This file contains information about setting up and running Visio 4.0 on a network. We recommend that you read this file and keep a printed copy with your Visio documentation. For other late-breaking information about installing and running Visio, see the README.TXT file.
Tip: If necessary, choose Word Wrap from the Notepad Edit menu or Wrap To Window from the WordPad View/Options menu to wrap the text within the document window.
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NETWORK.TXT CONTENTS
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╖ NETWORK LICENSING INFORMATION
╖ NETWORK SETUP OVERVIEW
╖ SETTING UP VISIO 4.0 ON A NETWORK SERVER FOR SHARED USE
╖ SETTING UP VISIO 4.0 ON A NETWORK SERVER FOR LOCAL INSTALLATION TO WORKSTATIONS
╖ WORKSTATION SETUP - DETECTION OF READ-ONLY SYSTEM FILES IN A SHARED WINDOWS DIRECTORY
╖ ABOUT THE VISIO.INI FILE
╖ DEFINING DEFAULT FILE PATHS FOR VISIO FILES
╖ OPENING VISIO FILES ON A NETWORK
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NETWORK LICENSING INFORMATION
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To run Visio on a network on which multiple users have access to the product, you need additional licenses. You can get additional licenses by purchasing additional retail packages of Visio or by purchasing license packs.
A license pack, which authorizes either one or ten additional users, includes a product license, and details regarding registration and ordering additional documentation sets.
For more information about network use policies, please see your Visio license agreement. If you have any questions or want to order Visio License Packs, contact your reseller or contact Visio's Customer Service Department. Customers from the U.K. can call 0800 834 859. Customers from other countries can call +353 1 7038896, or fax orders to 0800 834 950 or +353 1 7038897. You can also mail orders to:
Visio International Ltd.,
Customer Service,
P.O. Box 4748,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4,
Ireland.
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NETWORK SETUP OVERVIEW
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Setting up Visio on a network is a two-step process: First, you install Visio on the network server; second, you set up individual workstations so they can either run Visio from the server or from each workstation's hard disk.
For details about setting up Visio on a network so that multiple workstations can use a shared copy from the server, see SETTING UP VISIO 4.0 ON A NETWORK SERVER FOR SHARED USE below. For details about setting up Visio files on a network server so that the program can be loaded onto the hard disks of individual workstations, see SETTING UP VISIO 4.0 ON A NETWORK SERVER FOR LOCAL INSTALLATION TO WORKSTATIONS below.
While you are setting up Visio 4.0 on a network, you can refer to the information contained in this file by choosing the View Network.txt button in Visio setup. During network setup, the window displaying the information may be replaced by a setup window. To return to Network.TXT, press Alt+Tab to cycle through open windows.
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SETTING UP VISIO 4.0 ON A NETWORK SERVER FOR SHARED USE
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To Install Visio 4.0 On A Network Server For Shared Use:
1. From a workstation, log on to the network and connect to the drive where you want to install Visio. You must have write access to the network server to install Visio on the server.
Note: You must map a drive letter for the network server where Visio will be installed, i.e. F:. Visio Setup will not support the universal naming convention (UNC) e.g. \\server\share. This is necessary only for installation to the server.
2. Insert Disk 1 or the Visio CD into the appropriate drive.
3. Select Run... from the Start Menu in Windows 95 or the Program Manager File menu in Windows 3.x and Windows NT.
4. Type the letter of the drive followed by setup /n. For example, type:
a:\setup /n
From the CD, type the letter of the drive followed by install\setup /n. For example, type:
d:\install\setup /n
5. Setup asks for a location to install Visio. Type the path to the directory on the server where the Visio program files will reside. For example, type:
e:\visio
6. Follow the instructions on your screen, choosing the desired setup option (Typical, Complete/Custom, Minimum.)
Setup /n installs the Visio program files and also creates the subdirectories Visio\System\Setup32 (or \Setup16 for 16-bit installation) for workstation setup files and Visio\System\Shared for any Windows system OLE files required by Visio. Instructions for a workstation setup are below in this topic.
