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ThinApp User's Guide

1. Macros requiring shfolder d11 version 6 0 or later include My Videos Personal and Profiles Table 7 1 lists the available folder macros Table 7 1 Folder Macros Macro Name Typical Location AdminTools C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Start Menu Programs Administrative Tools AppData C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Application Data CDBurn Area C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Local Settings Application Data Microsoft CD Burning Common AdminTools C Documents and Settings All Users Start Menu Programs Administrative Tools Common AppData C Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Common Desktop C Documents and Settings All Users Desktop Common Documents C Documents and Settings All Users Documents Common Favorites C Documents and Settings All Users Favorites Common Programs C Documents and Settings All Users Start Menu Programs Common StartMenu C Documents and Settings All Users Start Menu Common Startup C Documents and Settings All Users Start Menu Programs Startup Common Templates C Documents and Settings All Users Templates Cookies C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Cookies Desktop C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Desktop Drive_c CN Drive_m M Favorites C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Favorites Fonts C Windows Fonts History C Documents and Settings
2. Table 6 1 Snapshot Directories and Subkeys Option Description Config ConfigFile ini Specifies directories or registry subkeys to exclude during snapshot creation If you do not specify a configuration file ThinApp uses the snapshot ini file from the ThinApp installation directory BaseDir1 Specifies one or more base directories to include in the scan If you do not specify base directories the snapshot exe utility scans C and all subdirectories If you scan a machine where Windows or program files are installed on different disks include these drives in the scan If you know that your application installation creates or modifies files in fixed locations specify these directories to reduce the total time required to scan a machine BaseReg1 Species one or more base registry subkeys to include in the scan If you do not specify registry subkeys the snapshot exe utility scans the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS keys Creating the Template Package ini file from Two Snapshot Files The snapshot exe utility generates a template Package ini file The utility scans the two snapshot files for all applications that are created and referenced from shortcut links or the Start menu The template Package ini file becomes the basis of the Package ini file in a ThinApp project Usage snapshot exe Snap1 snapshot SuggestProject Snap2 snapshot OutputTemplate ini Examples Snapshot Start snapshot SuggestProject End snaps
3. VirtualMachine1 VmxPath C MyVMs Windows XP Windows XP vmx UserName administrator Password secret PasswordPrompt true VirtualMachine2 VmxPath C MyVMs Windows 7 Windows 7 vmx UserName adminuser mydomain com Password PasswordPrompt true NOTE Do not place the path in quotation marks even if the path contains a space Settings The Settings section of the configuration file contains the parameters for the application installation directory and ThinApp project output directory in the form of UNC It also contains several parameters controlling the conversion process behavior ThinApp Converter only requires read only permissions for the network share that contains the application installers It requires read write permissions for the network share that contains the ThinApp projects If input and output directories are on the same file server you must use the same user account to connect them InputUncPath Specify the network share UNC path for the application installers For example fileserver sharename or fileserver sharename dirname InputMountUserName Specify the user name used for connecting to that network share UPN format can be used when you specify a domain user for example user domain com InputMountPassword or InputMountPasswordBase64 Specify the password for connecting to the network share You have the following options when you specify passwords m You can enter clear text m You can sp
4. gt DWORD 2h 001533 0a88 cmd exe 4adQ1bOd lt kernel32 d11 7c80acOf SetErrorMode gt UINT 0h 001534 0a88 cmd exe 4adQ1b13 gt kernel32 d11 7c80acOf SetErrorMode IN UINT uMode 1h 001535 0a88 cmd exe 4ad01b13 lt kernel32 d1L1 7c8Q0acOf SetErrorMode gt UINT 0h O 001536 0a88 cmd exe 4ad01b24 gt IMM32 DLL 7639039b GetFullPathNameW CIN LPCWSTR LpFileName 1638COh gt L IN DWORD nBufferLength 208h 001537 0a88 GetFullPathNamew gt 20 buf C test cmd_test bin file_part bin 001538 0a88 cmd exe 4ad01b24 lt IMM32 DLL 7639039b GetFullPathNameW gt DWORD 14h COUT LPWSTR lpBuffer 163D60h gt L C test cmd_test bin OUT LpFilePart 13D8D4h gt 163D82h gt L bin 001549 0a88 cmd exe 4ad01b5f gt USERENV d11 769cO3fa FindFirstFileWw IN LPCWSTR 1LpFileName 1638COh gt L C test cmd_test bin foobar 001550 0a88 FindFirstFilew C test cmd_test bin foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed system probe C test cmd_test bin foobar gt ffffffffh no virtual or system matches The cmd exe utility obtains the first location by calling GetCurrentDirectoryW and the second location by calling GetFullPathNamew with as the path specifies These calls return the path for the current working directory The log file shows that the cmd exe utility creates the C test cmd_test bin gt prompt The utility queries the PROMPT environment variable that returns P G and uses the WriteConsoleW AP
5. 3 If the application and sandbox originally ran from another location such as a computer local hard drive and you need the same sandbox on a portable device copy the Thinstall directory from AppData to the directory where the executable file resides on the device ThinApp no longer uses the sandbox in the original location VMware Inc 63 ThinApp User s Guide Sandbox Structure 64 ThinApp stores the sandbox using a file structure almost identical to the build project structure ThinApp uses macro names for shell folder locations such as AppData instead of hard coded paths This structure enables the sandbox to migrate to different computers dynamically when the application runs from new locations The sandbox includes virtual registry files that have been configured in a way that ensures that data corruption does occur if an application intentionally or unintentionally terminates The sandbox contains the following registry files m Registry rw tvr Contains all registry modifications that the application makes m Registry rw 1lck Prevents other computers from simultaneously using a registry located on a network share m Registry tvr backup Contains a backup of the tvr file that ThinApp uses when the original tvr file is corrupted m Registry rw tvr transact Real time cache that contains all transactions from the time that they are written irrespective of whether they have been committed to the real r
6. Prevent the startup of the ctfmon exe process 1 nH oO A Q N 10 11 12 If you did not activate the cmd exe entry point during the capture process set the Disabled parameter for the cmd exe entry in the Package ini file to 0 and rebuild the package with the build bat utility This generates an executable file for the cmd exe entry point in the bin directory Copy the bin directory in the captured application directory to a clean virtual machine or delete the sandbox for the Microsoft Office package Double click the cmd exe entry point In the Windows command processor run the INTL CPL command In the Languages tab of the Regional and Languages dialog box click Details In the Advanced tab of the Text Services and Input Languages dialog box select the Turn off advanced text services check box Click OK in all the open dialog boxes and leave the Windows command processor open Unregister the MSIMTF d11 and MSCTF d11 files with the REGSVR32 EXE U lt DLL_file gt command See knowledge base article 282599 in the Microsoft Web site Close the Windows command processor If the virtual machine does not reside on the same machine where ThinApp is installed copy the sandbox from the package to the packaging system The default sandbox location is APPDATA Thinstall From the standard command prompt on the packaging system use the sbmerge exe utility to merge the updated sandbox with the package A sample comman
7. ThinApp uses VBScript to run script files For information about VBScript see the Microsoft VBScript documentation You can use VBScript to access COM controls registered on the host system or within the virtual package This information includes the following topics Callback Functions on page 73 Implement Scripts in a ThinApp Environment on page 74 API Functions on page 77 Callback Functions Callback functions can run under certain conditions For example callback functions run script code only when an application starts or quits Callback function names include the following names VMware Inc OnFirstSandboxOwner Called only when an application first locks the sandbox This callback is not called if a second copy of the same application uses the same sandbox while the first copy runs If the first application spawns a subprocess and quits the second subprocess locks the sandbox and prevents this callback from running until all subprocesses quit and the application runs again OnFirstParentStart Called before running a ThinApp executable file regardless of whether the sandbox is simultaneously owned by another captured executable file OnFirstParentExit Called when the first parent process exits If a parent process runs a child process and quits this callback is called even if the child process continues to run OnLastProcessExit Called when the last process owning the sandbox exits If
8. For example C Program Files Firefox Mozilla Firefox 3 0 m lt exe_directory gt Thinstal1 lt sandbox_name gt lt computer_name gt For example C Program Files Firefox Thinstall Mozilla Firefox 3 0 JOHNDOE COMPUTER m lt exe_directory gt Thinstal1l lt sandbox_name gt For example C Program Files Firefox Thinstall Mozilla Firefox 3 0 m lt sandbox_path gt lt sandbox_name gt lt computer_name gt For example Z sandboxes Mozilla Firefox 3 0 JOHNDOE COMPUTER m lt sandbox_path gt lt sandbox_name gt For example Z sandboxes Mozilla Firefox 3 0 m AppData Thinstall lt sandbox_name gt lt computer_name gt For example C Documents and Settings JohnDoe Application Data Thinstall Mozilla Firefox 3 0 JOHNDOE COMPUTER m AppData Thinstall lt sandbox_name gt For example C Documents and Settings JohnDoe Application Data Thinstall Mozilla Firefox 3 0 If ThinApp does not detect the lt sandbox_name gt _SANDBOX_DIR or THINSTALL_SANDBOX_DIR environment variable and does not detect the specified file system directories ThinApp creates a sandbox using the following guidelines in this order m Ifthe SANDBOXPATH Package ini parameter is set the value determines the sandbox location m If ThinApp completes the sandbox search without any results ThinApp creates a sandbox in the default AppData Thinstall directory of the user NOTE Only one computer at a time can use a shared sandbox If a computer is already usin
9. If you create executable files instead of MSI files during the capture process you must run the thinreg exe utility to open files such as a doc document or an html page For example if you click a URL in an email message ThinApp must be set to start Firefox You do not have to run the thinreg exe utility for MSI files because MSI files start the utility during the application installation The thinreg exe utility creates the Start menu and desktop shortcuts sets up file type associations adds deinstallation information to the system control panel and unregisters previously registered packages The utility enables you to see the control panel extensions for applications such as Quicktime or the mail control panel applet for Microsoft Outlook 2007 When you right click a file such as a doc file the thinreg exe utility enables you to see the same menu options for a doc file in a native environment If an application runs SMTP or HTTP protocols such as an email link on a Web page that needs to open Microsoft Outlook 2007 the thinreg exe utility starts available virtual applications that can handle those protocols If virtual applications are not available the thinreg exe utility starts native applications that can handle those protocols The default location of the utility is C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Application Sync Effect on the thinreg exe Utility The Application Sync utility affects the thinreg exe utility during t
10. s Guide VMware Professional Services VMware Education Services courses offer extensive hands on labs case study examples and course materials designed to be used as on the job reference tools Courses are available onsite in the classroom and live online For onsite pilot programs and implementation best practices VMware Consulting Services provides offerings to help you assess plan build and manage your virtual environment To access information about education classes certification programs and consulting services go to http www vmware com services Legal Notice ThinApp uses the regular expression library originally written by Henry Spencer Copyright c 1986 1993 1995 by University of Toronto Written by Henry Spencer Not derived from licensed software Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose on any computer system and to redistribute it in any way subject to the following restrictions 1 The author is not responsible for the consequences of use of this software no matter how awful even if they arise from defects in it 2 The origin of this software must not be misrepresented either by explicit claim or by omission 3 Altered versions must be plainly marked as such and must not be misrepresented by explicit claim or omission as being the original software 4 This notice must not be removed or altered 8 VMware Inc Installing ThinApp You can use ThinApp to isolate applica
11. ExpandPath ProgramFilesDir Fi LenameWithPercent 25 exe This expands to C Program Files FileNameWithPercent exe ExecuteExternalProcess The ExecuteExternalProcess CommandLine function runs a command outside of the virtual environment You can use this function to make physical system changes Parameters CommandLine in Representation of the application and command line parameters to run outside of the virtual environment Returns Integer process ID You can use the process ID with the WaitForProcess function See WaitForProcess on page 83 Examples ExecuteExternalProcess C WINDOWS system32 cmd exe c copy C systemfile txt C newsystemfile txt You can run a command that requires quotation marks in the command line ExecuteExternalProcess regsvr32 s amp chr 34 amp C Program Files my ocx amp chr 34 78 VMware Inc Chapter 8 Creating ThinApp Scripts ExecuteVirtualProcess The ExecuteVirtuaLProcess CommandLine function runs a command inside of the virtual environment You can use this function to make changes to the virtual environment Parameters CommandLine in Representation of the application and command line parameters to run outside of the virtual environment Returns Integer process ID You can use the process ID with the WaitForProcess function See WaitForProcess on page 83 Examples ExecuteVirtualProcess C WINDOWS system32 cmd exe c copy C systemfile txt C virtualfile txt
12. lt user_name gt Local Settings History VMware Inc Chapter 7 ThinApp File System Formats and Macros Table 7 1 Folder Macros Continued Macro Name Typical Location Internet Cache C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Local Settings Temporary Internet Files Local AppData C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Local Settings Application Data My Pictures C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt My Documents My Pictures My Videos C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt My Documents My Videos NetHood C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt NetHood Personal C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt My Documents PrintHood C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt PrintHood Profile C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Profiles C Documents and Settings Program Files Common C Program Files Common Files ProgramFilesDir C Program Files Programs C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Start Menu Programs Recent C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt My Recent Documents Resources C Windows Resources Resources Localized C Windows Resources lt Language_ID gt SendTo C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt SendTo Startup C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Start Menu Programs Startup SystemRoot C Windows SystemSystem C Windows System32 TEMP C Documents and Settings lt user_na
