DWG 2009 Viewer is one of the most popular applications for viewing AutoCAD files; however, this application is not supported on terminal server environments. When trying to run the DWG application as a regular user on TS 2003 a number of frustrating security and MSI issues may arise.

After a few hours of sweat and determination I successfully ran this application on windows 2003 terminal server.

 Here is how you do it: 

1.      Logon as an administrator to the Windows 2003 TS

2.      Install DWG 2009 Viewer accepting all default setup options

3.      After setup is complete, launch the DWG application and make sure it starts successfully without any errors. Then close the application

4.      Make sure the following 2 folders were created:

a.       C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk

b.      %APPDATA%\Autodesk 

5.      Create a new folder called, for example, "DWGSHARE" on the local terminal server drive and grant the following NTFS permissions:

a.       Administrators – Full Control

b.      Authenticated Users -  Full control

c.       System – Full Control

6.      Merge the 2 folders noted in section 4 above to one Autodesk folder ,and copy the New Autodesk folder to the DWGSHARE folder

7.      Delete the 2 folders from the user profile and from the redirected application data, if applicable

8.      Export the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk key using Regedit to a .reg file

9.      Edit the exported registry file with notepad , change and replace all values that point to C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk or %APPDATA%\Autodesk to the new "DWGSHARE" folder path

10.  Import the edited registry file ,start the application and make sure there are no errors, if so this means you are in the right direction

11.  Edit again the exported registry file and now replace the path from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Terminal Server\Install\Software\Autodesk

Note – this Registry key is actually the terminal server "install mode" key, each Registry key is automatically pushed to the Current User hive of each user logging on to the terminal server  

12.  Import the file to registry, and make sure the following key  is replaced correctly and identical to exported file:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Terminal Server\Install\Software\Autodesk

13.  Logon to the server with a test user and try to launch the DWG application

 Good Luck