The D-Spot (The Deployment Spot)

In many cases virtual applications will talk to physical ones. That’s one of the reasons to keep Adobe Reader installed locally.

But we’ve got an issue with the Reader again.

Launching a PDF file from within the bubble gave an Access Denied error (using a physical Adobe Reader 10.1):

There was an error opening the document. Access Denied

This issue exits only when the PDF file is stored on a “personal folder”, like the Desktop-folder for example. (local User NTFS permissions?).

This isn’t an App-V issue but a Reader X feature called Protected Mode that gave this error.

It can be solved with some basic OSD scripting, but the first step is here to stay: “Know your application”. As Reader X gave this error, we can disable this feature with a registry key. Most of the work is to find out what registry key to set. To keep this short, here is my OSD script that disables Adobe Reader Protected Mode when opening Reader from within a App-V application:

<REGISTRY>
<REGKEY HIVE=”HKCU” KEY=”SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\10.0\Privileged” NOREDIR=”FALSE”>
<REGVALUE REGTYPE=”REG_DWORD” NAME=”bProtectedMode”>00000000</REGVALUE>
</REGKEY>
</REGISTRY>

This goes into the VIRTUALENV-tag.

Happy sequencing!

My colleague couldn’t get an App-V application launched properly.

The app throws the following error:

The Application Virtualization Client encountered a problem while waiting for the application to be ready to interact with the user.

Error code: 19-00001003

Because the app launches a VBScript we changed the SUBSYSTEM Value from windows to console, and the app launched like it should!

 <IMPLEMENTATION>
  
  <VM VALUE=”Win32″>
   <SUBSYSTEM VALUE=”console”/>
  </VM>
  
 </IMPLEMENTATION>

Sometimes you must change this setting in the OSD file yourself. Because the AppV Sequencer doesn’t know if a particular application is a Windows (value=windows) or a DOS (value=console) program.

We had serious performance issues with our virtualized Office 2010. First launch could take up to 6 minutes, while Feature Block 1 was only about 100MB!

Because only Office 2010 was having this slow first start (and autoload), we blame our sequence, the App-V infrastructure or the application itself. But neither of these were the cause of the problem.

What got our attention was the Network utilization, it only reaches 2%. While this wasn’t an issue at all with other App-V applications. Streaming other applications goes fast and uses up to 95% of the available network bandwidth. But Office 2010 was sequenced with the 4.6 RTM version of the Application Virtualization Sequencer. Most other applications were sequenced with App-V sequencer 4.5.

Since version 4.6 the blocksize is fixed at 64KB, there is no way to change this with the GUI sequencer.

I managed to change the blocksize with the trail version of SFT Encoder. Once the blocksize was changed from 64 to 32K, Office 2010 launches ten times faster! However this isn’t a permanent solution for the slow launch. We don’t want to convert all newly sequenced packages with SFT Encoder!

So the reason why only Office 2010 suffered form this slow first start was because it was the only large package sequenced with version 4.6. Other packages made with sequencer 4.6 where to small to notice the slow launch.

A colleague of mine changed the network card speed from 1GBit/Full Duplex to 100Mbit/Full Duplex. With this setting changed, packages created with sequencer 4.6 are streaming fast like it should.

Maybe it’s a networking issue (switches?), maybe a network card setting misconfiguration (teaming?) .. to be investigated. But at least our 4.6 sequences are streaming fast again!

Thanks to Madelinde Walraven for the help with this issue!

To be continued!

After an App-V Server upgrade from Application Virtualization Server 4.5.1.15580 to 4.5.2.17140 we encountered the following error:

The Application Virtualization Client could not launch ApplicationName.

The package requested could not be found in the system data store or the files associated with this package could not be found on the server. Report the following error code to your System Administrator.

Error code: XXXXXX-XXXXXX0A-20000194

After some deep digging we found out that the App-V Management Server Installer set the CONTENT_DIR back to the default value! As we don’t use the default content dir C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center App Virt Management Server\App Virt Management Server\content we found our problem.

Solve this by manually change the registry key  SOFTGRID_CONTENT_DIR (in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Server) to your current Content location (for example \\servername\contentdir).

Microsoft’s application virtualization solution has reached version 4.6 some weeks ago. The most important thing about version 4.6 is support for 64 bit. The Server parts could run on x64 operating systems, but it was impossible to install the AppV client on x64 operating systems. Time to upgrade!

As the client needs to be updated first, I will cover the client upgrade process only. (Client first, server next, sequencer last). Good to know that only the client and the sequencer are updated to version 4.6. No need to update your Management server as version 4.5.2.17140 is still the latest and greatest.

AppV has some Prerequisites, I will install them first. Then I will install the AppV client itself, using some command line parameters and a registry file import for applying custom settings.

Prerequisites

Application error reporting

msiexec /I SOURCE_PATH\dw20shared.msi /QN APPGUID={4C1CE627-6B28-436E-BD12-3A881065FB20} REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS ALLUSERS=1

Visual C++ 2005 runtime

SOURCE_PATH\vcredist2005_x86.exe /Q:A /c:”VCREDI~3.exe /Q:A /C:”"MSIEXEC /I VCREDIST.MSI /QN “”"

Visual C++ 2008 runtime

msiexec /i SOURCE_PATH\vc2008\vc_red.msi /qn /l*v “LOGFILE_PATH\vc2008runtime.log”

AppV 4.6 Client with command line parameters

Because storage is expensive, we have a different cache policy for virtual machines. Cache size on virtual systems don’t have to be as enormous as on physical machines. Not only the cache size is reduced in virtual machines, also the AutoLoad features are disabled via the MSI command line parameters.

