Deploying a standard configuration

You can save your customization and report-open choices to a configuration file and roll it out across an organization. ViewerFX for Crystal Reports reads the file each time it starts and applies the configuration, so every machine follows the same standard setup. This is an administrator task — a typical end user never creates one.

What a configuration file contains

A configuration file records the choices from the Settings window’s Application sections — which ribbon buttons and export formats are shown, and the report-open behavior — as a small file named Config.vfx. It captures the configuration you are designing in the Settings window, which is not necessarily the one currently applied to your own copy.

The file holds display and behavior settings only. It contains no passwords and no data-source connection details.

Exporting a configuration

To create a configuration file, open the Settings window with Report Viewer › View › Settings and set up the Customize and Report Settings sections the way you want them deployed. While you have unsaved changes, a banner appears with an Export… button.

Click Export….
ViewerFX asks whether to protect the file with a password. A password here prevents others from re-editing or re-saving the configuration in ViewerFX; it does not encrypt or hide the file. The settings inside a Config.vfx remain readable either way, so do not rely on the password to keep the contents private. (In practice the file holds only display and behavior toggles — which buttons and formats appear, and how reports open — not credentials.)
Choose a location and click Save. The default file name is Config.vfx.

Settings window Application section showing the configuration banner with the Export… button

Deploying it to other machines

To deploy the configuration, copy Config.vfx into the ViewerFX installation directory — the same folder the program was installed to, under Program Files (see Choosing the install location). Each time ViewerFX starts, it looks in that folder for a configuration file and applies it, overlaying the per-user settings on that machine.

Standard Windows file permissions on the Program Files folder keep ordinary users from replacing or deleting the file, so the deployed configuration stays in place.

Note: Double-clicking a .vfx file does nothing. Unlike a .rpt report, a .vfx file has no file association and does not open ViewerFX; the only way ViewerFX reads a configuration file is this startup scan of the installation directory.

Keep exactly one .vfx file in the installation directory. If more than one is present, ViewerFX applies only one of them, and which one takes effect is not something you should rely on — remove the extras and leave only the single file you want enforced.

What users see on a deployed machine

On a machine with a deployed configuration, the Settings window shows a strip at the top noting where the configuration was loaded from, that it was deployed by an administrator, and that local changes will not persist while the file is in place — the deployed configuration shadows your local settings on every launch, whether or not it is locked. When the configuration is password-locked, the strip additionally shows an Unlock button, and the Customize and Report Settings options are grayed out so the user cannot change them.

Settings window admin strip showing the deployed Config.vfx path, a note that local changes will not persist, and a Reload button

If the configuration file can’t be read

If a deployed Config.vfx is corrupt or unreadable, ViewerFX does not fail silently and does not apply a partial configuration. It shows a message directing the user to their administrator, then runs on the application’s standard settings for that session, with settings changes and Export disabled. The Settings window reports the diagnostic an administrator needs: the file path, the reason it failed, and a Reload button (the same Reload described under Updating or removing a deployed configuration). Fix or remove the file, click Reload, and ViewerFX recovers fully — no restart required.

Updating or removing a deployed configuration

To change a deployed configuration, replace the Config.vfx file in the installation directory and either restart ViewerFX or click Reload in the Settings window to re-read it. To stop enforcing a configuration, delete the file from the installation directory.

If the configuration is password-locked, click Unlock in the Settings window and enter the password to re-enable local editing for the current session. Unlocking does not remove the file — the configuration is enforced again the next time ViewerFX starts.

Changing the password

To change or remove the password on a deployed configuration, there is no separate “change password” command — you re-export. On a machine where the configuration is deployed, click Unlock and enter the current password; this re-enables both editing and Export for the session. Export again — choosing a new password, or none — and redeploy the new Config.vfx to the installation directory, replacing the old one. The next launch enforces the new file.

If you lose the password

Losing the password does not break the deployment. ViewerFX applies the deployed configuration at every startup without needing the password — enforcement continues, and the settings themselves stay readable: even while locked, the grayed-out Customize and Report Settings controls still display the deployed values, so you can read the current configuration off the Settings window and rebuild it. The password only gates unlocking for interactive edits. To move past a lost password, an administrator with file access can delete Config.vfx and export a fresh one, or re-export from any machine that does not have the configuration applied — set the configuration up there, export it with a new password, and redeploy.

Note: Deploying a configuration works in every edition. Exporting and applying a Config.vfx file is not restricted by license.