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The best way to approach App-V is first to talk about the challenges IT professionals face in terms of enterprise management. Today's business desktop is awash in applications. Before an application is installed, it must go through lengthy regression testing to ensure that it can coexist with the other applications installed on the system without impacting their ability to run properly. The application must then go through a series of deployment processes before it reaches production.
And because an application is essentially only available where it is installed, your users are tied to specific computers. This further complicates complex yet critical projects, such as OS and application migrations, security refreshes, and disaster recovery planning.
The client gathers a list of virtual applications from the App-V Management Server and displays the available virtual apps. It handles launching those applications (when initiated by the user) and managing the client-side cache. The client also is responsible for managing creation of the virtual runtime environment and ensuring that each environment runs in its own virtual bubble. This virtual environment includes several components, including a Virtual Registry, Virtual File System, and Virtual Services Manager. To manage the settings and configuration, the App-V platform provides a Microsoft.NET Framework Web service that can be loaded on the same server as long as IIS is installed.
This Web service acts as a liaison between the App-V Management Console—a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Snap-in—and the App-V database. Administrators can use the console to publish and manage virtual applications, assign Active Directory groups, and control server settings, as well as run reports on usage of virtualized applications (see Figure 2). In standalone mode, the App-V sequencer can create an MSI file that automates the addition of the virtual application (see Figure 3). The MSI file contains metadata that allows any ESD system to recognize it and control the virtualized application.
This mode requires the client to go into standalone mode, which only allows MSI-based updates of the virtual applications, and streaming is not allowed while in standalone mode. This mode gives organizations the ability to make use of the App-V isolation capabilities. Once the virtual application is finished streaming, the client builds an isolated environment that prevents the application from altering the local machine (in other words, the application has no client footprint). The client does, however, allow the virtual application access to the local file system when saving and editing files, and it also allows the application to interact with local services (such as printing) as long as the user has the appropriate privileges on the local system. But any changes made by a virtual application to the local system's files and registry are redirected to the virtualized environment so the host device will remain unaltered.
When the user is finished and closes the application, the client tears down the virtual environment and stores all the user settings in a user-specific location so the environment can be retained and rebuilt upon next launch. Whatever percentage of the virtual application that had been streamed remains in the local cache and is available for the next launch.
And if another user logs onto the same host system and launches the same virtual application, the new user benefits from the application already stored in the cache. Updating is done using the sequencer.
Once an application has been revised to include an update, it is placed on the App-V management server right next to the previous version. The server then notifies the client upon next launch that a change has been made. If the previous version is still being used, the user continues to have access to that version until the virtual application is closed. Upon the next launch, the deltas that make up the update are streamed down to the client and loaded into cache, resulting in an updated version of the application. Because of the dynamic nature of virtual applications, rolling back is also quite easy. Simply go back to the App-V management console and remove the newly added version. This causes the client to roll back to the previous version upon relaunch.
To ensure no crossover of package data, the client automatically purges the cache and restreams the proper SFT file. This is a fair trade-off when you consider what must be done to roll back an application update that has been installed physically using more traditional software deployment tools. Most software deployment solutions rely on scripts that capture the way an application installs itself and then duplicate the process on other machines, eliminating the need to visit every machine to install or update applications. Once the application has been installed, common software deployment tools wipe their hands clean of the package. You must then install any dependencies on which the application may rely, run other scripts, or perform manual steps to configure the application for your needs.
The sequencer generates a variety of files, the most important of which is the SFT file, which contains all of the application assets, dependencies, and configuration information. In some cases it may also contain multiple applications. Not surprisingly, this file can be quite large. There are some compression options, but a sound knowledge of your network and device performance is essential.
The Icon file (.ico) that the sequencer creates is used to advertise the virtual application so that it acts as if it is locally installed. The sequencer itself is a wizard-based tool that walks you, the packager, through the process of installing an application and transforming it into a virtual application (see Figure 4). The first step allows you to configure default properties for the package. These properties, which are stored in the OSD file, include package name and comments. Some of the advanced settings let you specify the server from which to stream, the content directory, and what operating systems the package should support.
To configure this initial code (typically referred to as Feature Block 1, or FB1), simply launch the application and use the most common features needed by users. For example, launch Word and then initiate the spell checker. Any DLLs, files, or registry keys called by the application during this phase are automatically designated as part of FB1. Any files, settings, or components not used at this point in time are added to FB2. When the application is then used, the client will receive a map of the SFT file that indicates where FB1 starts and stops and where other files exist in FB2 so the client can retrieve those files when needed by the application. Administrators can specify which virtualized applications can interact with each other. For example, suppose you have five Web applications that require the same Java version.
In App-V 4.1, you would have to add that same Java version to each of the five separate packages. And suppose that Java version needed a patch.
The administrator would then have to patch the five different packages. Using DSC, Java can be packaged once and then configured as a package to be used by all five Web applications. As a result, patching Java would only require the administrator to patch the Java package once. SCCM offers a new method for deploying virtualized applications to App-V using the industry standard BITS protocol. Though SCCM DPs can stream, there are cases when streaming isn't the ideal method for deploying virtualized applications. When deploying via SCCM, you have two options. You can use standard streaming or you can use the Quality of Service (QoS) features of BITS to deploy in a much more controlled fashion.
This is also useful in scenarios where you'd like to pre-load the cache prior to users launching the virtual application.
I cannot associate an Office component with my file, and click to run doesn't work. I had a problem installing my upgrade to Office 2010, and your tech support deleted items from my registry - now I must open the Word or Excel program in order to open my files. In Word, I can open docx files by clicking on them, but not.doc files. Clicking.doc files gives me an error message from the Virtualization Handler Error # 30027. In Excel I get a message that says This action is only valid for products that are currently installed, even though the file I am trying to open is.xlsx.
Microsoft Application Virtualization Desktop Client is a program developed by Microsoft. The most used version is 4.6.2.24020, with over 98% of all installations currently using this version. Upon installation and setup, it defines an auto-start registry entry which makes this program run on each Windows boot for all user logins. It adds a background controller service that is set to automatically run. Delaying the start of this service is possible through the service manager.
The software is designed to connect to the Internet and adds a Windows Firewall exception in order to do so without being interfered with. The main program executable is sfttray.exe.
Microsoft Application Virtualization Dde Launcher
The software installer includes 29 files and is usually about 70.32 MB (73,734,467 bytes). In comparison to the total number of users, most PCs are running the OS Windows 7 (SP1) as well as Windows 8. While about 37% of users of Microsoft Application Virtualization Desktop Client come from the United States, it is also popular in Australia and Netherlands. Program details.
Or, you can uninstall Microsoft Application Virtualization Desktop Client from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel. On the Start menu (for Windows 8, right-click the screen's bottom-left corner), click Control Panel, and then, under Programs, do one of the following:. Windows Vista/7/8: Click Uninstall a Program. Windows XP: Click Add or Remove Programs. When you find the program Microsoft Application Virtualization Desktop Client, click it, and then do one of the following:.
Windows Vista/7/8: Click Uninstall. Windows XP: Click the Remove or Change/Remove tab (to the right of the program). Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Microsoft Application Virtualization Desktop Client.