Network Installations

This topic provides instructions about how to install WoodWorks^® software on a network server, rather than on individual computers. With a network installation, each WoodWorks^® user opens the program from the server and runs it on their individual "client" computer.

If any WoodWorks^® program is to be run from a server then the network administrator must do the following after installation on the server:

On the server:

1. Share the following folders with read privileges that allow it to be accessed by the client machines.
   • C:\ProgramData\WoodWorks\CWC\Canada\11\
   • The WoodWorks installation folder. For the default installation it is

   C:\Program Files (x86)\Woodworks\Canada\11

2. Create a copy of the Sizer.ini, Shearwalls.ini, and/or Connections.ini files that are found in the server’s WoodWorks ProgramData folder, and modify the copied files by
   • removing the remark symbols (;) from the following lines

   ;[Network]
;INI_Location=

   • entering the network path where the database files can be found on the server location:

   [Network]
INI_Location=\\[Server Name]\[Share on server to WoodWorks ProgramData folder]\CWC\Canada\11\

   This will instruct the client computer to look for the database files on the server at this location.

   Then move the modified copy of the .ini files into each program’s installation folder on the server, that is, the folder into which the program had been installed. For a default installation, the folder is

   C:\Program Files (x86)\Woodworks\Canada\11\[program name]\

   where [program name] is Sizer, Shearwalls, or Connections.

   The first time the program is run on the client computer, the .ini file for that program will be copied from the installation folder on the server to the WoodWorks\[program name] subfolder of the ProgramData folder on the client machine. This allows the client program to find the shared database resources on the server, and for the user of the client computer to independently save program settings and preferences.

   If the program does not operate on a client machine, check that the Sizer.ini, Shearwalls.ini, and/or Connections.ini files have indeed been copied to the client machine’s Program Data folder.

3. WoodWorks^® Database Editor (DbEdit.exe) is not able to edit files when run from the client computer. Any changes to the database must be made on the server computer, and will apply to all client users. To make changes to the database available to the client computers, you must modify the database.ini file found in C:\ProgramData\WoodWorks\CWC\Canada\11\ by removing the comment symbols (;) from the following lines:

   ;[Network]

   ;NetworkInstall=Yes

On the client computers:

1. If you have the Shearwalls program, copy vsprint8.ocx and vspdf8.ocx from the Shearwalls folder of the server installation to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 on the client computers. Then to register these components, copy the ShearwallsNetworkSetup.cmd file from the server installation to any location on the client computer and run it as administrator (i.e. right click and select Run as Administrator).

   If the client computer is still running 32-bit Windows, the folder you copy to is C:\Windows\System32 and the command you run is ShearwallsNetworkSetup32.cmd.

2. If the client computers do not already have the 2015 or later version of the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable.dll files in the Windows System folder, copy the file vcredist.x86.exe from the server’s WoodWorks installation folder file to any location on the client computers, then run it.
3. You may find it convenient to create shortcuts for the client computers that point to the networked software.