To identify virtual machines I query on the computer name. As we use specific names for our VM’s, this should be a piece of cake!

We do an architecture check in a batch file. So I have two code blocks, one for x64 and another for x86 operating systems. Only the paths are different, so I will post only one.

AppV Client Installation

Echo install AppV x64 Client

rem Virtual Machine check
Echo %computername% | findstr /i “ISOPC99 VPC” >NUL && (
    Echo Installing AppV x64 client for Virtual Machines
    msiexec /i “SOURCE_PATH\x64\setup.msi” SWICACHESIZE=”4096″ autoloadTriggers=0 AutoLoadTarget=0 AutoLoadonLaunch=0 AutoLoadonRefresh=0 AutoLoadonLogin=0 SWIDCSDISPLAY=”Company Streaming Server” SWIDCSTYPE=”RTSP” SWIDCSHOST=”appvserver.domain.local” SWIDCSPORT=”554″ SWIDCSREFRESH=”on” SWIGLOBALDATA=”C:\Program Files\Microsoft Application Virtualization Client\GLOBAL\” SWISOFTGRIDDRIVE=”Q” /q REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS /l*v “LOGFILE_PATH\appv46.log”
    ) || ( 
   Echo Installing AppV x64 client for Physical Machines
    msiexec /i “SOURCE_PATH\Source\x64\setup.msi” MinFreeSpaceMB=”6000″ SWIDCSDISPLAY=”Company Streaming Server” SWIDCSTYPE=”RTSP” SWIDCSHOST=”appvserver.domain.local” SWIDCSPORT=”554″ SWIDCSREFRESH=”on” SWIGLOBALDATA=”C:\Program Files\Microsoft Application Virtualization Client\GLOBAL\” SWISOFTGRIDDRIVE=”Q” /q REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS /l*v “LOGFILE_PATH\appv46.log”
    )

Echo Import Regkeys
regedit /s SOURCE_PATH\appv64_v2.reg

The registry file that is imported in the last line specify the sftlog.txt log file location, and some other tweaks, have a look:

Registry import (x86)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\Configuration]
“SystemEventLogLevel”=dword:00000004
“LogFileName”=”C:\\PATH_OF_YOUR_CHOICE\\sftlog.txt”
“UserDataDirectory”=”%APPDATA%”
“ApplicationSourceRoot”=”RTSP://server.domain.local:554″
“LaunchRecordMask”=dword:005a0000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\DC Servers\Company Streaming Server]
“Period”=dword:000002d0
“Refresh”=dword:00000001
“Reporting”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\AppFS]
“UnloadLeastRecentlyUsed”=dword:00000001
“MinPackageAge”=dword:00000001

Registry import (x64)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\Configuration]
“SystemEventLogLevel”=dword:00000004
“LogFileName”=”C:\\PATH_OF_YOUR_CHOICE\\sftlog.txt”
“UserDataDirectory”=”%APPDATA%”
“ApplicationSourceRoot”=”RTSP://server.domain.local:554″
“LaunchRecordMask”=dword:005a0000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\DC Servers\Company Streaming Server]
“Period”=dword:000002d0
“Refresh”=dword:00000001
“Reporting”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\AppFS]
“UnloadLeastRecentlyUsed”=dword:00000001
“MinPackageAge”=dword:00000001

That’s it.

When the SQL Server is on the same machine as the App-V Management Server (formerly known as the VAS Server), the App-V Management Server Service doesn’t start after a reboot.

Solve this by adding the MSSQLSERVER as dependency to App-V service in the registry. (Use MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS when using SQL Server Express edition). Name the new string DependOnService and value MSSQLSERVER or MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS  in the hive HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\AppVirtServer:

To finalize, add a DWORD named DelayedAutostart with value 1 in the same hive:

Reboot the server, the Application Virtualization Management Server service should start (with a slight delay).

When troubleshooting App-V applications looking into the bubble can ease your work.
Sneaking into the bubble gives you information about which files are stored local and which virtual.  This way you know what files actually will be used by the application.  You can modify some configuration files without resequencing the whole application.

There are some ways to view inside the virtual Softgrid / App-V bubble.

1. First method is a PRE LAUNCH script in the OSD file that would launch a Command Prompt window inside the bubble

Editing the .OSD file, inside the <DEPENDENCY> tag add:

<SCRIPT EVENT="LAUNCH" TIMING="PRE" PROTECT="TRUE" WAIT="TRUE" TIMEOUT="">
<HREF>cmd.exe</HREF>
</SCRIPT>

Launching the OSD file will present you a DOS BOX inside the bubble.  With this box you can do anything.  Browsing the Q: drive, starting regedit, changing config/ini files, map a drive, copy some files ..

2. Second way by using sfttray

• sftmime /query obj:app /short -> gives you a list of all Softgrid applications on your client

• sfttray /EXE cmd.exe /launch “Notepad++ 5.4.2″ -> launches a command prompt in the bubble

3. Third method using SFT Explorer

With SFT Explorer you can look inside the SFT file without ever having to load it. You can see files and registry keys would look like if the App-V application was loaded on the target machine. It only supports viewing in the SFT file, you cannot make any changes.