The SoftGrid/App-V Callback Resource Site

App-V Troubleshooting, Known Issues and General Resources

J.C. Hornbeck — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:34:21 GMT

When you’re troubleshooting a problem with SoftGrid or Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), chances are pretty good that you’re not the first person to encounter your particular issue. With that in mind, the first thing you’ll want to do is a quick search of our Knowledge Base, our blog sites and the forums to see if anyone has already posted the resolution. There's a lot of good information at these resources and I've listed a few of my favorites below:

Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for SoftGrid KB articles
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for App-V KB articles
Search the App-V Team blog.
Search our SoftGrid/App-V Newsgroups or ask a question of your own

The four resources above probably hold the answer for 90% of the questions and issues we get on App-V. And if they don't, let me know so I can work on getting it added. I promise that I read every email I get even if I may not have the bandwidth to respond to them all.

If you’re getting an error message, include parts of the exact error text in your search. Also note that the UI error code contains both the Application ID and Error Code (The actual error code is the last 10 characters). The exact error message and code can be incredibly important so don’t summarize it when searching or asking for help. Including the exact error can mean the difference between quickly finding your answer and searching in vain.

Common Questions

I'd have to say that the two most common questions we get about both SoftGrid and App-V include:

1. Do you have a list of applications that can be virtualized? The answer can be found here.

2. How can I sequence Microsoft Office? This is super easy if you use our recipe. We have a couple KBs you can reference depending on which version of Office you'd like to virtualize:

How-Tos

Other Things You Should Know

!IMPORTANT! Microsoft Application Virtualization (SoftGrid) Post Installation Tasks

Other Online Resources

The App-V Sequencing Recipe Sharing Forum
Need to open a support incident? Click here.
The App-V Team blog
The App-v TechCenter
The Application Virtualization technical library on TechNet
Webcasts, Virtual Labs, Certification opportunities, TechNet events and other learning opportunities
The latest App-V downloads
App-V community links
The MDOP blog

Common Issues

While App-V is pretty simple and straight forward to deploy and use, below are a couple of the more common issues we sometimes see here in support:

Issue:

When installing the App-V Management Service, ‘Error 25120 unable to create the required IIS virtual directory’ You may also see something like this in the SoftGrid-Server-setup log file:

Root cause: IIS or ‘IIS Scripts and Management Tools’ is not installed

Resolution: Install IIS and role service ‘IIS Scripts and Management Tools’

Issue:

Error 25122 when installing the App-V Management Service.:

Root Cause: Attempted to install Management Service on a machine where ‘Default web site’ (in IIS) was renamed:

Resolution: Re-name to ‘Default Web Site’ in IIS Manager

Issue:

Error connecting to the Management Service in the management console – Error code: 0000C824:

Root Cause: Management service is uninstalled – check for an error message in the install log. It may indicate that server.conf and sftMgmt.udl do not exist

Resolution: Re-install Management Service

Issue:

Apps successfully imported on server and publishing refresh successful on client, but no apps appear in client console. If you review the sftlog.txt (client log) file you may find something similar to the following:

Root cause(s): The content folder is not shared, there is an OS Tag mismatch or the user is not added to correct group entitlement.

Resolution(s): Share content folder, add the proper OS to the OSD file or add the user to the correct group.

Issue:

Error 2A-80090322 when performing a publishing refresh or launching a virtual application. You may also see “The target principal name is incorrect. “

Root Cause: The App-V Management Server service is configured to logon as a domain user instead of the default Network Service Account and the Service Principal Name (SPN) has not been registered.

Resolution: Set the SPN on the Management Server. For example:

setspn -A SoftGrid/<FQDN of your machine> <YourDOMAIN>\<YourServiceAccountName>

setspn –A SoftGrid/<NetBIOS name of your machine> <YourDOMAIN>\<YourServiceAccountName>

Issue:

The Management Server service stops and gives an error on restart:

When reviewing the log file sft-server.txt you see something similar to the following:

Root cause: The SQL Server service is stopped.

Resolution: Restart the SQL Server service and then restart the Management Server service.

Issue:

Virtual applications’ usage data is not accurate.

Root cause: Publishing refresh is disabled on the client or set to ‘Refresh publishing on user login’

Resolution: Set a 1 day refresh policy on the client by setting ‘Refresh publishing occurs every’. Best Practice is to deploy the refresh policy setting on server (overwrites the policy set on client) versus client.

Issue:

Error 25010. A prerequisite for installation is missing. Installation cannot continue.

Root cause: You may be installing using setup.msi, which does not install pre-requisites.

Resolution: Install using setup.exe or manually install the pre-reqs prior to running setup.msi,

Issue:

Publishing refresh fails with error code 0A-10000004:

Investigation: Verify that the server is accessible (ping it). Next try to Telnet to the server. If still no issue is found, RDP to the server and verify that the Management
Server service is running. You may find that is is stopped.

Resolution: Restart the service and do publishing refresh again

Issue:

App launch fails with error 4604EE8-19D07F2A-0000274D:

Root Cause: Cannot contact the server because the Management Server service is stopped.

