The Microsoft Application Virtualization Blog

KB: How to launch processes inside the App-V 5.0 virtualized environment

J.C. Hornbeck — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:58:38 GMT

A common troubleshooting task for the Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0 client (App-V 5.0) is to investigate or modify a local package by opening a process inside the context of an App-V application. This is also known as opening a process "in the App-V bubble". App-V 5.0 offers several alternative methods to perform this task that differ significantly from techniques available in previous versions of the product. Each method is detailed in the article below:

KB2848278 - How to launch processes inside the App-V 5.0 virtualized environment (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2848278)

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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KB: How To Use Microsoft User Experience Virtualization With App-V Applications

J.C. Hornbeck — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:07:13 GMT

Just wanted to let you know about a new Knowledge Base article we published today that talks about using UE-V with Microsoft App-V. Microsoft User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) supports Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) applications out of the box, without the need for any modifications to either the App-V package or the UE-V template. However, an additional step is needed since you cannot run the UE-V Generator directly against a virtualized App-V application; you must first install the application locally, generate the template, then apply the template to the virtualized application. For all the details as well as the steps required to implement UE-V for App-V apps please see the following:

KB2850582 - How To Use Microsoft User Experience Virtualization With App-V Applications (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2850582)

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
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Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

App-V Support Tip: Error 29-0000001F on initial application launch after active upgrade

J.C. Hornbeck — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:35:13 GMT

Here’s a quick heads up on an issue we ran into recently. When you open a Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) app for active upgrade and make a minor change, it is possible that the application will fail to start the first time it is imported on the App-V Management Server. On a client, users will see the error specified below upon the first launch attempt (any other launch will work fine, it only happens for the first launch)

The Application Virtualization Client could not launch. A device attached to the system is not functioning. Error code xxxxxxxx-xxxxxx29-0000001F

They key factor here is the size of the update you are performing. If the size of the package does not change, or it changes too little, you will run into this issue.

Workaround

You can use the steps to work around this behavior and ensure that the package launches after adding it to the App-V Management Server:

On the Sequencer, open the package for package upgrade.
During the monitoring phase, be sure to add a dummy file to the Virtual File system. Usually something about 50 KB will do.
If you need to replace an existing file from the VFS, ensure you have this file ready in an unmonitored location.
Delete the original file.
Copy the new file over.
Save the package.

Now you should not see the error.

Good luck sequencing!

Sebastian Gernert | App-V Escalation Engineer

Madelinde Walraven | App-V Support Escalation Engineer

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KB: Packaging error when using App-V 5.0 to sequence applications with RELS files

J.C. Hornbeck — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:34:42 GMT

Just wanted to let you know about a new KB article we published today. This one is an App-V article that discusses an issue where if an application contains an OPC "relationship part" (.rels) file, the Microsoft App-V 5.0 sequencer fails to package the application. When the failure occurs you receive the following error message:

An error was encountered while trying to finalize the package. Please check the event log for more details.

You can find the complete article here:

KB2843030 - Packaging error when using App-V 5.0 to sequence applications with RELS files (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2843030)

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

How to install the App-V 5.0 Database and Management Server using SQL scripts on the DB

J.C. Hornbeck — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:58:09 GMT

Ryan Cobb | Senior Premier Field Engineer

Hi everyone, my name is Ryan Cobb and here are the steps required to install the App-V 5 Database and Management Server using the SQL scripts on the DB instead of the installation routine.

=====

Background

Environment: Windows Server 2008 R2 domain

Computers:

AppVDC : Our Windows Server 2008R2 Domain Controller.
AppvServer : A Windows Server 2008R2 computer running SQL Server 2008 R2.
AppvServer2 : A Windows Server 2012 computer that is a member server in the domain. All App-V server pre-reqs are met.

Users and groups : AppVAdmin, member of AppV5Admins, Domain Users, Domain Admins.

Tasks:

Install App-V 5 Management and Reporting databases on AppVServer using the scripts provided by Microsoft.
Install App-V Management and Reporting services on AppVServer2 using the pre-installed databases.

