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Question

How to setup a software server

Mar 22, 2017 11:43PM PDT

How can I setup a computer so that different people on my home network can access the programs on it at the same time?

Let's say it's a software server so I install the Adobe suite and Microsoft office oh a single machine so that I don't have to install it on the individual machines of my family members and they would just be able to log into this virtual server from their personal machines and use the programs whenever they need them as individual users on that one computer remotely from their own computers.

So multiple people can access the programs on this main server from their personal computers and save whatever they need back onto their personal machines...

Discussion is locked

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Answer
As To MS Office, It Doesn't Work Quite That Way.. But...
Mar 23, 2017 9:12AM PDT

...there is a Microsoft Online and Office Online Server (OOS) available for organizations, but it's not cheap. Basically, the standard version of Office wasn't designed to be used from a server but was instead set up as an "end-user" program. I've worked with some large government entities and they all used versions of Office which were installed on individual machines, mainly because the server/online versions were problematic and expensive to maintain. Read about it in the links below:

https://blogs.office.com/2016/05/04/office-online-server-now-available/

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/257757/considerations-for-server-side-automation-of-office

In regards to Adobe, I believe there is an Adobe Acrobat Elements server edition for PDF file creation, etc.. Or at least, they used to. Once again, utilizing this requires a special edition of Adobe, not the individual user-end installers. And although I don't use it, they now have a "Creative Cloud" offering which offers Photoshop usage, etc. Check with the Adobe's site for their offerings.

https://creative.adobe.com/plans?promoid=49F59RVM&mv=other

Hope this helps.

Grif

Post was last edited on March 23, 2017 9:16 AM PDT

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Answer
Re: server
Mar 23, 2017 9:22AM PDT

You'll need a version of Windows Server to install and run the software on. Then your PC is reduced to a socalled "thin client" that must connect to the server as a "remote desktop". If that connection is configured correctly you can save files to the client hard disk.

But it's slow, and you need to login to the server explicitely by typing your username and password before you can use the program.
And Windows server is expensive and you might need to hire an expert to set it up.

So I shouldn't do it.

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Answer
Nod to Grif & Kees
Mar 23, 2017 9:52AM PDT

Consider LibreOffice from ninite.com

Installs are easy.