13. on page 41 Using Captured Applications with Other System Components on page 43 Sample Isolation Mode Configuration Depending on Deployment Context on page 45 ThinApp Deployment Options You can deploy captured applications with deployment tools in a VMware View environment on a network share or as basic executable files Deploying ThinApp with Deployment Tools Medium and large enterprises often use major deployment tools such as Symantec BMC and SMS tools ThinApp works with all major deployment tools When you use any of these tools you can create MSI files for the captured applications and follow the same process you use to deploy native MSI files See deployment instructions from the tool vendors For information about MSI files see Building an MSI Database on page 37 Deploying ThinApp in the VMware View Environment You can use VMware View to distribute ThinApp packages The workflow for deploying packages might involve the following tasks VMware Inc Creating executable files for the captured applications Storing the executable files on a network share 33 ThinApp User s Guide m Creating a login script that queries applications entitled to the user and runs the thinreg exe utility with the option that registers the applications on the local machine Login scripts are useful for nonpersistent desktops See Establishing File Type Associations with the thinreg exe Utility on page
14. 3 From the Start menu select Programs gt Administrative Tools gt Services Your virtual service application appears in the list of services You can manage the service in the same way as any natively installed service Using ThinApp Packages Streamed from the Network Any network storage device can serve as a streaming server for hundreds or thousands of client computers See Figure 3 1 Figure 3 1 Data Block Streaming over a Network Share a Jill s Sandbox On the end user desktop you can create shortcuts that point to the centrally hosted executable file packages When the user clicks the shortcut the application begins streaming to the client computer During the initial streaming startup process the ThinApp status bar informs the user of the progress How ThinApp Application Streaming Works When you place compressed ThinApp executable files on a network share or USB flash drive the contents from the executable file stream to client computers in a block based fashion As an application requests specific parts of data files ThinApp reads this information in the compressed format over the network using standard Windows file sharing protocol For a view of the process see Figure 3 2 After a client computer receives data ThinApp decompresses the data directly to memory Because ThinApp does not write data to the disk the process is fast A large package does not necessarily take a long time to load over the netwo
15. Apache Server you register it on the physical machine using the ThinReg exe application The service is created as a native service using information from the virtual registry The service is available to all users using the virtual application The service is not user specific The process is composed of the following tasks m Capturing the service by using ThinApp m Registering the service on the physical machine by using ThinReg Create a virtual service for automatic startup 1 Onaclean local machine use ThinApp to capture the service 2 After the postscan process is complete in the Setup Capture Ready to Build dialog click Edit Package ini The Package ini file opens in a text editor 3 Search for the services entry The entry is followed by the name of the service that you captured By default the entry is commented out 4 Remove the semicolon from the start of the line 5 Save the Package ini file 6 Build the ThinApp project You can now register your virtual service so that it can be managed by using the native services management tools Register the virtual service on a machine 1 Run the ThinReg exe application 2 At the command line type C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp ThinReg a exe You must use a to register services If you run ThinApp without this option the service is not registered You can change the path if required for your system VMware Inc Chapter 3 Deploying Applications
16. Application installers skip files that already exist on the computer If the installer skips files the ThinApp package does not include them during the application capture process The application might fail to run on other computers where the files do not exist A clean computer enables the capture process to scan the computer file system and registry quickly If you install ThinApp and capture an application on a computer that has Microsoft NET 2 0 already installed NET 2 0 is not included in the ThinApp package The captured application runs only on computers that have NET 2 0 already installed Using Virtual Machines for Clean Computers The easiest way to set up a clean computer is to create a virtual machine You can install Windows on the virtual machine and take a snapshot of the entire virtual machine in its clean state After you capture an application you can restore the snapshot and revert it to a clean virtual machine state that is ready for the next application capture You can use VMware Workstation or other VMware products to create virtual machines For information about VMware products see the VMware Web site Using the Earliest Operating System Required for Users Install ThinApp on a clean computer with the earliest version of the operating system you plan to support In most cases the earliest platform is Windows 2000 or Windows XP Most packages captured on Windows XP work on Windows 2000 In some cases Windows XP inclu
17. HostLoginPasswordPrompt true VirtualMachineN The VirtualMachineN section of the configuration file contains a list of the Windows based virtual machines that will be utilized in the conversion process Create a VirtualMachineX section for each virtual machine that you want to include and specify their parameters X is 1 and subsequent virtual machine sections are numbered sequentially VirtualMachineM parameters are mandatory VmxPath Specify the configuration path of the virtual machine For ESX Server or vCenter Server you can identify the virtual machine configuration file path using the vSphere Client Identify the virtual machine configuration path using the vSphere Client 1 Right click the virtual machine and select Edit Settings 2 Click the Options tab and copy the string from the Virtual Machine Configuration File field 3 Use this string as the virtual machine configuration file path For Workstation specify the entire file path on the host on which the VMX configuration file resides For example C MyVMs Windows XP Windows XP vmx Do not place the path in quotation marks even if the path contains a space UserName A valid user name for the virtual machine guest operating system The user must have administrator privileges for the virtual machine guest operating system You can use UPN format when you specify a user name For example user domain com Password or PasswordBase64 A valid password for the virtu
18. Inthe Package ini file type the MSI filename MSIFilename lt filename gt msi For example the filename for Firefox might be Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 msi 2 Optional Update other MSI parameters 3 Double click the build bat file in the captured application folder to rebuild the application package Specifying a Database Installation for Individual Users and Machines You can modify the installation of the MSI database for users and machines ThinApp installs the MSI database across all machines You can change the default installation with the following parameter values m Tocreate a database installation for individual users use a value of 0 for the MSIDefaultInstallAl1lUsers parameter in the Package ini file This value creates msiexec parameters for each user To allow administrators to create a database installation for all users on a machine or to allow an individual user without administrator rights to create an installation only for that user use a value of 2 for the MSIDefaultInstal1Al1Users parameter Administrators belong to the Administrators Active Directory group For more information about the MSIDefaultInstal1A1l1Users parameter refer ThinApp Package ini Parameters Reference Guide Force MSI Deployments for Each User or Each Machine Regardless of the parameter values specified at build time you can override MSI settings at deployment time For example if you created the database with a value of 1 for the MSIDef
19. Registry Contents with vregtool Because the sandbox contains the modifications to the registry you might need the vregtool utility to view modified virtual registry changes You must have access to the vregtool utility in C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp A sample command to list the contents of a virtual registry file is vregtool registry rw tvr printkeys VMware Inc Creating ThinApp Snapshots and Projects from the Command Line The snapshot exe utility creates a snapshot of a computer file system and registry and creates a ThinApp project from two previously captured snapshots You do not have to start the snapshot exe utility directly because the Setup Capture wizard starts it Only advanced users and system integrators who are building ThinApp capability into other platforms might make direct use of this utility Creating a snapshot of a computer file system and registry involves scanning and saving a copy of the following data m File information for all local drives This information includes directories filenames file attributes file sizes and file modification dates m HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS registry trees ThinApp does not scan HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry entries because those entries are subsets of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS entries The snapshot ini configuration file specifies what directories and subkeys to exclude from a ThinApp project when you capture an application You
20. VMware Inc 69 ThinApp User s Guide 70 For example you might capture an application on a system that has C WINNT as the Windows directory and deploy the application on a system that has C Windows as the Windows directory ThinApp transparently converts C WINNT to SystemRoot during the capture process for that system and expands SystemRoot to C Windows during runtime for that system If an application registers DLLs to C winnt system32 while running on Windows 2000 the user can quit the application and log in to a Windows XP machine On the Windows XP machine the files appear to exist at C windows system32 and all related registry keys point to C windows system32 On Windows Vista ThinApp moves Windows SxS DLLs and policy information to match Windows Vista instead of using Windows XP file path styles This feature enables most applications to migrate to updated or older operating systems ThinApp provides SxS support for applications running on Windows 2000 even though the underlying operating system does not This support enables most applications captured on Windows XP to run on Windows 2000 without changes List of ThinApp Macros ThinApp uses the shfolder d11 file to obtain the location of shell folders Older versions of the shfolder d11 file do not support some macro names Macros requiring shfolder d11 version 5 0 or later include ProgramFilesDir Common AppData Local AppData My Pictures and Profile
21. a exe file to override the default dat file when the size of the primary container is between 200MB and 1 5GB ignore the generated warning Selecting a exe file enables all applications to work properly but might prevent the proper display of icons 3 Optional If you cannot select a primary data container type a primary data container name to generate a dat file If you plan to use the Application Sync utility to update a captured application ThinApp uses the primary data container name during the process You must use the same name across multiple versions of the application You might not be able to select the same primary data container name from the list For example Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007 do not have common entry point names 4 Optional Select the Generate MSI package check box and change the MSI filename 5 Optional To create a smaller executable package for locations such as a USB device select the Compress virtual package check box 6 Click Save Opening Project and Parameter Files The capture process provides an opportunity to review the project files to update settings before building the executable package or MSI package For example if you capture Firefox 2 0 0 3 you might browse the C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 directory to update a setting such as an Active Directory specification in the Package ini file that contains the parameters s
22. an installer needs elevated privileges for deployment on Microsoft Vista Installations for individual users do not usually need elevated privileges but per machine installations require such privileges For example include MSIRequireElevatedPrivileges 1 in the Package ini file m The MSIProductCode parameter makes it easier to install a new version of the application An MSI database contains a product code and an upgrade code When you update a package keep the original value of the MSIUpgradeCode parameter If the parameter value of the new version is the same as the value of the old version the installation prompts you to remove the old version If the values for the parameter are different the installation un installs the old version and installs the new version VMware recommends that you avoid specifying an MSIProductCode value and allow ThinApp to generate a different product code for each build Regardless of the parameter values specified at build time you can override the settings at deployment time See Force MSI Deployments for Each User or Each Machine on page 38 Modify the Package ini File to Create MSI Files For more information about MSI parameters see Customizing MSI Files with Package ini Parameters on page 37 Before you can modify MSI parameters you must add an entry for the MSIFilename parameter to generate MSI files VMware Inc 37 ThinApp User s Guide 38 Modify the MSI parameters 1
23. application installer subdirectory Using the example at the bottom of this section if you specify PackageIniOverrideFile override ini ThinApp Converter will try to find the file under AppInstallerServer AppInstaller Adobe You can provide a more explicit value by using predefined variables For more information see Predefined Environment Variables on page 31 ProjectPostProcessingCommand Specify the project post processing command for the specific application When this parameter has a value the global override file is processed first followed by this application specific post processing command Example Following is an example of how to apply an application specific override during post processing AppSettings Adobe InstallationCommand AdbeRdr920_en_US exe sALL PackageIniOverrideFile override ini AppSettings TextPad InstallationCommand silent_instal11 bat ProjectPostProcessingCommand AppInstallerDir addscript bat Predefined Environment Variables The values for PackageIniOverrideFile global and per application ProjectPostProcessingCommand global and per application and InstallationCommand can contain environment variables ThinApp Converter expands the value before using it ThinApp Converter adds these variables as predefined environment variables m AppInstallersRootDir The UNC path of the application installers that is specified in InputUncPath in the Settings section m AppiInstallerDir Th
