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--- microsoft_windows:terminalserver:nextcloud [2023/11/08 02:35] – created rodolico
+++ microsoft_windows:terminalserver:nextcloud [2023/11/08 03:11] (current) – rodolico
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Using Nextcloud with Windows Terminal Server ======
-Nextcloud is a very good tool for sharing files across multiple machines. It is also very good as a backup, since the agent can keep versions and deleted files available if you want. Since our primary backup service is Unix based, we can use Nextcloud as a backup, then backup the Nextcloud if we want.
+Nextcloud is a very good tool for sharing files across multiple machines. It is also very good as a backup, since the agent can keep versions and deleted files available if you want. When a user is logged in, any changes to their files can be sync'd to the Nextcloud server in near real time.
+Since our primary backup service is Unix based, we can use Nextcloud as a backup, then backup the Nextcloud if we want.
+The only issue is Public Documents on a Terminal Server. In this case, you need one user configured to back up the Public Documents, and it will only do that if the user is logged in. Nextcloud provides a command line utility you can set as a task, but it is pretty flaky, and the documentation is not that good.
+===== Procedure =====
+Our procedure is to create a user with Administration privileges and auto-login, configured to back up Public Documents. While this can use additional resources on your Terminal Server, the resources appear to be minimal, and you are getting near real-time backups.
+  - Create a Nextcloud user for backing up Public Documents
+    - Note, this is also a good place to create shared calendars and contact lists
+  - Create a Windows user on the terminal server, with Admin privileges
+  - Set the Windows admin user up to sync Public Documents to the Nextcloud user
+    - Be sure to set Nextcloud to automatically run on login
+  - Set the Windows admin user to automatically be logged in on system startup
+**Warning**: If the admin user is ever logged out, backups of Public Documents will stop without warning. Therefor, access to the Windows admin user should be limited.
+===== Auto Login User =====
+==== Easy Way ====
+Microsoft provides a manual way to automatically log in a user on system startup, but they also have a utility in their sysinternals package that provides a basic GUI to allow you to do it. See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autologon. An additional benefit is that the Autologon utility encrypts the password. This is the recommended procedure.
+==== Manual Setup ====
+If you want to set up the autologon manually, create a .reg file with the following content, then run it.
+<code reg autologin.reg>
+HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
+"DefaultUserName"="USERNAME"
+"DefaultPassword"="PASSWORD"
+"AutoAdminLogon"="1"
+</code>
+Obviously, replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with the correct values for your system. **Warning**: the password is stored in plain text using this approach.
+==== Lock Screen on new session ====
+The only issue with this is that the user is logged in, with an open session when the server boots. One process I have not tried, but is well documented, is to create a startup script for that user which will automatically lock the screen, requiring a password to unlock.
+Create a file, autolock.bat with the following contents
+<code batch autolock.bat>
+@echo off
+%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
+exit
+</code>
+Now, place this in the autostart folder for the user. Log in as the user and run the command
+<code batch>
+Shell:Startup
+</code>
+Which will open the location for the individual users startup. Copy the file into that location and, whenever the user logs in, their screen will automatically lock.
+===== Links =====
+I found information in the following links which I used in this article
+  * https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autologon
+  * https://serverfault.com/questions/840557/auto-login-a-user-at-boot-on-windows-server-2016
+  * https://jc-lan.org/2022/06/02/autologon-user-at-startup-in-windows-server/
+  * https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/user-profiles-and-logon/turn-on-automatic-logon
+  * https://serverfault.com/questions/840557/auto-login-a-user-at-boot-on-windows-server-2016
+  * https://4it.com.au/kb/article/how-to-automatically-logon-and-lock-a-windows-server/
-The only issue is Public Documents on a Terminal Server.