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Dynamics GP Client Virtualization, Remote Desktop or VDI? I don't want to lose VBA when opening Excel attachments.

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Posted on by John Metaxas at Harris

Most of us have used Remote Desktop for our "Dynamics GP" Clients for a long time.

But here we are using Windows Server 2016 that is due to sunset in January of 2022.

The Natural Assumption is to upgrade to 2019. Which makes sense except VBA will not run on 2019.

For some this is a big deal, most of their screen mods are written in VBA.

The standard answer is to rewrite the Mods in VStools or Dexterity.

Fine problem solved! But what about all the VBA invested in the many documents that may be attached in Dynamics GP?

I want my users to be able to click on an attachment in GP and the Document and have the VBA to work.

So what about running VDI?

Running Windows 10 Session definitely fits into the "Dynamics GP" compatibility matrix and VBA will be around a long time.

What I am surprised to see is there is so little information on using VDI with "Dynamics GP"

Does anyone care to share their experiences in this regard?

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Microsoft Dynamics GP

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Derek Albaugh Microsoft Employee on at

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Migrating VBA to Dexterity or Visual Studio Tools, i.e. C#.NET or VB.NET is the option mostly recommended.

Other than maybe Citrix, I haven't really heard of VDI and Dynamics GP. The only virtual environments formally tested on are Hyper-V and App-V, per system requirements, but we do see others used.

Hopefully the Community will have more personal experience with VDI and then VBA on it.

Thanks

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Steve Rodionoff 261 on at

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Despite it not being officially supported i have found VBA still works on Server 2019.

We have numerous customers on server 2019 using VBA without apparent issues.

The Dynamics GP media installs the vba runtime as normal on server 2019.

You also have to perform the following additional step or Dynamics GP will crash when executing any vba related code.

On each server you must exclude the Dynamics.exe from DEP (Data Execution Prevention) OR only enable DEP for essential Windows programs and services. (system properties-> Performance Options -> DEP)

I always recommend testing this first in UAT before going live with your specific configuration.

good luck!

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Tim Wappat 5,713 on at

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Although it is not officially supported, VDI is pretty sophisticated these days and I can't see any reason why it would not work. You need to talk to the vendor of that particular solution about doing some testing.

This thread may help you, especially Beat who has used it.

community.dynamics.com/.../windows-virtual-desktop-and-gp

Tim

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Joseph Markovich 3,995 on at

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I have been thinking about this today (randomly) and wanted to give my opinions.

Considering VDI, it is essentially just a Windows 10 instance, so I also don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Am currently testing this, so I will let you know!

On the Windows Server 2016 point, it is going end of life next January, but the security updates continue until 2027. I haven't been rushing to replace 2016 yet -- there's still support for it.

Joe

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