24. build m Ifyou delete a group and re create it the SID might change In this case rebuild the package to authenticate against the new group m When users are offline ThinApp can authenticate them using cached credentials If the users can log into their machines authentication still works Use a group policy to set the period when cached credentials are valid m Cached credentials might not refresh on clients until the next Active Directory refresh cycle You can force a group policy on a client by using the gopupdate command This command refreshes local group policy group policy and security settings stored in Active Directory You might log out before Active Directory credentials are recached m Certain groups such as the Administrators group and Everyone group have the same SID on every Active Directory domain and workgroup Other groups you create have a domain specific SID Users cannot create their own local group with the same name to bypass authentication m Active Directory Domain Services define security groups and distribution groups If you use nested groups ThinApp can only support nested security groups Package ini Entries for Active Directory Access Control ThinApp provides the PermittedGroups parameter in the Package ini file to control Active Directory access When you start a captured application the PermittedGroups parameter checks whether a user is a member of a specified Active Directory group If the use
25. capture process decreases the size of an executable package but does not affect MSI packages Compression can reduce the on disk storage requirement by 50 percent but slows the application performance when ThinApp uncompresses initial blocks that start the application VMware does not recommend compression for test builds because compression increases the build time VMware Inc 19 ThinApp User s Guide Customize Package Settings The capture process includes initial settings for the primary data container MSI packages and executable package compression Customize package settings in the Setup Capture wizard 1 On the Package Settings page select the primary data container from the list that is based on your executable file entry points m If the size of the primary container is smaller than 200MB ThinApp creates a exe file as the primary container For a small application such as Firefox any exe file can serve as the main data container m If the size of the primary container is larger than 200MB ThinApp creates a separate dat file as the primary container because Windows XP and Windows 2000 cannot show shortcut icons for large exe files Generating separate small exe files together with the dat file fixes the problem m Ifthe size of the primary container is between 200MB and 1 5GB ThinApp creates the default dat file unless you select a exe file to override the default dat file 2 Optional If you select
26. code in the OnFirstParentStart function it is only called once each time the script runs Otherwise it runs for every child process Function OnFirstParentStart VMware Inc 75 ThinApp User s Guide 76 ThinApp sets up TS_ORIGIN to indicate the full path to a captured executable file package A virtual application sets the TS_ORIGIN variable to the physical path of the primary data container If you have a virtual application consisting of the main exe and shortcut exe files both files reside in C VirtApp When you run the main exe file TS_ORIGIN var is set to C VirtApp main exe When you run the shortcut exe file the TS_ORIGIN environment variable is set to C VirtApp main exe The environment variable is always set to the primary data container even when you create a shortcut When you run VBScripts that are included in the package the variable is already set and available to the scripts Origin GetEnvironmentVariable TS_ORIGIN You can separate the filename from TS_ORIGIN by finding the last backslash and removing all of the characters following it LastSlash InStrRev Origin SourcePath Left Origin LastSlash The source file to copy into the virtual environment is the package path plus config ini SourceFile SourcePath Config ini The location to copy to might be a different location on different computers if the Program Files directory is mapped to a location other than C The following call let
27. for the API call that myd11 d11 makes In typical circumstances the return address is the address in the code where the call originates gt indicates the process of entering the call For the call entry log element ThinApp displays the input parameters These parameters are in and in out parameters VMware Inc Chapter 9 Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp m lt indicates the process of the call returning to the original caller For call exit log entries ThinApp displays the output parameters These parameters are out and in out parameters m kernel32 d11 indicates the DLL where the API call lands m 7c81b1f0 indicates the address of the API inside kernel32 where the call lands If you disassemble kerne132 d11 at the 7c81b1f0 address you find the code for the SetConsoleMode function m gt BOOL 1h indicates the API returns the value of 1 and the return code has the BOOL type Application Startup Information The following entries shows basic information about the application such as the module name and process ID PID and about Log Monitor such as the version and options 000001 0a88 Logging started for Module C test cmd_test bin cmd exe Using archive PID 0xec CommandLine cmd 000002 0a88 Logging options CAP_LEVEL 9 MAX_CAP_ARY 25 MAX_CAP_STR 150 MAX_NEST 100 VERSION 3 090 000003 0a88 System Current Directory C test cmd_test bin Virtual Current Directory C test cmd_test bin 000004 0a88 start
28. ini file located in the captured application folder For example a Firefox 2 0 0 3 path to the Package ini file might be C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 Package ini b Uncomment the Application Sync parameters you want to edit by removing the semicolon at the beginning of the line You must uncomment the AppSyncURL parameter to enable the utility c Change the value of the parameters and save the file For example you can copy an executable file of the latest Firefox version to a mapped network drive and type a path to that location as the value of the AppSyncURL parameter If Z is the mapped drive and Firefox is the name of the directory that stores the executable file a sample path is file Z Firefox Firefox exe Make sure that the AppSyncURL path is the same in both Package ini files and points to the updated version 4 Inthe captured application folder double click the build bat file to rebuild the application package For example a Firefox 2 0 0 3 path to the build bat file might be C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 build bat 5 To update Firefox 2 0 0 3 to Firefox 3 start the executable file such as Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 exe in the bin directory When you start the application before the expiration time set in the AppSyncExpirePeriod parameter of the Package ini file ThinApp downloads the update in the background as you work with the a
29. ins are treated as any other file during Setup Capture The plug ins are embedded in the Internet Explorer 6 capture After the ThinDirect plug in is successfully installed in your native browser when a user requests a URL that is included in the redirect list a message appears in the native browser to alert the user that the page is being redirected to a virtual Internet Explorer 6 browser The virtual browser opens and the requested URL appears VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications Requirements for Capturing Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP Before you start the Setup Capture wizard the following requirements must be met You must have a clean virtual machine with Windows XP installed Ensure that Windows XP includes all the service packs and Microsoft updates so that Internet Explorer 6 is captured with the latest security fixes from Microsoft ThinApp must be installed on the same machine Capture Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP by Using the Setup Capture Wizard Capturing Internet Explorer 6 using the Setup Capture wizard is similar to that of capturing other applications There are two key differences When you use the Setup Capture wizard to capture Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP you define an entry point to Internet Explorer You also use ThinDirect to specify URLs that will be redirected to the virtualized Internet Explorer 6 browser See Capturing Applications with the Setup Capture Wizard on page 14 fo
30. might customize this file for certain applications This information includes the following topics m Methods of Using the snapshot exe Utility on page 65 m Sample snapshot exe Commands on page 67 m Create a Project Without the Setup Capture Wizard on page 67 m Customizing the snapshot ini File on page 68 Methods of Using the snapshot exe Utility You can use the snapshot exe utility to create snapshot files of machine states create the template file for the Package ini file create a ThinApp project and display the contents of a snapshot file For information about the full procedure to create a ThinApp project from the command line see Create a Project Without the Setup Capture Wizard on page 67 Creating Snapshots of Machine States The snapshot exe utility creates a snapshot file of a machine state ThinApp captures the machine state and saves it to a single file to create a project The snapshot exe utility saves a copy of registry data and file system metadata that includes paths filenames sizes attributes and timestamps Usage snapshot exe SnapshotFileName snapshot Config ConfigFile ini BaseDir1 BaseDir2 BaseReg1 VMware Inc 65 ThinApp User s Guide Examples Snapshot My snapshot Snapshot My snapshot Config MyExclusions ini Snapshot My snapshot C MyAppDirectory HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software MyApp Options The options specify the directories or subkeys in the snapshot
31. mode for the files created by the virtual application except when you specify a different isolation mode in the Attributes ini file for an individual directory The selection of a directory isolation mode does not affect the following areas m ThinApp treats write operations to network drives according to the SandboxNetworkDrives parameter in the Package ini file This parameter has a default value that directs write operations to the physical drive ThinApp treats write operations to removable disks according to the SandboxRemovab1leDisk parameter in the Package ini file This parameter has a default value that directs write operations to the physical drive m If you save documents to the desktop or My Documents folder ThinApp saves the documents to the physical system ThinApp sets the isolation mode in the Attributes ini files in Personal and Desktop to Merged even when you select WriteCopy isolation mode Applying Merged Isolation Mode for Modifications Outside the Package With Merged isolation mode applications can read and modify elements on the physical file system outside of the virtual package Some applications rely on reading DLLs and registry information in the local system image The advantage of using Merged mode is that documents that users save appear on the physical system in the location that users expect instead of in the sandbox The disadvantage is that this mode might clutter the system image An example of t
32. must use the a when reregistering the package thinreg exe r a exe k keepunauthorized keep Prevents the removal of registration information even if you are no longer authorized to access an application package Without this option the thinreg exe utility removes the registration information for that package if it detects you are no longer authorized to access the package ThinApp stores authorization information in the PermittedGroups parameter of the Package ini file thinreg exe k lt server gt lt share gt Microsoft Office 2007 Word exe noarp Prevents the creation of an entry in the Add Remove Programs control panel applet thinreg exe q noarp lt server gt lt share gt Microsoft Office 2007 Word exe norelaunch Starts the thinreg exe utility on Microsoft Vista without elevated privileges Standard users can start the utility without a user account control UAC pop up window When the thinreg exe utility detects a need for more privileges such as the privileges required for the allusers parameter the utility restarts itself as a privileged process and generates a UAC pop up window The norelaunch option blocks this restart process and causes the registration to fail thinreg exe q norelaunch lt server gt lt share gt Microsoft Office 2007 Word exe 36 VMware Inc Chapter 3 Deploying Applications Building an MSI Database If you do not creat
33. package before the expiration time set in the AppSyncExpirePeriod parameter of the Package ini file ThinApp can download the update in the background as you work with the application but is unable to show the updated version the next time you start the application If you start the application after the package expires ThinApp is unable to download the update in the foreground and restart the application when the download is ready Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007 are examples of applications that create child processes ThinApp cannot complete Application Sync updates until all child processes stop You can perform one of the following tasks to resolve the issue Log out and log in to the machine to stop the child processes m Create a script to end the child processes For example you can create a script to end the ctfmon exe and mdm exe child processes associated with Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007 m Prevent the startup of the child process such as the ct fmon exe process associated with Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer applications Prevent the Startup of the ctfmon exe Process for Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer Preventing the startup of the ctfmon exe process requires knowledge of the ThinApp sandbox and sbmerge exe utility For information about the sbmerge exe utility see Updating Applications with Runtime Changes on page 55 VMware Inc 49 ThinApp User s Guide 50
34. the following topics Providing Information to Technical Support on page 85 Log Monitor Operations on page 85 Troubleshooting Specific Applications on page 91 Providing Information to Technical Support VMware technical support requires the following information from you to troubleshoot a ThinApp environment m Step by step reproduction of the procedure that you performed when you encountered the problem m Information on the host configuration Specify the Windows operating system the use of Terminal Server or Citrix Xenapp and any prerequisite programs that you installed on the native machine m Copies of the Log Monitor trace files See Log Monitor Operations on page 85 m Exact copy of the capture folder and all content Do not include the compiled executable files from the bin subfolder m Description of the expected and accurate behavior of the application m Optional Copies of the applications that you captured Include the server components configuration for Oracle Server or Active Directory m Optional Native or physical files or registry key settings that might be relevant to the problem m Optional System services or required device drivers m Optional Virtual machine that reproduces the defect VMware support might request this if the support contact is unable to reproduce the problem m Optional One or more WebEx sessions to facilitate debugging in your environment Log Monitor Operat
35. the latest version of ThinApp Although you can install the latest version of ThinApp and run the build bat utility to rebuild each target package with the latest ThinApp version the relink exe utility is a faster method to upgrade the ThinApp version of existing packages You might want to update your package to benefit from the latest ThinApp features or support enhancements relink Examples The relink exe utility has an optional Recursive flag and can target a single package or multiple packages relink Recursive lt target gt lt target gt For example you can update an Adobe Reader package to the latest installed ThinApp version relink AdobeReader exe The relink exe utility can use a wildcard pattern relink exe dat The relink exe utility can use directory names to process all ThinApp files in that directory relink C MyPackages If you specify the Recursive flag the relink exe utility processes all ThinApp files in the directory and all subdirectories This flag is intended for use only with directory names If the target name contains spaces you must use double quotes VMware Inc Chapter 4 Updating and Linking Applications relink Microsoft Office Professional 2007 dat VMware Inc 59 ThinApp User s Guide 60 VMware Inc Locating the ThinApp Sandbox The sandbox is the directory where all changes that the captured application makes are stored The next time you start the application