Installation

First, the installation files need to be extracted from appv_server_setup.exe. This is done by executing the following command in an elevated CMD prompt:

appv_server_setup.exe /layout /layoutdir=c:\extractedinstallationfiles

We will work with the ManagementDatabase first. Inside your c:\extractedinstallationfiles directory is the DatabaseScripts folder, and in here you will find two folders; one for ManagementDatabase and one for ReportingDatabase.

Inside the ManagementDatabase folder there are a couple .sql files that will need to be modified as needed for your environment. The first file is the Database.sql file. The image below is the file as it was extracted.

The next image will show the differences after modification. Because my SQL Server already has both AppVManagement and AppVReporting databases for a different test environment, I need to change the names in the script to something else. For my example here, I will append a 5 to the database names (e.g. AppVManagement5 and AppVReporting5) as show below:

Next up we need to modify the permissions.sql file. It needs to be modified to ensure that the correct permissions are setup for the database. Mainly it adds the name of the App-V admins group, of which a member of that group is used to install the App-V server components on the AppVServer2 computer. In my example, my App-V admins group is named AppV5Admins and the name of the account being used is ManagementDbPublicAccessAccount. The other account that is needed is the ManagementDbWriteAccessAccount account and it is the account of the server used to install the App-V Management components and would be the machine account for AppVServer2.

But only if it was so simple. You see, SQL doesn't particularly like friendly names for user groups or computers so we will need to provide the SIDs for each entity instead.

Using PowerShell and the friendly names of both the group and machine we can retrieve the SIDs. The image below shows the retrieval of the SID for the AppV5Admins group and the AppVServer2 machine account:

The syntax for the above image is:

$Account=”domain\account”
(New-Object system.security.principal.NtAccount($Account)).translate([system.security.principal.securityidentifier]).value

Now that we have the SIDs we can plug those into our permissions.sql file as needed.

Before:

After. Notice how the [ ] brackets were removed. The SIDs as pasted also had the ‘S’s and ‘-‘s (dashes) removed.

I then copied the ManagementDatabase folder to my SQL Server computer which is named AppVServer.

Next, I opened SQL Management Studio, and per the directions from the readme I executed each of the .SQL files in their proper order.

I verified through SQL Management Studio that the commands completed as the DB was added, tables created, etc.

The final test is to install the App-V Management Server service on AppVServer2, which, when given the correct information as far as DB Servername, Instance name and DB Name, all was well in the world!

For the reporting database install, simply repeat the procedure above.

Ryan Cobb | Senior Premier Field Engineer | Microsoft

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App-V 5 Scripting: What’s new and changed from App-V 4.x

J.C. Hornbeck — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:08:55 GMT

Are you struggling to get scripting set up and working right in Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0? Whether you’re new to this or a seasoned 4.x veteran who needs help making the transition to scripting in v5, Microsoft's Steve Thomas has you covered in his latest post:

It is almost easier to pretend you know nothing about App-V 4.x scripting when looking at scripting in 5.0. That is often my first response to many rumblings about difficulty getting scripting set up in 5.0. These rumblings come mostly from users of App-V 4.x. Change is hard, I know, but we have a better set of options and frankly, in my opinion, it’s much better this way in the long run. It is just a paradigm shift that does require somewhat of a translation process for bringing older scripts from 4.x over to 5.0…

You can continue reading App-V 5 Scripting: Change at Steve’s blog here.

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A deeper look at App-V/OS Integration

J.C. Hornbeck — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:34:28 GMT

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that Microsoft’s own Thamim Karim (Premier Field Engineer) has just published part 4 of a blog series which goes “behind the scenes of App-V 5.0”. The posts uncover exactly how App-V integrates with the client operating system and are spread over the topics below.

Part 1 - Package Format
Part 2 - File System Cache
Part 3 - Registry
Part 4 - State Changes

If you’re really looking to get a handle on the inner workings of App-V then this is a great place to start.

