Astronaut Client on a USB drive

A USB flashdrive is meant to be moved from one computer to the next, so environment variables will not be constant. To install the Astronaut CPRS client package and use it successfully from a USB flash drive, you will have to use the method for installing to a protected environment (i.e. edit all connection shortcuts to use specific values instead of environment variables).

Install Astronaut clients to the USB drive
In the example below, I will use a USB drive on F:


 * Create an Astronaut folder on your USB drive (e.g. F:\Astronaut\).
 * Run the Astronaut_clients installer. (Currently, this works best if the Astronaut_clients.x.x.x.x.exe installer program is located on (and run from) the hard drive, not the USB drive.)
 * Astronaut VistA Host Name or IP Address (use default if unsure): 192.168.0.73
 * Note: Use the IP address or URL of your own VistA server (or virtual machine containing the VistA server)
 * Choose Install Location: Destination Folder: F:\Astronaut\VistA
 * Note: Use the drive letter of your USB drive, of course.
 * Choose Start Menu Folder: Select the Start Menu folder... : AstronautUSB
 * Note: It is important to use a separate folder name (such as AstronautUSB) for the shortcut folder to distinguish it from the folder used for the Astronaut clients installed on the hard drive (because the shortcuts will all be different). Later these USB drive-oriented shortcuts will be copied to the USB drive itself.

Move shortcuts to USB Drive
The Astronaut client installer creates shortcuts in 3 different locations:


 * In a global Start menu folder (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\AstronautUSB\ in Windows 7, for example)
 * In a local Start menu folder (C:\Users\yourWindowsusername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\AstronautUSB\ in Windows 7, for example)
 * On the local desktop (C:\Users\yourWindowsusername\Desktop\ in Windows 7, for example)

Copy (or move) the shortcuts from these 3 locations into the F:\Astronaut\ folder on your USB drive. (Personally, I only copy the shortcuts from the global Start menu folder.)

Edit shortcuts
The Astronaut Client(s) on a USB drive ought not change the environment variables on the computer to which it is attached. Therefore, the startup shortcuts in the F:/Astronaut folder on the USB drive must be changed so that environment variables are not used.

Change Astronaut SSH shortcut
The "Astronaut SSH" shortcut that is used to invoke the PuTTY SSH client uses a command line: "F:\Astronaut\VistA\Putty\putty.exe" -ssh -l %ASTRO_SSH_clientID% -pw %ASTRO_SSH_CLIENT_PASS% -L %ASTRO_PORT%:127.0.0.1:%ASTRO_PORT% %ASTRO_SSH_HOST%

The individual environment variables must be specified if you do not have privileges to specify environment variables. For example:
 * %ASTRO_SSH_clientID% -> client9260 (this is the default value)
 * %ASTRO_SSH_CLIENT_PASS% -> not#1sostrong (this is the default value)
 * %ASTRO_PORT% -> 9260
 * %ASTRO_SSH_HOST% -> 192.168.56.101 (use the IP address or URL of the installed VistA server)

The revised Astronaut SSH shortcut would therefore be: "F:\Astronaut\VistA\Putty\putty.exe" -ssh -l client9260 -pw not#1sostrong -L 9260:127.0.0.1:9260 192.168.56.101

Change TMG-CPRS shortcut
The "TMG-CPRS" shortcut that is used to invoke the CPRS client uses a command line: "F:\Astronaut\VistA\tmg-cprs\CPRSChart.exe" S=%ASTRO_LOCAL_HOST% P=9260 CCOW=DISABLE SPOOF-VER=%ASTRO_CPRS_SPOOF%

The individual environment variables must be specified if you do not have privileges to specify environment variables. For example:
 * %ASTRO_LOCAL_HOST% -> 127.0.0.1
 * %ASTRO_CPRS_SPOOF% -> 1.0.26.66 (this is the default)

The revised TMG-CPRS shortcut would therefore be:

"F:\Astronaut\VistA\tmg-cprs\CPRSChart.exe" S=127.0.0.1 P=9260 CCOW=DISABLE SPOOF-VER=1.0.26.66

Change Text client shortcut
The "Text client" shortcut that is used to invoke the Text client uses a command line: "F:\Astronaut\VistA\Putty\putty.exe" -P 22 %ASTRO_SSH_HOST% -l %ASTRO_textID% -pw %ASTRO_TEXT_PASS%

The individual environment variables must be specified if you do not have privileges to specify environment variables. For example:
 * %ASTRO_textID% -> text9260 (this is the default value)
 * %ASTRO_TEXT_PASS% -> not#1sostrong (this is the default value)
 * %ASTRO_SSH_HOST% -> 192.168.56.101 (use the IP address or URL of the installed VistA server)

The revised Text client shortcut would therefore be:

"F:\Astronaut\VistA\Putty\putty.exe" -P 22 192.168.56.101 -l text9260 -pw not#1sostrong

Change VistA Config shortcut
The "VistA Config" shortcut that is used to invoke the VistA user Configuration utility uses a command line: "F:\Astronaut\VistA\GUI_Config\GUI_Config.exe" S=%ASTRO_LOCAL_HOST% P=%ASTRO_PORT% CCOW=DISABLE

The individual environment variables must be specified if you do not have privileges to specify environment variables. For example:
 * %ASTRO_LOCAL_HOST% -> 127.0.0.1
 * %ASTRO_PORT% -> 9260

The revised VistA Config shortcut would therefore be:

"F:\Astronaut\VistA\GUI_Config\GUI_Config.exe" S=127.0.0.1 P=9260 CCOW=DISABLE

Change CPRS Query Tool shortcut
The "CPRS Query Tool" shortcut that is used to invoke the CPRS Query Tool uses a command line: "F:\Astronaut\VistA\CPRS_Query_Tool\CPRSQuery.exe" S=%ASTRO_LOCAL_HOST% P=%ASTRO_PORT% CCOW=DISABLE

The individual environment variables must be specified if you do not have privileges to specify environment variables. For example:
 * %ASTRO_LOCAL_HOST% -> 127.0.0.1
 * %ASTRO_PORT% -> 9260

The revised CPRS Query Tool shortcut would therefore be:

"F:\Astronaut\VistA\CPRS_Query_Tool\CPRSQuery.exe" S=127.0.0.1 P=9260 CCOW=DISABLE

Change other client module shortcuts
Don't forget to change the shortcuts for the other modules in a similar fashion:


 * Group Notes
 * GUI Mail
 * Shift Handoff Tool
 * Admin
 * Vitals
 * Vitals Manager

Using Astronaut CPRS on a USB drive in Linux
TMG-CPRS is a Windows-compatible program and does not currently work well in Linux. However, a virtual machine (running Windows as a guest operating system) can be created with the Astronaut CPRS package installed on it. Such a virtual machine could be placed on a USB flash drive and run from any computer able to run the virtual machine. For example, if a VirtualBox virtual machine were created, that virtual machine could be run on any computer running the VirtualBox program.

For more details on accomplishing this, see Astronaut CPRS in Linux.