36. the logged in user ThinReg exe DEPLOYSERVER ThinApps Microsoft Office 2007 Word exe Use the following example to register all Microsoft Office applications in the specified directory for the logged in user ThinReg exe DEPLOYSERVER ThinApps Microsoft Office exe Optional thinreg exe Parameters The thinreg exe utility monitors the PermittedGroups setting in the Package ini file registering and un registering packages as needed When the thinreg exe utility registers a package for the current user the utility creates only the shortcuts and file type associations that the current user is authorized for in the PermittedGroups setting If this setting does not exist the current user is authorized for all executable files When the thinreg exe utility registers a package for all users with the allusers parameter ThinApp creates all shortcuts and file type associations regardless of the PermittedGroups setting When you double click a shortcut icon that you are not authorized for you cannot run the application If the package name you want to register or unregister contains spaces you must enclose it in double quotation marks For information about the PermittedGroups setting and support for Active Directory groups see PermittedGroups on page 69 Table 3 1 lists optional parameters for the thinreg exe utility Any command that uses the a parameter requires administrator rights VMware Inc 35 ThinApp User s Gu
37. the virtual file system includes the following topics m Virtual File System Formats on page 69 m ThinApp Folder Macros on page 69 Virtual File System Formats ThinApp generates the following virtual file system formats m Build The setup capture process generates this format from files found directly on the physical file system ThinApp uses folder macros to represent Windows shell folder locations m Embedded The build bat file triggers a build process that embeds a read only file system in executable files The executable files provide block based streaming to client computers ThinApp compresses the file system m Sandbox Running the captured application generates the read write directory structure that holds file data that the application modifies File modifications that prompt ThinApp to extract embedded virtual files to the sandbox include the following operations m Changing the time stamp or attributes of a file m Opening a file with write access m Truncating a file m Renaming or moving a file The embedded and sandbox file systems use folder macros to enable file paths to dynamically expand at runtime ThinApp Folder Macros ThinApp uses macros to represent file system path locations that might change when virtualized applications run on different Windows operating systems or computers The use of macros enables shared application profile information to instantly migrate to different operating systems
38. tries to use the newest version VMware recommends that you use Windows 2003 or Windows 2008 as a file server for network share The file server needs to have sufficient system resources to handle a large quantity of file operations Do not use the host machine that runs the ThinApp Converter executable file as the file server for the network share When using a VMware Workstation environment ensure that the network settings are in bridged mode Preparing the Configuration File for ThinApp Converter A sample configuration file ThinAppConverter ini is included in the ThinApp installation The file is generally located in C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Modify or create a copy of this file to suit your requirements Use UTF 8 encoding when you specify parameter values The ThinAppConverter ini configuration file includes the following section headings m HostEnvironment contains virtual machine hosting parameters m VirtualMachineN contains virtual machine specific parameters m Settings contains parameters that provide global control of the capture process m AppSettings AppName contains optional application specific parameters VMware Inc 25 ThinApp User s Guide 26 HostEnvironment The HostEnvironment section of the configuration file contains the connection parameters for connecting to VMware ESX Server VMware vCenter Server or VMware Workstation on a local machine HostEnvironment parameters
39. working original state Customize the Sandbox Location You can deploy the sandbox to a local user machine carry it on a mobile USB device or store it in a network location If you deploy the sandbox to a local machine use the user s profile as the sandbox location The default location of the sandbox for Firefox might be AppData Thinstall Mozilla Firefox 3 0 The typical AppData location is C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Application Data The user s profile is the default location because of the write access A network location is useful for backing up the sandbox and for users who log in to any computer and keep their application settings Use the absolute path to the location such as thinapp sandbox Firefox You can select a network location even if an application is installed on a local machine A portable device location is useful to keep the sandbox data on the device where the application resides Customize the sandbox location in the Setup Capture wizard On the Sandbox page select the user s profile application directory or custom location for the sandbox Send Anonymous Statistics to VMware To improve ThinApp support for applications VMware uses the capture process to confirm whether to collect anonymous data about deployed ThinApp packages The data includes the application start time total running time and number of runs for the application Send anonymous statistics to VMware On the Usag
40. you create a project structure ThinApp configures isolation modes for directories and registry sub trees The isolation modes control which directories the application can read and write to on the local computer Review the default configuration options described in Table 3 2 Table 3 2 Default Configuration Options Component Description Hard disk An example of a hard disk is C Isolation modes selected during the capture process affect access Users can write to their Desktop and My Documents folders Other modifications that the application makes go into the user sandbox The default location of the sandbox is in the Application Data directory Removable disk By default any user who has access rights can read or write to any location on a removable disk VMware Inc 43 ThinApp User s Guide 44 Table 3 2 Default Configuration Options Continued Component Description Network mapped drives By default any user who has access rights can read or write to any location on a network mapped disk UNC network paths By default any user who has access rights can read or write to any location on a UNC network path Accessing the System Registry By default captured applications can read the full system registry as permitted by access permissions Specific parts of the registry are isolated from the system during the package creation process This isolation reduces conflicts between different versions of virtual applica
41. 34 Controlling user access to fileshares IT administrators might control access by organizing network shares based on function and associating permissions with network shares based on those functional boundaries Deploying ThinApp on Network Shares Small and medium enterprises tend to use a network share You can create executable files for the captured application and store them on a network share Each time you deploy a new application or an update to an existing package you can notify client users to run the thinreg exe utility with an appropriate option IT administrators can control user access to fileshares by organizing network shares based on function and associating permissions with network shares based on those functional boundaries The differences between the network share option and the VMware View option are that the network share option assumes a mix of physical and virtual persistent desktops and involves users running the thinreg exe utility directly instead of relying on login scripts Deploying ThinApp Using Executable Files You can use a basic deployment option with executable files when disk use is limited You can create executable files for the captured applications copy them from a central repository and run the thinreg exe utility manually to register file type associations desktop shortcuts and the application package on the system Establishing File Type Associations with the thinreg exe Utility 34
42. ALLDIR C lt my_directory gt lt my_package gt command VMware Inc Chapter 3 Deploying Applications Deploying MSI Files on Microsoft Vista When you deploy MSI files on Vista you must indicate whether an installer needs elevated privileges Typical individual user installations do not require elevated privileges but individual machine installations require such privileges ThinApp provides the MSTRequireElevatedPrivileges parameter in the Package ini file that specifies the need for elevated privileges when the value is set to 1 Specifying a value of 1 for this parameter or forcing an individual user installation from the command line can generate UAC prompts Specifying a value of 0 for this parameter prevents UAC prompts but the deployment fails for machine wide installations Controlling Application Access with Active Directory You can control access to applications using Active Directory groups When you build a package ThinApp converts Active Directory group names into Security Identifier SID values A SID is a small binary value that uniquely identifies an object SID values are not unique for a few groups suchas the administrator group Because ThinApp stores SID values in packages for future validation the following considerations apply to Active Directory use m You must be connected to your Active Directory domain during the build process and the groups you specify must exist ThinApp looks up the SID value during the
43. Chapter 4 Updating and Linking Applications Forcing an Application Sync Update on Client Machines You can use the AppSync command to force an Application Sync update on a client machine You might want to update a package stored in a location where standard users do not have write access In this situation you cannot use Application Sync parameters to check for updates when an application starts because users do not have the required rights to update the package You can schedule a daily AppSync exe run under an account with sufficient privileges The Application Sync parameters such as AppSyncUpdateFrequency in the Package ini file do not affect the AppSync command To force an Application Sync update use the AppSync lt Application_Sync_URL gt lt executable_file_path gt command The value of the URL is the same as the Application Sync URL in the Package ini file and the executable file path is the path to the executable file that requires the update Updating Applications with Runtime Changes The sbmerge exe utility merges runtime changes recorded in the application sandbox back into a ThinApp project A typical workflow for this utility involves the following tasks m Capturing an application m Building the application with the build bat file m Running a captured application and customizing the settings and virtual environment ThinApp stores the changes in the sandbox m Running the sbmerge exe utility to merge registry and
44. I function to print the prompt to the screen after internally expanding P G to C test cmd_test bin gt Troubleshooting Specific Applications Troubleshooting tips are available for capturing Microsoft Outlook Explorer exe and Java Runtime Environment Troubleshoot Registry Setup for Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook stores account settings in registry keys and files When you start Microsoft Outlook for the first time it checks that the keys exist If Microsoft Outlook cannot find the keys it prompts you to create an account This process works properly in the virtual environment when Microsoft Outlook is not installed on the physical system If the user already has Microsoft Outlook installed on the physical system the captured version finds the registry keys in the system registry and uses those settings You must use Full isolation mode for the registry keys and files where Microsoft Outlook stores its settings VMware Inc 91 ThinApp User s Guide 92 Set up Full isolation mode for Microsoft Outlook registry keys 1 Add the following entries to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER txt file isoLation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER Identities isoLation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows NT CurrentVersion Windows Messaging Subsystem Profiles Create a Attributes ini file with the following entries Isolation DirectoryIsolationMode FulL Place the Attributes ini file in each of the following subdirectories A
45. Print command displays sandbox changes and does not make modifications to the sandbox or original project The sbmerge exe Apply command merges changes from the sandbox with the original project This command updates the project registry and file system to reflect changes and deletes the sandbox directory Usage C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp sbmerge Print lt optional_parameters gt C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp sbmerge Apply lt optional_parameters gt Optional Parameters The optional sbmerge exe parameters specify project and sandbox paths and block progress messages and merging of sandbox files Table 4 2 Optional somerge exe Parameters Parameter Description ProjectDir lt project_path gt If you start the sbmerge exe command from a location other than the application project folder use the absolute or relative path to the project directory using the ProjectDir lt project_path gt parameter A sample command is C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp sbmerge Print ProjectDir C lt project_folder_path gt SandboxDir lt sandbox_path gt When you start a captured application it searches for the sandbox in a particular order See Search Order for the Sandbox on page 61 If you use a custom location for the sandbox use the SandboxDir lt sandbox_path gt parameter to specify the location Quiet Blocks the printing of progress messages Exclude lt excluded_file gt ini Pre
46. The default location of the sandbox is APPDATA ThinstalLL lt appLlication_name gt sbmerge exe A utility that makes incremental updates to applications such as the incorporation of a plug in or a change in a browser home page The sbmerge exe utility merges runtime changes recorded in the sandbox back into a ThinApp project snapshot A recording of the state of the Windows file system and registry during the application capture process The Setup Capture process uses the snapshot exe utility to take a snapshot before and after the application is installed and stores the differences in a virtual file system and virtual registry See also postscan prescan snapshot exe A utility that creates the snapshots of a computer file system and registry and facilitates the prescan and postscan operations during the capture process Only advanced users who build ThinApp functionality into other platforms might make direct use of this utility See also postscan prescan snapshot snapshot ini A configuration file that specifies the directories and subkeys to exclude from a ThinApp project when you capture an application You can customize this file for applications template msi A template for MSI files that you can customize to adhere to company deployment procedures and standards For example you can add registry settings for ThinApp to add to client computers as part of the installation thinreg exe A utility that establishes file type associa
47. ThinApp User s Guide ThinApp 4 7 3 This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition To check for more recent editions of this document see http www vmware com support pubs EN 000400 02 vmware Title You can find the most up to date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at http www vmware com support The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates If you have comments about this documentation submit your feedback to docfeedback vmware com Copyright 2014 VMware Inc All rights reserved Copyright and trademark information VMware Inc 3401 Hillview Ave Palo Alto CA 94304 www vmware com 2 VMware Inc Contents About This Book 7 1 Installing ThinApp 9 ThinApp Requirements 9 Operating Systems Applications and Systems That ThinApp Supports 9 Applications That ThinApp Cannot Virtualize 10 Recommendations for Installing ThinApp 10 Using aClean Computer 10 Using the Earliest Operating System Required for Users 11 Install ThinApp Software 11 Checking ThinApp Installation Files 11 2 Capturing Applications 13 Phases of the Capture Process 13 Preparing to Capture Applications 13 Capturing Applications with the Setup Capture Wizard 14 Create a System Image Before the Application Installation 14 Rescan the System with the Installed Application 14 Defining Entry Points as Shortcut
