on, the world changed:

  • Users preferred a Windows-like slim desktop with taskbar, start menu and desktop icons over the kiosk-type appearance
  • The connection autostart mechanism was introduced, allowing to start arbitrary connections at startup, not just the only one _tcstartup

As such, the value of _tcstartup diminished. Subsequently, it was renamed "Desktop settings" in the management console to express the fact that it is not intended for being used as a connection anymore, but just keeps some system values.

One of the promises of NComputing is that we allow people to "forget" about their endpoints. So we don't want to force tedious update and migration procedures on anybody, so we simply kept _tcstartup, while offering new functionality in different places.