For a complete listing of installed files, see the topic VISIO 4.0 INSTALLED FILES in the Readme.TXT file.
Tip: If you will be running a shared copy of Visio from the network, we recommend marking the file VISIO.EXE or the directory in which it resides read-only through your networking software. This will have implications for the VISIO.INI configuration file. For more details on the VISIO.INI file, see ABOUT THE VISIO.INI FILE below.
For shared Windows environments in which system files are write-protected, it may be necessary to copy the files from Visio\System\Shared to the shared Windows directory before proceeding with workstation installations. For more information, see WORKSTATION SETUP - DETECTION OF READ-ONLY SYSTEM FILES IN A SHARED WINDOWS DIRECTORY below.
To Setup A Workstation To Run Visio From A Server
1. From a workstation, log on to the network and connect to the drive where you want to install Visio. You must have write access to the network server to install Visio on the server.
Note: You must map a drive letter for the network server where Visio will be installed, i.e. F:. Visio Setup will not support the universal naming convention (UNC) e.g. \\server\share. This is necessary only for installation to the server.
2. Insert Disk 1 or the Visio CD into the appropriate drive.
3. Select Run... from the Start Menu in Windows 95 or the Program Manager File menu in Windows 3.x and Windows NT.
4. Type the letter of the drive followed by setup /n /sfn. For example, type:
a:\setup /n /sfn
From the CD, type the letter of the drive followed by install\setup /n /sfn. For example, type:
d:\install\setup /n /sfn
5. Setup asks for a location to install Visio. Type the path to the directory on the server where the Visio program files will reside. For example, type:
e:\visio
6. On a workstation, select Run... from the Start Menu in Windows 95 or the Program Manager File menu in Windows 3.x and Windows NT.
7. Type the drive letter and directory on the server where the Visio setup program resides, followed by setup. For example, type:
e:\Visio\System\Setup32\setup
(e:\Visio\System\Setup16\setup for 16-bit installation)
8. Follow the instructions on the screen. The workstation setup will:
*Install or update any Windows system OLE files required by Visio.
*Add Visio to the Windows 95 Start menu or create a Program Manager group in Windows 3.x and Windows NT.
*Add an optional Visio button on certain Microsoft and Lotus SmartSuite applications' toolbars. See Readme.TXT for additional information.
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SETTING UP VISIO 4.0 ON A NETWORK SERVER FOR LOCAL INSTALLATION TO WORKSTATIONS
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Installing from a network server is a time-saving, convenient alternative to installing Visio from disks. Visio 4.0 has an administrative setup option that you can use to place Visio files on a network server. This option does not set up a copy of Visio that you can run; instead it transfers the files from the Visio Setup disks to the network drive in their compressed format. After the Visio files are in a directory on the network, users can connect to the directory and run the Setup program to set up Visio for their workstations.
To Setup Visio 4.0 On A Network Server For Local Installation To Workstations
1. From a workstation, log on to the network and connect to the drive where you want to install Visio. You must have write access to the network server to install Visio on the server.
Note: You must map a drive letter for the network server where Visio will be installed, i.e. F:. Visio Setup will not support the universal naming convention (UNC) e.g. \\server\share. This is necessary only for installation to the server.
2. Insert Disk 1 or the Visio CD into the appropriate drive.
3. Select Run... from the Start Menu in Windows 95 or the Program Manager File menu in Windows 3.x and Windows NT.
4. From Disk 1, type the letter of the drive followed by setup /a. For example, type:
a:\setup /a
From the CD, type the letter of the drive followed by install\setup /a. For example, type:
d:\install\setup /a
5. Setup asks where you want to install the compressed Visio files. Type the path to the directory on the server where the Visio files will reside. For example, type:
e:\visadmin
6. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Once the administrative setup is complete, you may want to write-protect the network server directory where you've placed the Visio files.