48. Windows operating systems ThinApp User s Guide Applications That ThinApp Cannot Virtualize ThinApp cannot convert some applications into virtual applications and might block certain application functions You must use traditional installation technologies to deploy some application types Applications that do not natively support the deployment operating system If an operating system does not support the native installation of an application that operating system is not a supported ThinApp deployment platform for that application Applications requiring installation of kernel mode device drivers ODBC drivers work because they are user mode drivers m Antivirus and personal firewalls m Scanner drivers and printer drivers m Some VPN clients Device Drivers Applications that require device drivers do not work when packaged with ThinApp You must install those device drivers in their original format on the host computer Because ThinApp does not support virtualized device drivers you cannot use ThinApp to virtualize antivirus VPN clients personal firewalls and disk and volume mounting related utilities If you capture Adobe Acrobat you can modify and save PDF files but you cannot use the PDF printer driver that enables you to save documents to PDF format Shell Integration Some applications that provide shell integration have reduced functions when they exist in a ThinApp package For example a virtual application that i
49. You can run a command that requires quotation marks in the command line ExecuteVirtualProcess regsvr32 s amp chr 34 amp C Program Files my ocx amp chr 34 GetBuildOption The GetBuildOption OptionName function returns the value of a setting specified in the BuildOptions section of the Package ini file used for capturing applications Parameters OptionName in Name of the setting Returns This function returns a string value If the requested option name does not exist the function returns an empty string Examples Package ini contains BuildOptions CapturedUsingVersion 4 0 1 2866 The following line appears in a VBS file Value GetBuildOption CapturedUsingVersion GetFileVersionValue The GetFileVersionValue Filename Value function returns version information value from files such as a specific DLL OCX or executable file You can use this function to determine the internal version number of a DLL or retrieve DLL information about the copyright owner or a product name Parameters Filename in The name of the filename whose version information is being retrieved Value in The name of the value to retrieve from the version information section of the specified file VMware Inc 79 ThinApp User s Guide 80 You can retrieve the following values from most DLLs Comments m InternalName m ProductName m CompanyName m LegalCopyright m ProductVersion m FileDescriptio
50. _env_var 000005 0a88 start_env_var C C test cmd_test bin 000006 0a88 start_env_var ExitCode 00000000 000007 0a88 start_env_var ALLUSERSPROFILE C Documents and Settings All Users WINDOWS List of DLLs Loaded into Memory During Runtime The Modules loaded section is located near the end of the log file and describes the DLLs that are loaded into memory at runtime and the DLL addresses The information shows whether Windows or ThinApp loads the DLLs This example includes a summary of the length of the longest calls and the following entries m SYSTEM_LOADED indicates that Windows loads the DLL The file must exist on the disk m MEMORY_MAPPED_ANON indicates that ThinApp loads the DLL ThinApp might load the file from the virtual file system m 46800000 46873fFfF indicates the address range in virtual memory where the DLL resides m PRELOADED_BY_SYSTEM and PRELOADED_MAP are duplicate entries and refer to the memory address range where the executable image file is mapped into memory Modules loaded PRELOADED_MAP 00400000 00452fff C Program Files Adobe Reader 8 0 Reader AcroRd32 exe PRELOADED_BY_SYSTEM 00400000 00452fff C Program Files Adobe Reader 8 0 Reader AcroRd32 exe SYSTEM_LOADED 00400000 00452fff C test AcroRd32 exe MEMORY_MAPPED_ANON 013b0000 020affff C Program Files Adobe Reader 8 0 Reader AcroRd32 d11 Timing Report list of slowest 150 objects profiled Potential Errors The P
51. a parent process runs a child process and quits this callback is called when the last child process exits 73 ThinApp User s Guide The following callback example shows the OnFirstSandboxOwner and OnFirstParentExit functions example vbs Function OnFirstSandboxOwner msgbox The sandbox owner is End Function GetCurrentProcessName Function OnFirstParentExit msgbox Quiting application End Function GetCurrentProcessName msgbox This code will execute for all parent and child processes Implement Scripts in a ThinApp Environment You might implement a script in the following circumstances m Timing out an application on a specific date m Running a bat file from a network share inside the virtual environment Modifying the virtual registry m Importing the reg file at runtime m Stopping a virtual service when the main application quits m Copying an external system configuration file into the virtual environment on startup Implement a script 1 Save the script contents in a plain text file with the vbs extension in the same directory as your Package ini file You can use any filename ThinApp adds all vbs files to the package at build time 2 Rebuild the application bat Example The following script runs an external bat file from a network share inside the virtual environment The bat file makes modifications to the virtual environme
52. ackage With WriteCopy isolation mode ThinApp can intercept write operations and redirect them to the sandbox You can use WriteCopy isolation mode for legacy or untrusted applications Although this mode might make it difficult to find user data files that reside in the sandbox instead of the physical system this mode is useful for locked down desktops where you want to prevent users from affecting the local file system When you select WriteCopy isolation in the Setup Capture wizard ThinApp completes a number of operations m Sets the DirectoryIsoLationMode parameter in the Package ini file to WriteCopy m Sets up exceptions that apply Merged isolation to these directories m Personal m Desktop m SystemSystem spool m Between the prescan and postscan capture operations assigns Full isolation mode to any directories that the application creates during the installation This process is unrelated to the isolation mode of any new directories that the running virtual application creates WriteCopy isolation mode in the Setup Capture wizard has the same effect as WriteCopy isolation mode in the Package ini file including the directory exceptions that specify Merged isolation mode The Setup Capture wizard and snapshot exe utility configure the directory exceptions for you with the Attributes ini files within the directories VMware Inc 17 ThinApp User s Guide 18 Set File System Isolation Modes The capture proces
53. ake a central shared directory for the package read only Users can read the package contents but not change the executable file contents When a package streams from a shared location ThinApp stores application changes in the user sandbox The default sandbox location is AppData Thinstall lt application_name gt You can configure the sandbox location at runtime or at package time A common configuration is to place the user sandbox on another central storage device The user can use any computer and keep individual application settings at a central share When packages stream from a central share they remain locked until all users exit the application VMware Inc Chapter 3 Deploying Applications Stream ThinApp Packages from the Network Users can access packaged applications through the network Stream packages from the network 1 Place the ThinApp package in a location accessible to client computers 2 Send a link to users to run the application directly Using Captured Applications with Other System Components Captured applications can interact with other components installed on the desktop Performing Paste Operations Review the following paste operations and limitations with ThinApp Pasting content from system installed applications to captured applications This paste operation is unlimited The virtual application can receive any standard clipboard formats such as text graphics and HTML The virtual application
54. al machine guest operating system You have the following options when you specify passwords m You can enter clear text m You can specify a base64 encoded password for the PasswordBase64 parameter Specifying an encoded password does not increase security strength You need to protect the actual INI file All passwords are handled in the same way If the Password setting is not used the password for the guest is assumed to be blank Most Windows virtual machines do not support automation with empty passwords so you should specify a guest password PasswordPrompt VMware Inc 27 ThinApp User s Guide 28 Specifies that the user be prompted to enter a password If you do not want to store the virtual machine password in the configuration file specify the value as true When set to true a prompt always appears even if a password is specified in the configuration file Examples Following is an example for an ESX server based environment A password has been specified and as PasswordPrompt is set to false the user will not be prompted to enter a password VirtualMachine1 VmxPath Storage WinXP_Converter WinXP_Converter vmx UserName administrator Password secret PasswordPrompt false Following is an example for a VMware Workstation based virtual machine On virtual machine 1 PasswordPrompt has been set to true The user will be prompted for a password even though a password has been specified in the configuration
55. andbox You can use any portable device such as a USB drive that appears as a disk drive in the My Computer system folder A portable device location is useful to keep the sandbox data on the device where the application resides For more information about the SandboxPath parameter see SandboxPath on page 97 Store the sandbox in the same directory on a USB drive where the executable file resides 1 Open the Package ini file 2 Under the SandboxName parameter set the SandboxPath parameter to this value SandboxName Mozilla Firefox 3 0 SandboxPath For example if Mozilla Firefox 3 0 is the value of the SandboxName parameter the captured Firefox application creates the Mozilla Firefox 3 0 sandbox in the same directory that Firefox runs from Store the Sandbox in a Thinstall Directory on a USB Drive at the Same Level as the Executable File The sandbox in a Thinstall directory located on a USB drive must be stored at the same level at which the executable file is stored Store the sandbox in a Thinstall directory on a USB drive at the same level as the executable file 1 Ifthe STHINSTALL_SANDBOX_DIR or lt sandbox_name gt _SANDBOX_DIR environment variables are set unset the variables 2 On the portable device create a Thinstall directory in the same directory as your captured application The next time the packaged application starts from the portable device the application creates a sandbox in the Thinstall directory
56. application startup and merges registry entries and file system directories If ThinApp finds a registry subkey or file system directory that did not previously exist in the main package or layer that is already merged ThinApp uses the isolation mode specified in the layer being loaded If the registry subkey or file system directory exists in the main package and a layer that is already merged ThinApp uses the most restrictive isolation mode specified in any of the layers or main package The order of most restrictive to least restrictive isolation modes is Full WriteCopy and Merged PermittedGroups Effect on Linked Packages If you link two applications and you specify a value for the PermittedGroups parameter the user account used for starting the application must be a member of at least one of the Active Directory groups for this parameter in the Package ini files of both applications For information about the PermittedGroups parameter refer ThinApp Package ini Parameters Reference Guide Sandbox Changes for Standalone and Linked Packages Sandbox changes from linked packages are not visible to the base executable file For example you can install Acrobat Reader as a standalone virtual package and as a linked package to the base Firefox application When you start Acrobat Reader as a standalone application by running the virtual package and you change the preferences ThinApp stores the changes in the sandbox for Acrobat Reader When you star
57. are at lt server gt lt share gt Firefox exe 2 After both Firefox exe and Firefox exe 1 are unlocked you can delete Firefox exe and rename Firefox exe 1 to Firefox exe This permanently replaces the older version with the newer version ThinApp always uses the filename that has the highest version number If you must roll back to an earlier version and the most recent version is locked copy the old version so that it has the highest version number NOTE If you have a project with an alt file the alt file from the new version must also be copied and renamed The number used in the filename must come before the alt extension for example Firefox alt becomes Firefox 1 alt Changes to Package ini will not be seen if the primary data container is a dat file A workaround is to rebuild the project with an exe primary data container if it is under 2GB in size Sandbox Considerations for Upgraded Applications When you upgrade an application you can control whether users continue to use their previous settings by keeping the sandbox name consistent in the Package ini file You can prevent users from using an older sandbox with an upgraded application by packaging the upgraded application with a new name for the sandbox Starting the upgraded application the first time creates the sandbox with the new name Updating the ThinApp Version of Packages 58 You can use the relink exe utility to update an existing package or tree of packages to
58. are mandatory m You can only specify a single endpoint at a time in the configuration file For example if you plan to use a single VMware ESX Server you can have ThinAppConverter exe directly connect to that server m You cannot specify more than one ESX server To use more than one ESX server configure ThinAppConverter exe to connect to VMware vCenter Server which manages multiple ESX servers m You can use a locally installed VMware Workstation VirtualMachineHost The name of the virtual machine to which ThinApp Converter is to connect m To connect a single VMware ESX Server use the IP address or host name of the ESX server m To connect to VMware vCenter Server use the IP address or HOST name of the vCenter server m To connect to a local VMware Workstation instance use Localhost m For VMware ESX Server or VMware vCenter Server if you are not using standard HTTPS with port 443 you can specify the entire URL Examples The following example shows a virtual machine specified by ESX server hostname HostEnvironment VirtualMachineHost MyEsx vmware com The following example shows a virtual machine specified by IP address HostEnvironment VirtualMachineHost 10 13 11 23 The following example shows a local machine specified as Localhost HostEnvironment VirtualMachineHost LocaLhost HostLoginUserName The login user name for the host machine Use the same login user name for connecting to the server as you use