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

Adobe Reader 11 Package Accelerator Available

Matthijs Gates — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:33:00 GMT

As you may have seen, we announced that App-V 5.0 SP1 is now available as part of MDOP 2013. In our many conversations at MMS a few weeks ago, we heard a lot of excitement around 5.0 SP1 as many of you are evaluating 5.0 alongside your 4.6 deployments. We also heard at MMS and over the past few years that one of the most popular applications to sequence on App-V 4.6 is Adobe Reader. With this in mind, the App-V team has partnered with Adobe to see how we can make Sequencing Adobe Reader even easier. That partnership has produced its first result and we are happy to announce that you can now get a Package Accelerator for Acrobat Reader 11 that is officially supported by Adobe in the App-V TechNet gallery.

The 11.0.01 update of Adobe Reader includes two tools to help virtualize the application on the Microsoft App-V platform. These tools include a Package Accelerator and an App-V Reader MSI, which installs a few DLLs and creates some registry entries to support shell extensions, browser integration, and PDF ownership.

The Adobe Reader Package Accelerator can be downloaded from the following location: http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/11.x/11.0.00/AppV/AdbeRdr11000_MUI_PA.cab
The associated tools can be downloaded from the following location: http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/11.x/11.0.01/AppV/AdbeRdr11001_AppV.msi

For deployment details, refer to the App-V documentation in the Acrobat Enterprise Toolkit at http://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/AdminGuide/appv.html.

The Art of Troubleshooting App-V Applications

J.C. Hornbeck — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:01:52 GMT

Are you having trouble figuring out where to start when troubleshooting App-V sequencing and virtualization issues? Or maybe you’re looking for some tips from the pros on how they approach these types of issues? No matter where you’re coming from, Microsoft’s own Steve Thomas has some great insight on the art of troubleshooting App-V applications.

Lately I have been dealing with the big challenge of teaching something that I have become to know as more of an art than a science. That is, the troubleshooting of virtual applications not functioning correctly in App-V. I have seen many articles that walk through how someone was able to figure out why one particular application was failing and how they were able to provide a resolution. We always appreciate these brave pioneers who prevent us from having to reinvent the wheel when we happen to have the same exact application problem. Through a quick search of Bing, we were able to find that hero who would rescue us from our current plight. The App-V community is full of these heroes – especially in the MVP space. What we do not know in many cases is how they went down that particular path of troubleshooting. What we will often only see (and I myself am quite guilty of this) is the abbreviated cleaned-up version of how the problem was resolved. We do not see the many paths traversed or the rationale behind the particular troubleshooting approach used….

You can continue reading Steve’s article here.

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

How to get the MSI files for Microsoft App-V 5.0 Service Pack 1

J.C. Hornbeck — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:11:26 GMT

If you are looking for the MSI installer files for APP-V 5 SP1, you will need to manually extract them from the EXE files. Check out this post from Microsoft’s own Steve Thomas for details on how this is done:

MDOP 2013 embeds APP-V MSI's inside of EXE files

J.C. Hornbeck | Knowledge Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

Windows Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The AD RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rmssupp/

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

The Microsoft Application Virtualization Blog

KB: How to launch processes inside the App-V 5.0 virtualized environment

KB: How To Use Microsoft User Experience Virtualization With App-V Applications

App-V Support Tip: Error 29-0000001F on initial application launch after active upgrade

Workaround

KB: Packaging error when using App-V 5.0 to sequence applications with RELS files

How to install the App-V 5.0 Database and Management Server using SQL scripts on the DB

Background

Installation

App-V 5 Scripting: What’s new and changed from App-V 4.x

A deeper look at App-V/OS Integration

Part 1 - Package Format Part 2 - File System Cache Part 3 - Registry Part 4 - State Changes

Adobe Reader 11 Package Accelerator Available

The Art of Troubleshooting App-V Applications

How to get the MSI files for Microsoft App-V 5.0 Service Pack 1

Part 1 - Package Format
Part 2 - File System Cache
Part 3 - Registry
Part 4 - State Changes