For shared Windows environments in which system files are write-protected, it may be necessary to copy the files from Visio\System\Shared to the shared Windows directory before proceeding with workstation installations. For more information, see WORKSTATION SETUP - DETECTION OF READ-ONLY SYSTEM FILES IN A SHARED WINDOWS DIRECTORY below.
To Install Visio From The Server To A Workstation
1. On a workstation, select Run... from the Start Menu in Windows 95 or from the Program Manager File menu in Windows 3.x and Windows NT.
2. Type the drive letter and directory on the server where the Visio setup program resides, followed by setup. For example:
e:\Visio\setup
3. Follow the instructions on the screen to install Visio. When Setup asks where you want to install Visio, type the path to the directory on your workstation where the Visio program will reside. For example, type:
c:\visio
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ABOUT THE VISIO.INI FILE
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The Visio.INI file stores default Visio configuration information that can be customized for each user. It is not an installed file; rather it is created the first time Visio is started.
With a local installation of Visio 4.0, Visio.INI is created automatically in the local Visio\System subdirectory the first time Visio is started.
In a shared network installation of Visio 4.0, Visio.INI will be created in the shared Visio\System subdirectory on the server unless either Visio.EXE or the Visio directory has been marked read-only through the networking software. If either Visio.EXE or the Visio directory is marked read-only, a Visio.INI will be created in each user's Windows directory the first time they run Visio from the server, allowing them to retain their own Visio configuration settings.
Alternatively, a custom location for the Visio.INI file can be specified by adding a line to the Windows Win.INI file. This alternative may be appropriate for network administrators or other users who run Visio from the network themselves but possess write privileges on the shared Visio directory, which would force creation of a Visio.INI on the server. By specifying a custom path for creation of their own Visio.INI file, they can avoid inadvertently creating a Visio.INI in the shared location. Another way to avoid this situation would be to log in without write privileges to the Visio directory on the network.
Note: Once a Visio.INI has been created in the shared Visio\System subdirectory, it will override the creation or use of any Visio.INI files local to users. If it is intended that each user retain their own Visio.INI file, simply delete the Visio.INI file from the shared location and confirm that either the Visio.EXE or the Visio directory have in fact been marked as read-only.
To specify a custom path for Visio.INI, exit Visio, open the Win.INI file in a text editor, and add the following two lines:
[VISIO]
ini=<complete path>
For example:
[VISIO]
ini=e:\admin\smith
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WORKSTATION SETUP - DETECTION OF READ-ONLY SYSTEM FILES IN A SHARED WINDOWS DIRECTORY
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During a workstation setup of Visio 4.0 in a shared Windows environment, should Visio Setup detect that the shared system files for Windows need to be updated and are in use but the shared system directory on the network is write-protected, Setup will be unable to update Windows system files and will terminate.
Contact the network administrator to determine if the files in the Visio\System\Shared subdirectory can be copied into the shared Windows directory.
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DEFINING DEFAULT FILE PATHS FOR VISIO FILES
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Users can define default file paths for Visio drawings, templates, add-ons, filters, and shape help. To specify these custom paths, run Visio and choose the Options command from the Tools menu, then choose the File Paths button. These file paths are written into the user's Visio.INI file. Click on the Help button in the File Paths dialog box for more information.
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OPENING VISIO FILES ON A NETWORK
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Working with and opening Visio files on a network is essentially the same as on an individual workstation. On the network, however, you can make a drawing available to other users and allow them to make changes to the file. You can also protect the file from changes.
Keep the following issues in mind when using Visio 4.0 on a network:
When a Visio drawing file is opened in read/write mode, no other network user can access the file. (Even read-only access is denied.) Visio does, however, permit multiple users concurrent read-only access to files so they can share a single set of network stencils. Therefore, when stencil files are shared, it is important that users not open the files in read/write mode. As a safeguard, stencil files should have the read-only attribute set to prevent users from opening the files in read/write mode. You can also set the network Visio directory to read-only to prevent users from opening the files in read/write mode.