59. as a separate step from an Administrator account If you do not install the ThinDirect plug in as a separate step Thinreg displays an error You can push additional Web page redirect to end user computers by copying files with a specific format to specific individual machine or individual user locations ThinDirect does not support the POST data operation you might include this feature by performing the following m Extracting POST data from native Internet Explorer m Allowing virtual Internet Explorer to send POST data As these processes are complicated than the GET method VMware has no plans to implement this feature Capturing Multiple Application Installers with ThinApp Converter 24 On virtual machines running a Windows operating system you can use ThinApp Converter to convert multiple application installers into ThinApp packages After you provide a configuration file with specific settings that the converter accesses ThinApp Converter runs applications in silent mode Silent mode means that the process occurs without requiring user input after initial configuration settings are specified ThinApp Converter transparently captures installation content generates ThinApp projects and build the projects into a ThinApp package in virtual machines you specify in the configuration file This process is fully automated from when ThinApp Converter starts to run until the ThinApp package is built The ThinApp executable file and the appli
60. ated executable file use the sbmerge exe utility See Application Updates That the Administrator Triggers on page 54 NOTE If you use the Application Sync utility to perform application updates disable the auto update capabilities of the application See Using Application Sync in a Managed or Unmanaged Environment on page 47 VMware Inc Chapter 4 Updating and Linking Applications Dynamic Updates Without Administrator Rights You can update applications dynamically without requiring administrator rights For example NET based applications that download new DLL files from the Internet as part of their update process must run the ngen exe file to generate native image assemblies for startup performance In typical circumstances the ngen exe file writes to HKLM and C WINDOWS both of which are only accessible with administrator accounts With ThinApp the ngen exe file can install native image assemblies on guest user accounts but stores changes in a user specific directory You can update the package on a central computer and push the changes to client machines or to central network shares as a new captured executable file Use one of the following options for applying updates m During the setup capture process m Inside the virtual environment Applications with auto update capabilities can undergo updates If the update is a patch exe file the patch program can run in the virtual environment and run froma cmd e
61. ation As the application starts a new entry appears in the Log Monitor list Log Monitor shows one entry for each new trace file Each file does not necessarily correspond with a single process 4 End the application as soon as it encounters an error 5 Generate logs for each trace file you want to investigate a Select the trace file in the list b Click Generate text trace report Multiple independent processes do not reside in the same log ThinApp generates a trace file Log Monitor converts the binary trace file into a txt file 6 Optional Open the txt file with a text editor and scan the information In some circumstances the txt file is too large to open with the text editor 7 Zip the txt files and send the files to VMware support Perform Advanced Log Monitor Operations Advanced operations in Log Monitor include stopping applications or deleting trace files If an application is busy or experiencing slow performance with a specific action you can perform suspend and resume operations to capture logs for a specific duration The resulting log file is smaller than the typical log file and easier to analyze Please also keep in mind when you use the suspend and resume operations the cause of an error might occur outside of your duration window Suspend and resume operations are global and affect all applications For more information about using these options contact VMware support Perform advanced Log Monitor op
62. aultInstallAllUsers parameter you can still force individual user deployments for Firefox 3 0 with the msiexec i Firefox30 msi ALLUSERS command If you use the ALLUSERS argument for the msiexec command ThinApp extracts the captured executable files to the AppData user directory Force MSI Deployments for Individual Users or for All Users on a Machine m Optional From the command line type the msiexec i lt database gt msi ALLUSERS command to force deployments for individual users m Optional From the command line type the msiexec i lt database gt msi ALLUSERS 1 command to force deployments for all users on a machine Override the MSI Installation Directory You can use the msiexec command to override the default MSI installation directory When ThinApp performs an individual machine MSI deployment the default installation directory is the localized equivalent of ProgramFilesDir lt inventory_name gt VMware ThinApp If you install a Firefox package for each machine the package resides in ProgramFilesDir Mozilla Firefox VMware ThinApp When ThinApp performs an MSI deployment for individual users the default installation directory is AppData lt inventory_name gt VMware ThinApp In both cases you can override the installation directory by passing an INSTALLDIR property to the msiexec command Override the MSI Installation Directory From the command line type the msiexec i lt database gt msi INST
63. can receive Object Linking and Embedding OLE objects m Pasting from captured applications to system applications ThinApp converts OLE objects created in virtual applications to system native objects when you paste them into native applications Accessing Printers A captured application has access to any printer installed on the computer that it is running on Captured applications and applications installed on the physical system have the same printing ability You cannot use ThinApp to virtualize printer drivers You must manually install printer drivers on a computer Accessing Drivers A captured application has full access to any device driver installed on the computer that it is running on Captured applications and applications installed on the physical system have the same relationship with device drivers If an application requires a device driver you must install the driver separately from the ThinApp package Sometimes an application without an associated driver might function with some limitations For example Adobe Acrobat installs a printer driver that enables applications system wide to render PDF files using a print mechanism When you use a captured version of Adobe Acrobat you can use it to load edit and save PDF files without the printer driver installation Other applications do not detect a new printer driver unless the driver is installed Accessing the Local Disk the Removable Disk and Network Shares When
64. cation installers can run on virtual machines ThinApp Converter Process Before you run ThinApp Converter you must use the ThinAppConverter ini configuration file as a template to specify the virtual machine environment on which the applications to be converted reside the network share paths and various other mandatory and optional parameters You then use the f command line switch to specify the configuration file that you created which ThinApp Converter will use For example ThinAppConverter exe f myConfig ini ThinApp Converter reads the configuration file to identify which installers are to be converted and the virtual machines on which the conversion is to occur ThinApp Converter then powers on each virtual machine and takes a snapshot that is used after the conversion process is complete After the snapshot is taken ThinApp Converter pushes a silent capture agent to virtual machines The silent capture agent runs transparently on the virtual machines capturing the application installation process in a similar way to that of the Setup Capture wizard when a single application is being captured The silent capture agent performs the following actions VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications m Runs a ThinApp prescan m Installs an application from the network share specified in the configuration file m Runs a postscan m Generates a ThinApp project on the network share specified in the configuration file m Performs pro
65. cation you want to capture The capture process stores in a virtual file system and virtual registry the differences between the prescan and postscan images See also prescan snapshot prescan To establish a baseline image or snapshot of a machine before you install the application you want to capture The capture process stores in a virtual file system and virtual registry the differences between the prescan and postscan images See also postscan snapshot primary data container The main virtual application file The file is a exe file or a dat file that includes the ThinApp runtime and the read only virtual file system and virtual registry The primary data container must reside in the same bin directory with any subordinate application executable files because entry points use the information in the primary data container project The data that the capture process creates before you build a package The capture process uses the inventory name as the default project directory name You can customize parameters in the project files before you build an application package You cannot deploy a captured application until you build a package from the project 96 VMware Inc Glossary sandbox The physical system folder that stores runtime user changes to the virtual application When you start the application ThinApp incorporates changes from the sandbox When you delete the sandbox ThinApp reverts the application to its captured state
66. ced functions with ThinApp 10 snapshot exe creating snapshots from the command line 65 sample commands 67 sample procedure 67 snapshot ini defining 65 68 support for applications 9 for operating systems 9 T technical support required information for troubleshooting 85 ThinApp applications that are not supported 10 browsing project files 20 deployment options 33 directory files 11 folder macros 69 in a VMware View environment 33 installing 11 recommendation for clean computers 10 requirements for installing and capturing applications 9 streaming packages from the network 41 supported operating systems and applications 9 updating applications 47 VMware Inc Index updating runtime in packages 58 using thinreg exe 34 ThinApp Converter capturing multiple applications 24 configuration file 25 detecting application installation processes 29 process overview 24 system requirements 25 ThinAppConverter ini configuring AppSettings 31 configuring HostEnvironment 26 configuring Settings 28 configuring VirtualMachineN 27 predefined environment variables 31 ThinDirect extracting and registering 24 thinreg exe defining 34 parameters 35 running 35 starting with MSI files 19 updating registrations with Application Sync 49 with Application Sync 34 troubleshooting Explorer exe 92 Java Runtime Environment 93 Microsoft Outlook 91 providing required information to support 85 with Log Monitor 86 U upgradi
67. ckage ini file for each application This process is described as part of the AppSettings AppName section ExclusionList Specify a comma or semicolon separated list of application directories that ThinApp will skip when searching for application installers The list is case insensitive You can specify wildcards for DOS style file names For example Microsoft and are supported Example Following is an example of an exclusion specification using a wildcard Settings ExcLusionList App old FireFox1 0 ProjectPostProcessingCommand Specify the file path to the project post processing command The file path is relative to the application installer s network share Using the example for specifying the network shares for the application installers and ThinApp projects if you specify ProjectPostProcessingCommand addscript bat ThinApp Converter will try to find the file under AppInstallerServer AppInstaller You can provide a more explicit value by using predefined variables For more information see Predefined Environment Variables on page 31 StopOnError Specify whether ThinApp Converter should stop converting an application if it encounters an error or continue with the other applications The default value is false BuildAfterCapture Specify whether the ThinApp Converter should build the ThinApp Projects into packages following capture The default value is true DetectIdle Specify whether ThinApp Conver
68. d in the Application Sync version The order of precedence for updating files is the files in the sandbox the virtual operating system and the physical machine If you have an unmanaged environment that does not update applications automatically use the Application Sync utility to update applications VMware Inc 47 ThinApp User s Guide 48 Update Firefox 2 0 0 3 to Firefox 3 with Application Sync This example shows the Application Sync update process for Firefox The update process involves modifying the Package ini file The AppSyncURL parameter requires a URL path ThinApp supports HTTP HTTPS and file protocols For information about all Application Sync parameters refer ThinApp Package ini Parameters Reference Guide Update Firefox 2 0 0 3 to Firefox 3 1 Capture Firefox 2 0 0 3 and Firefox 3 into separate packages 2 Verify that the primary data container name is the same for both packages The primary data container determined during the setup capture process is the file that contains the virtual file system and virtual registry If you have a Firefox 2 0 0 3 package thathas Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 exe as the name of the primary data container and you have a Firefox 3 package thathas Mozilla Firefox 3 dat as the name of the primary data container change the name in the Shortcut parameter to a common name For example you can use Firefox exe as a name 3 Modify the Package ini file in each package a Open the Package
69. d is SBMERGE APPLY ProjectDir C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Microsoft Office Professional 2007 SandboxDir APPDATA Thinstall Microsoft Office Pro 2007 Rebuild the package and test the package on a clean virtual machine to confirm that the ctfmon exe process no longer exists Application Link Updates The Application Link utility connects dependent applications at runtime You can package deploy and update component pieces separately rather than capture all components in the same package ThinApp can link up to 250 packages at a time Each package can be any size The Application Link utility is useful for the following objects Large shared libraries and frameworks Link runtime components such as NET JRE or ODBC drivers with dependent applications For example you can link NET to an application even if the local machine for the application prevents the installation of NET or already has a different version of NET If you have multiple applications that require NET you can save space and make a single NET package and point the multiple applications to the NET package When you update NET with a security fix you can update a single package rather than multiple packages Add on components and plug ins Package and deploy application specific components and plug ins separately from the base application For example you might separate Adobe Flash Player or Adobe Reader from a base Firefox app
70. des some DLLs that Windows 2000 lacks ThinApp excludes these DLLs from the captured application package if the application typically installs these DLLs After you create a ThinApp application package you can overwrite files in the package with updated versions and rebuild the application without the capture process Install ThinApp Software Use the ThinApp executable file to install ThinApp Install ThinApp software 1 Download ThinApp to a clean physical or virtual Windows machine 2 Double click the ThinApp executable file 3 In the Patent Lists dialog box click Next 4 Accept the license type the serial number and type a license display name that appears when you open applications that ThinApp captures 5 Click Install ThinApp is installed Checking ThinApp Installation Files The ThinApp installation generates the VMware ThinApp directory in C Program Files VMware You might check the files in this directory to perform operations such as starting the Log Monitor utility to view recent activity The following key files in the VMware ThinApp directory affect ThinApp operations m AppSync exe Keeps captured applications up to date with the latest available version m logging dll Generates trace files m dil_dump exe Lists all captured applications that are currently running on a system log monitor exe Displays the execution history and errors of an application m relink exe Updates existing packag