Resolution: Restart the Management Server service.

Issue:

Application launch fails with error 4604EE8-1690140A-20000194:

Root Cause(s): The .sft file path or the .sft file name is invalid, the App no longer exists but a shortcut is still present, or the Provider Policy does not exist.

Resolution: Set the correct path to the SFT file, delete the shortcut, or set the correct Provider Policy in the .osd.

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Initial Data Gathering for MED-V

J.C. Hornbeck — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:46:26 GMT

For Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V), the first thing you’ll probably want to do in preparation for your callback is gather up any relevant information and log files so that you’ll have them handy when you speak with a Support Engineer. The exact data we’ll want to review can vary depending on the issue so for the sake of this document we’ll err on the side of gathering too much data rather than too little.

If you're able to collect this information and send it to us prior to the initial callback it will give the engineer time to review your data in advance so we can hit the ground running on that first call. If you wish to send any of this data to the support engineer handling your case, please address any email to casemail@microsoft.com. The files must be in .ZIP format, and the Subject line must include your case number. An example of proper case number formatting is: REG: 133322255555599. Note that the REG: must be included!

1. Collect an MPS Report from the Host and the Guest

To collect an MPS Report, visit this page and download the version appropriate for your operating system. Once you have the tool downloaded and copied to the systems you wish to run it on, all you need to do is make sure you’re logged on as an admin and execute it, then follow the prompts. When in doubt select all options – it’s better to collect too much data than not enough.

When data collection is complete, the report files will be compressed into a .cab file under the %systemroot%\MPSReports\Setup\<Report Type>\Cab directory called something like %COMPUTERNAME%_MPSReports.CAB. This CAB file is what we’ll want.

Note: The MPS Reporting utility can take from 3 to 15 minutes to complete. You can run this at any time and resource utilization will be minimal.

2. Collect a directory listing of the following locations on the Host:

%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Medv\Workspace
%UserProfile%\Virtual Machines
%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\MEDV\v2\Virtual Machines

Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to run a CMD prompt, navigate to the appropriate folder and run the following command:

dir *.* > <dir name>.txt

Just be sure that you substitute an easily identifiable name for <dir name>.

3. Collect the following Registry keys from the Host:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MEDV
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MEDV
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MEDV
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MEDV

The best way to do this is to run REGEDIT, navigate to the proper location, right click on the key and select Export. Give it an obvious name and save it as a Registration File (*.reg).

4. Collect the following Registry key from the Client:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MEDV

5. Collect the following log files from the Client:

%SystemRoot%\setupact.log
%SystemRoot%\setuperr.log
%SystemRoot%\setupapi.log
%SystemRoot%\comsetup.log
%SystemRoot%\debug\netsetup.log

Thanks for your help, thanks for using Microsoft products and thanks for using Microsoft product support!

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Initial Data Gathering for Microsoft SoftGrid and App-V

J.C. Hornbeck — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:53:00 GMT

For Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) and SoftGrid issues, the first thing you’ll probably want to do in preparation for your callback is gather up any relevant information and log files so that you’ll have them handy when you speak with a Support Engineer. The exact data we’ll want to review can vary depending on the issue so for the sake of this document we’ll err on the side of gathering too much data rather than too little.

Gathering Data

What data you gather will first depend on the SoftGrid/App-V component you’re having an issue with:

The Client

The primary log we’ll be working with on client issues is Sftlog.txt and it’s located here:

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Application Virtualization Client
Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Application Virtualization Client

For more information see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc817103.aspx.

The details on the various logging levels and how to implement them are documented in KB931803 - Log options for SoftGrid Client 4.x.

The Server

By default, the SoftGrid Virtual Application Server logging file is located in the following location:

%ProgramFiles%\Softricity\SoftGrid Server\logs

This file is called Sft-server.log.

Note: In App-V 4.5 the directory is now called "Microsoft System Center App Virt Management Server\App Virt Management Server", not Softricity\SoftGrid Server. For more information see KB930871.

If you’re having an issue with the server then the chances are good we’ll ask to see this file. For more information on this log and the logging levels available see the following Knowledge Base article:

931584 - Description of the logging levels for SoftGrid Virtual Application Server 3.x

and

http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2009/01/26/troubleshooting-app-v-with-log-files.aspx

Sequencing

The thing that will help us the most with any sequencing issue is access to either the application installation files or your sequence. Without these it can be extremely difficult to resolve a sequencing issue.

Another thing we’ll likely request is a ProcMon (Process Monitor) log taken while reproducing the issue. For details on how to get a ProcMon log see the following:

http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2007/08/13/troubleshooting-softgrid-with-process-monitor.aspx

Just remember to get the latest version of Process Monitor before capturing your log.

Troubleshooting Information, Known Issues and General Resources

For troubleshooting information, known issues and a list of great resources see the following link:

Thanks for your help, thanks for using Microsoft products and thanks for using Microsoft product support!

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