tsclient drives don't work correctly if TC started as admin

[Quadi]

I'm running TC 8.52a inside a remote desktop session. If running as regular user, all is fine as expected. But if I run TC as admin, the dropdown and the links in the \\Computer page don't work:
Image: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53390991/Forums/AB_2016-10-11_091053.png

Is this a restriction due to UAC, or is it a bug in TC? The weird thing, if I open the drives with e.g. \\tsclient\c inside TC, all is fine, even if run as admin. Only the two mentioned access methods don't work.

[MVV]

Well, if one place shows and other doesn't, it is a TC issue.

[Quadi]

Yes, only the mentioned way of opening does not work. So this is completely inconsistent inside TC.

And it has nothing to do with mapped drives, I have no drive letters for the tsclient drives.

[MVV]

Sorry, I've edited my previous post while you've edited your, so I agree that it is a TC problem.

[Quadi]

Ah, I see. So I've edited my response as well

[karlchen]

Hi, Quadi.

Can reproduce the reported behaviour using
+ Total Commander 8.52a 64-bit
+ on Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit

Can reproduce the reported behaviour using
+ Total Commander 9.0b17 64-bit
+ on Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit
as well.
As 8.52a is unlikely to receive any more bugfixes, it is much more interesting to find out whether T.C. 9.0b17 behaves in the same way:
Yes, it does.

No idea, whether this constitutes a bug, a known problem, a design limitation or whatever.

Best regards,
Karl

[ghisler(Author)]

I tried remote desktop from Windows 7 (client) to Windows 10 via RDP, and tsclient is shown in elevated beta 17 - but only if you restart TC after establishing the connection.

[karlchen]

Good evening, Christian.

I think some clarification is needed, because the thread titles states a problem with \\tsclient.

But in fact, drives under \\tsclient work correctly and as expected. No matter whether T.C. has been started non-elevated or elevated.

What behaves differently is breadcrumb bar => Computer => list of drives.
The drive letters which point to the RDP client machine can be expanded only if T.C. has been started non-elevated.
The drive letters which point to the RDP client machine cannot be expanded if T.C. has been started elevated.

As already stated above: accessing the same drive letters including their content works fine if you access them under \\tsclient.
(elevated or non-elevated.)

And yes, T.C. had always been started after logging in through RDP.

Hope the reported behaviour has been explained clearly enough this time.

Best regards,
Karl

[ghisler(Author)]

I see - this list in "Computer" is NOT generated by TC. It's retrieved from Windows via OLE2. I assume that it isn't available to elevated programs.

Try this:
1. Run notepad.exe elevated
2. Open the "Open" or "Save as" dialog
3. Go to "Computer"

[karlchen]

Hello, Christian.

Followed the steps which you had given.
In the "open" dialogue of the elevated Notepad instance all the listed drives
+ "C on computerA"
+ "D on computerA"
+ "K on computerA"
cannot be expanded. I.e. accessing the drives of the machine which has connected via RDP is not possible.

If Notepad has been launched normally, i.e. non-elevated, in the "Open" dialogue, all the listed drives
+ "C on computerA"
+ "D on computerA"
+ "K on computerA"
can be expanded, i.e. it is possible to access the drives of the machine which has connected via RDP.

Now for the amazing (?) detail:
Inside the elevated Notepad in the "Open" dialogue box I navigate to "Network" => "tsclient".
All the listed drives
+ "\\tsclient\C"
+ "\\tsclient\D"
+ "\\tsclient\K"
can be expanded, too.

Note:
So far on the Windows RDP server(s) to which we have been connected UAC has been enabled.

Best regards,
Karl

[karlchen]

Continued, but now for an RDP server where UAC has been disabled.

I.e. on such a machine, any administrative user will always have got elevated rights without having to press consent first.


The (always elevated) Notepad and its "Open" dialogue:
All the listed drives
+ "C on computerA"
+ "D on computerA"
+ "K on computerA"
can be expanded, i.e. it is possible to access the drives of the machine which has connected via RDP.


The (always elevated) Total Commander:

\\tsclient behaves as before.
The amazing thing is the breadcrumb bar => Computer => list of drives
+ "C on computerA"
+ "D on computerA"
+ "K on computerA"
can be expanded.
But ...
TC will actually display
+ "\\tslient\C"
+ "\\tslient\D"
+ "\\tslient\K"

Hm ....

Karl
--
P.S.:
Tested and reproduced using
+ Total Commander 8.52a 64-bit
+ Total Commander 9.0b17 64-bit
+ Total Commander 9.0rc1 64-bit
+ Notepad
+ on Windows 2008 R2 64-bit servers (RDP servers)

[ghisler(Author)]

I seem to remember that TC is removing all entries "C on xxx" from "Computer" because Windows uses this also for UNC path bookmarks (moved from Network Neighborhood).