71. desktop gt lt Program_Files_share gt MyApp dotnet dat Set Up Nested Links with Application Link ThinApp supports nested links with the Application Link utility For example if Microsoft Office links to a service pack and the service pack links to a hot fix ThinApp supports all these dependencies This procedure refers to AppA which requires AppB and AppB which requires AppC Assume the following folder layout for the procedure m C AppFolder AppA AppA exe m C AppFolder AppB AppB exe m C AppFolder AppC AppC exe For information about setting up required and optional Application Link parameters in this procedure refer ThinApp Package ini Parameters Reference Guide Set up nested links 1 Capture Application A 2 Inthe Package ini file specify Application B as a required or optional application link For example add RequiredLinks AppFolder AppB AppB exe to the file 52 VMware Inc Chapter 4 Updating and Linking Applications 3 Capture Application B 4 Inthe Package ini file for Application B specify Application C as a required or optional application link For example add RequiredLinks AppFolder AppC AppC exe to the file 5 Capture Application C If you start Application A it can access the files and registry keys of Application B and Application B can access the files and registry keys of Application C Affecting Isolation Modes with Application Link ThinApp loads an Application Link layer during
72. e Click Finish You can rebuild the package at any time after you click Finish to make changes Advanced Package Configuration Advanced users might modify configuration files such as the Package ini or Attributes ini files before building the package during the capture or after the initial build of the package Modifying Settings in the Package ini File You can modify the Package ini file to update the overall package The file resides in the captured application folder A Firefox 2 0 0 3 path might be C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 Package ini The following parameters are a few examples of settings that you might modify DirectoryIsolationMode Sets the isolation mode to Merged WriteCopy or Full PermittedGroups Restricts use of an application package to a specific set of Active Directory users SandboxName Identifies the sandbox You might keep the name for incremental application updates and change the name for major updates SandboxPath Sets the sandbox location SandboxNetworkDrives Specifies whether to redirect write operations on the network share to the sandbox RequiredAppLinks Specifies a list of external ThinApp packages to import to the current package at runtime OptionalAppLinks Specifies a list of external ThinApp packages to import to the current package at runtime For information about all Package ini parameters download a copy of
73. e 4 1 View of the System Base Application and Linked Components Using Application Link MP Local Disk C J Documents and Settings Program Files Common Files ComPlus Applications System Files SALocal Disk C Base Application Program Files Base Application Local Disk C Component Package io Program Files Component1 Application Link E amp lLocal Disk C J Documents and Settings merged view of f System Files o Program pires Base Application Base Application Component Package jj Common Files ComPlus Applications Component1 Link a Base Application to the Microsoft NET Framework Review this sample workflow to link a base application MyApp exe to a separate package that contains the Microsoft NET 2 0 Framework Make sure that the base application capture process does not include the Microsoft NET 2 0 Framework For information about the process of capturing an application see Chapter 2 Capturing Applications on page 13 For information about required and optional Application Link parameters and formats in the Package ini file refer ThinApp Package ini Parameters Reference Guide VMware Inc 51 ThinApp User s Guide Link an application to Microsoft NET 1 Capture the installation of the NET 2 0 Framework During the capture process you must select at least one use
74. e MSI files during the capture process you can still create these files after building an application An MSI database is useful for delivering captured applications through traditional desktop management systems to remote locations and automatically creating shortcuts and file type associations Basic Active Directory group policies provide ways to distribute and start MSI packages ThinApp creates an MSI database that contains captured executable files installer logic and the thinreg exe utility Customizing MSI Files with Package ini Parameters You can customize the behavior of MSI files by modifying Package ini parameters and rebuilding the application package The following parameters can affect MSI configuration m The MSIInstallDirectory parameter sets the installation directory for the package For example include MSIInstal1Directory C Program Files in the Package ini file m The MSIDefaultInstallAl1Users parameter sets whether to install the package for all or individual users ThinApp installs the package in the AppData user directory For example include MSIDefaultInstal11A11Users 0 in the Package ini file For more information about this parameter see Specifying a Database Installation for Individual Users and Machines on page 38 m The MSIFileName parameter names the package For example include MSIFi Lename Firefox30 msi in the Package ini file m The MSIRequireElevatedPrivileges parameter indicates whether
75. e Statistics page click the Yes Send anonymous usage statistics to VMware option button to confirm the data collection status VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications Customize ThinApp Project Settings A project is the data that the capture process creates You cannot run or deploy the captured application until you build a package from the project files Setting up the project involves determining the inventory name and the project location The inventory name facilitates internal tracking of the application and determines the default project directory name Customize project settings in the Setup Capture wizard 1 On the Project Settings page change the inventory name Using the thinreg exe utility or deploying the captured application as an MSI file causes the inventory name to appear in the Add or Remove Programs dialog box for Windows 2 Change the directory where you want to save the ThinApp project If you keep the default directory and capture Firefox 2 0 0 3 the path might appear as C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 Defining Package Settings A package is the executable file or MSI file with executable files that you use to run or deploy a captured application You build a package from the project files Setting up the package during the capture process involves specifying information about the main virtual application file that serves as the primary data container MSI gene
76. e another application This information uses Mozilla Firefox as a key example for application capture Create a System Image Before the Application Installation The Setup Capture wizard starts the capture process by scanning the system to assess the environment and create a baseline system image Create a system image before the application installation 1 Download the applications to capture For example download Firefox Setup 2 0 0 3 exe and copy it to the clean computer you are working with Close any applications such as virus scans that might change the file system during the capture process From the desktop select Start gt Programs gt VMware gt ThinApp Setup Capture Optional In the Ready to Prescan dialog box click Advanced Scan Locations to select the drives and registry hives to scan You might want to scan a particular location other than the C drive if you install applications to a different drive In rare cases you might want to avoid scanning a registry hive if you know that the application installer does not modify the registry Click Prescan to establish a baseline system image of the hard drive and registry files The scanning process takes about 10 seconds for Windows XP Rescan the System with the Installed Application You can install the application to virtualize before the Setup Capture wizard rescans the system and assess changes from the initial system image Install the application and
77. e subdirectory under AppInstallersRootDir for the relevant application m ThinAppProjectsRootDir The UNC path for the generated ThinApp projects that is specified in OutputUncPath in the Settings section m ThinAppProjectDir The subdirectory under ThinAppProjectsRootDir for the relevant application VMware Inc 31 32 ThinApp User s Guide Example Following is an example of how predefined variables can be used in the PackageIniOverrideFile ProjectPostProcessingCommand and InstallationCommand parameters Settings PackageIniOverrideFile AppInstallersRootDir AppSyncSettings ini will resolve to AppInstallerServer AppInstalLler AppSyncSettings ini AppSettings Adobe InstallationCommand AdbeRdr920_en_US exe sALL PackageIniOverrideFile AppInstallerDir override ini will resolve to AppInstallerServer AppInstalLer Adobe AppSyncSettings ini VMware Inc Deploying Applications Deploying captured applications involves working with deployment tools the thinreg exe utility MSI files and Active Directory This information includes the following topics ThinApp Deployment Options on page 33 Establishing File Type Associations with the thinreg exe Utility on page 34 Building an MSI Database on page 37 Controlling Application Access with Active Directory on page 39 Starting and Stopping Virtual Services on page 40 Using ThinApp Packages Streamed from the Network
78. ecify a base64 encoded password for the PasswordBase64 parameter InputMountPasswordPrompt Specifies that the user be prompted to enter a password If you do not want to store the network share password in the configuration file specify the value as true When set to true a prompt always appears even if a password is specified in the configuration file VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications OutputUncPath Specify the network share UNC path to the location of the generated ThinApp projects For example fileserver sharename or fileserver sharename dirname OutputMountUserName Specify the user name used for connecting to the OutputUncPath network share UPN format can be used to specify a domain user for example user domain com OutputMountPassword or OutputMountPasswordBase64 Specify the password for connecting to the network share You have the following options when you specify passwords m You can enter clear text m You can specify a base64 encoded password for the PasswordBase64 parameter OutputMountPasswordPrompt Specifies that the user be prompted to enter a password If you do not want to store the network share password in the configuration file specify the value as true When set to true a prompt always appears even if a password is specified in the configuration file Example Following is an example of network share specifications The user for the application installation directory has only read per
79. egistry file m Registry tlog cache Real time cache that contains all transactions that have not yet been committed to the real registry file m Registry tlog Transaction log that contains all transactions during the period that they are being written to the real registry log Following successful writing to the real registry log the transactions are removed from this file In addition to these registry files the sandbox contains directories that include AppData ProgramFilesDir and SystemRoot Each of these folders contains modifications to respective folders in the captured application Making Changes to the Sandbox ThinApp stores file system information in the virtual registry The virtual registry enables ThinApp to optimize file system access in the virtual environment For example when an application tries to open a file ThinApp does not have to consult the real file system for the real system location and again for the sandbox location Instead ThinApp can check for the existence of the file by consulting only the virtual registry This ability increases the ThinApp runtime performance VMware does not support modifying or adding files directly to the sandbox If you copy files to the sandbox directory the files are not visible to the application If the file already exists in the sandbox you can overwrite and update the file VMware recommends that you perform all modifications from the application itself Listing Virtual
80. em using thinreg exe and update applications with the Application Sync utility you can update registrations by placing a copy of thinreg exe located in C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp alongside the updated package on the server Maintaining the Primary Data Container Name with Application Sync The Application Sync utility requires that the name of the primary data container the file that stores virtual files and registry information is the same for the old and new versions of an application For example you cannot have an old version with Microsoft Office Excel 2003 exe as the primary data container name while the new version has Microsoft Office 2007 dat as the primary data container name To verify the name of the primary data container see the ReadOnlyData parameter in the Package ini file For more information about the primary data container see Defining Entry Points as Shortcuts into the Virtual Environment on page 15 Completing the Application Sync Process When Applications Create Child Processes When a captured application creates child processes ThinApp cannot complete the Application Sync process For example you might create Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007 packages modify the AppSyncuURL parameter in the Package ini file for both packages and copy the Microsoft Office 2007 package to a Web server and the Microsoft Office 2003 package to a client machine If you start the Microsoft Office 2003
81. entries on the system and file system metadata File system metadata includes path filename attribute size and time stamp information but excludes actual file data Create a project with the snapshot exe command line utility 1 Save an initial snapshot of the current machine configuration to disk snapshot exe C Start snapshot 2 Install the application and make any necessary manual system changes VMware Inc 67 ThinApp User s Guide Save to disk a snapshot of the new machine configuration snapshot exe C End snapshot Generate a template Package ini file snapshot exe C Start snapshot SuggestProject C End snapshot C Template ini ThinApp uses the template file to generate the final Package ini file The template file contains a list of all detected executable file entry points and Package ini parameters If you write your own script to replace the Setup Capture wizard use the template Package ini file to select the entry points to keep or customize Package ini parameters such as InventoryName Generate a ThinApp project snapshot exe C TempLate ini GenerateProject C MyProjectDirectory Optional Delete the temporary C Start snapshot C End snapshot and C Template ini files Optional To generate multiple projects with different configurations reuse the original Start snapshot file and repeat the procedure from Step 2 Customizing the snapshot ini File 68 The snapshot ini configuration file s
82. erations 1 Shut down the captured application to investigate 2 Onthe computer where you captured the application select Start gt Programs gt VMware gt ThinApp Log Monitor To start Log Monitor on a deployment machine copy the log_monitor exe Logging d11 and Setup Capture exe files from C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp to the deployment machine and double click the Log_monitor exe file VMware Inc Chapter 9 Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp 3 Optional Capture logs for a specific duration to troubleshoot an exact issue a Select the Suspend check box b Start the captured application and let it run to the point where the error occurs or the performance problem starts c In Log Monitor deselect the Suspend check box to resume the logging process You can check the application behavior to isolate the issue d Select the Suspend check box to stop the logging process 4 Optional Select a file in the trace file list to delete and click Delete File 5 Optional Click Kill App to stop a running process 6 Optional Click the Compress check box to decrease the size of a trace file This operation slows the performance of the application 7 Optional Generate a trace file report a Select a trace file in the file list type a trace filename or click Browse to select a trace file on your system b Optional Type or change the name of the output report c Click Generate text trace report to create a report Y
83. ersion for ThinApp installation 11 P Package ini Active Directory parameters 39 common parameters 21 editing Application Sync parameters 48 modifying MSI parameters 37 MSI parameters 37 packages building 21 configuring 20 21 defining 19 parameters applying settings at folder level instead of package level 22 for MSI files 37 for somerge exe 56 for thinreg exe 35 PermittedGroups effect on Application Link 53 primary data container defining 19 maintaining the name with Application Sync 49 size implications 19 project files 20 projects opening during capture process 20 R regedit exe defining 15 relink defining 58 examples 58 S sandbox considerations for upgraded applications 58 defining 18 location 18 63 search order 61 structure 64 sbmerge exe commands 56 defining 54 merging runtime changes 55 scripts VMware Inc bat example 74 reg example 75 callback functions 73 file copy example 75 reasons for 74 service example 75 system registry example 76 timeout example 74 virtual registry example 75 services automatic startup 40 starting and stopping in packages 40 Setup Capture wizard authorizing user groups 16 browsing projects 21 building packages 21 compressing packages 19 entry points 15 installing applications 14 inventory name 19 package settings 20 postscan operation 14 prescan operation 14 project location 19 setting isolation modes 18 shell integration redu
84. es to the latest ThinApp version installed on the system VMware Inc 11 ThinApp User s Guide 12 sbmerge exe Merges runtime changes recorded in the application sandbox with the ThinApp project and updates the captured application Setup Capture exe Captures and configures applications through a wizard snapshot exe Compares the preinstallation environment and postinstallation environment during the application capture process ThinApp starts this utility during the setup capture process snapshot64 exe Compares the preinstallation environment and postinstallation environment during the application capture process on a 64 bit operating system snapshot ini Stores entries for the virtual registry and virtual file system that ThinApp ignores during the process of capturing an application The snapshot exe file references the snapshot ini file Advanced users might modify the snapshot ini file to ensure that ThinApp does not capture certain entries when creating an application package template msi Builds the MSI files You can customize this template to ensure that the msi files generated by ThinApp adhere to company deployment procedures and standards For example you can add registry settings that you want ThinApp to add to client computers as part of the installation thinreg exe Registers captured applications on a computer This registration includes setting up shortcuts and the Start menu and
85. et during the capture process For information about updating settings see Advanced Package Configuration on page 21 The project includes folders such as AppData that represent file system paths that might change locations when running on different operating systems or computers Most folders have Attributes ini files that specify the isolation mode at the folder level 20 VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications Build Virtual Applications You can adjust project files and build the application for deployment Build virtual applications in the Setup Capture wizard 1 Optional On the Ready to Build page scan or change the project files Option Description Edit Package ini Modify application parameters for the entire package Open project folder Browse ThinApp project files in Windows Explorer Optional To prevent a build from taking place select the Skip the build process check box You can build the package at a later time with the build bat file in the virtual application folder For example a Firefox 2 0 0 3 path to the build bat file might be C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 build bat Click Build to build an executable package or MSI package containing the files you installed during the capture process Optional Deselect the Open folder containing project executables after clicking Finish check box to view the executable files and MSI files at a later tim
86. etRegistryIsolation RegistryKey IsolationMode function sets the isolation mode of a registry key Parameters RegistryKey in The registry key on which to set the isolation mode Start with HKLM for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE HKCU for HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKCR for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT IsolationMode in Isolation mode to set 1 WriteCopy 2 Merged 3 Full Examples You can set the Full isolation mode for HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Thinapp Test SetRegistryIsolation HKCU Software Thinapp Test 3 WaitForProcess The WaitForProcess ProcessID TimeOutInMilliSeconds function waits until the process ID is finished running Parameters ProcessID in The process ID to end The process ID can come from ExecuteExternalProcess or ExecuteVirtualProcess TimeOutInMilliSeconds in The maximum amount of time to wait for the process to finish running before continuing A value of 0 specifies INFINITE Returns This function returns an integer 0 Timeout fails 1 Process exits 2 Process does not exist or security is denied Examples id ExecuteExternalProcess C WINDOWS system32 cmd exe WaitForProcess id 0 VMware Inc 83 ThinApp User s Guide 84 VMware Inc Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp You can use Log Monitor to generate trace files and troubleshoot the ThinApp environment Log Monitor is compatible only with an application captured using the same version of ThinApp This information includes
87. eturns 203 0 The system he environment option that was entered MSVCR80 d1LL 78133003 lt nview d1ll 1000058c GetProcAddress xxx GetLastError returns 127 203 The specified procedure could not be MSVCR8Q d11 78136e08 lt dbghelp d1ll 59a60360 Getfile type GetLastErrorQ returns 6 0 The handle is invalid MSVCR80 d11 78134481 lt nview d11 1000058c GetProcAddress xxx GetLastError returns 127 0 The specified procedure could not be found 019530 0000075c MSVCR80 d11 78131dcd lt dbghelp d1l 59a603a1 GetModuleHandleA gt HMODULE 0h GetLastError returns 126 0 The specified module could not be found Troubleshooting Example for cmd exe Utility In the troubleshooting example ThinApp packages the cmd exe utility with logging turned on The example shows how you can simulate application failure by running an invalid command If you request the cmd exe utility to run the foobar command the utility generates the Foobar is not recognized as an internal or external command message You can scan the trace file and check the Potential Errors Detected section to find the API functions that modified the GetLastError code The example shows the C test cmd_test bin foobar C WINDOWS system32 foobar and C WINDOWS foobar paths as the locations where the cmd exe utility looks for the foobar command The example shows the drive_C test cmd_test bin SystemSystem foobar and SystemRoot f
88. eturns a string in the MAJOR MINOR BUILD_NUMBER PLATFORM_ID OS_STRING format MAJOR is one the following values Windows Vista 6 Windows Server 2008 6 Windows Server 2003 5 Windows XP 5 Windows 2000 5 MINOR is one of the following values Windows Vista 0 Windows Server 2008 0 Windows Server 2003 2 Windows XP 1 Windows 2000 0 BUILD_NUMBER is the build number of the operating system PLATFORM_ID assigns one of the following values m Value 1 for Windows Me Windows 98 or Windows 95 Windows 95 based OS m Value 2 for Windows Server 2003 Windows XP and Windows 2000 OS_STRING represents information about the operating system such as Service Pack 2 Examples if GetOSVersiond 5 1 0 2 Service Pack 2 then MsgBox You are running on Windows XP Service Pack 2 endif GetEnvironmentVariable The GetEnvironmentVariable Name function returns the environment variable associated with the Name variable Parameters Name in The name of the environment variable for which the value is retrieved Returns This function returns the string value associated with the Name environment variable VMware Inc 81 ThinApp User s Guide 82 Examples MsgBbox The package source EXE is GetEnvironmentVariable TS_ORIGIN RemoveSandboxOnExit The RemoveSandboxOnExit YesNo function set toggles that determine whether to delete the sandbox when the last child process exits If you set the RemoveSandboxOnExit parameter
89. f the wizard Preparing to Capture Applications Preparing for the capture process involves understanding the needs and dependencies of the application For target applications that have dependencies on other applications libraries or frameworks you can capture the dependencies or use the Application Link utility to link separate virtual applications at runtime For information about the Application Link utility see Application Link Updates on page 50 For target applications that require locale formats such as a specific date format you can capture them in an environment with the required locale setting ThinApp runs virtual applications according to the regional and language settings on the capture system rather than the settings on the system that runs the application Although you can modify the default locale setting by commenting out the LocaleIdentifier parameter in the Package ini file and rebuilding the application you can avoid complications in the capture environment For information about the LocaleIdentifier parameter see Localeldentifier on page 83 VMware Inc 13 ThinApp User s Guide Capturing Applications with the Setup Capture Wizard 14 The capture process packages an application and sets initial application parameters If you use a virtual machine consider taking a snapshot before you run the wizard A snapshot of the original clean state enables you to revert to the snapshot when you want to captur
90. file system changes from the sandbox into the ThinApp project m Rebuilding the captured application with the build bat file m Deploying the updated application Merge Sandbox Changes with Firefox This procedure for the sbmerge exe utility uses Firefox 2 0 0 3 as an example of a captured application Merge sandbox changes with Firefox 2 0 0 3 1 Capture Firefox 2 0 0 3 2 Double click the build bat file in the captured application folder to rebuild the application package For example a Firefox 2 0 0 3 path to the build bat file might be C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 build bat 3 Create a Thinstall directory in the bin directory for the sandbox location 4 Start Firefox and make a change to the settings For example change the home page 5 From the command line navigate to the directory where the ThinApp project folder resides For example navigate to C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 6 From the command line type the C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp sbmerge Print command ThinApp prints the changes that affected the sandbox folder when using the captured application 7 From the command line type the C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp sbmerge Apply command ThinApp empties the Thinstall folder and merges the sandbox changes with the application VMware Inc 55 ThinApp User s Guide sbmerge exe Commands The sbmerge exe
91. for logging in to the VMware vSphere Client You must have sufficient privileges to turn on and off virtual machines take virtual machine snapshots and so on You can use UPN format when you specify a user name for vCenter For example user domain com HostLoginUserName is ignored when logging into VMware Workstation HostLoginPassword or HostLoginPasswordBase64 The login password for the host machine You have the following options when you specify passwords m You can enter clear text m You can specify a base64 encoded password for the HostLoginPasswordBase64 parameter Specifying an encoded password does not increase security You need to protect the actual INI file All passwords are handled in the same way HostLoginPasswordPrompt Specifies that the user be prompted to enter a password VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications If you do not want to store the vSphere Server password in the configuration file specify the value as true When set to true a prompt always appears even if a HostLoginPassword is specified in the configuration file Example The following example shows a typical host environment specification The virtual machine name is specified as the ESX server hostname A password has been specified however the user will still be prompted to enter as password as specified in HostLoginPasswordPrompt HostEnvironment VirtualMachineHost MyEsx vmware com HostLoginUserName root HostLoginPassword secret
92. g a Service Example 75 Copying a File Example 75 Add a Value to the System Registry 76 API Functions 77 AddForcedVirtualLoadPath 77 ExitProcess 77 ExpandPath 78 ExecuteExternalProcess 78 ExecuteVirtualProcess 79 GetBuildOption 79 GetFileVersionValue 79 GetCommandLine 80 GetCurrentProcessName 80 GetOSVersion 81 GetEnvironmentVariable 81 RemoveSandboxOnExit 82 SetEnvironmentVariable 82 SetfileSystemIsolation 82 SetRegistrylsolation 83 WaitForProcess 83 9 Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp 85 Providing Information to Technical Support 85 Log Monitor Operations 85 Troubleshoot Activity with Log Monitor 86 Perform Advanced Log Monitor Operations 86 Log Format 88 Troubleshooting Specific Applications 91 Troubleshoot Registry Setup for Microsoft Outlook 91 Viewing Attachments in Microsoft Outlook 92 VMware Inc 65 Contents ThinApp User s Guide Starting Explorer exe in the Virtual Environment 92 Troubleshooting Java Runtime Environment Version Conflict 93 Glossary 95 Index 99 6 VMware Inc About This Book The ThinApp User s Guide provides information about how to install ThinApp capture applications deploy applications and upgrade applications You can refer to this guide to customize parameters and perform scripting Intended Audience This book is intended for anyone who installs ThinApp and deploys captured applications Typical users are system administrators responsible for the distribution and
93. g a sandbox ThinApp creates a new sandbox to allow you to continue working until the previous copy of the sandbox closes VMware Inc Chapter 5 Locating the ThinApp Sandbox Controlling the Sandbox Location The setup capture process adds the SandboxName parameter to the Package ini file If you capture Firefox and Mozilla Firefox 3 0 is the value of this parameter the default location of the sandbox for the application is AppData Thinstall Mozilla Firefox 3 0 The typical AppData location is C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Application Data AppData is often mapped to a shared network drive Store the Sandbox on the Network You can use the SandboxPath parameter to store the sandbox on a mapped drive A network location is useful for backing up the sandbox and for users who log in to any machine and keep their application settings For more information about the SandboxPath parameter see SandboxPath on page 97 Store the sandbox on a mapped drive 1 Open the Package ini file 2 Under the SandboxName parameter set the SandboxPath parameter to the network location SandboxName Mozilla Firefox 3 0 SandboxPath Z Sandbox For example if Mozilla Firefox 3 0 is the value of the SandboxName parameter the captured Firefox application creates the sandbox in Z Sandbox Mozilla Firefox 3 0 Store the Sandbox on a Portable Device You can use the SandboxPath parameter to set a portable device location for the s
94. he Same Directory If the directory holds a linked package and you add an updated version of the linked package in the same directory the Application Link utility detects and uses the updated version Using Application Sync for a Base Application and Linked Packages If you use Application Link to link packages to a base package and you start the base package Application Sync can update only the base package For example if you build a Microsoft Office 2007 package with Application Sync entries in the Package ini file build an Adobe Reader package with Application Sync entries in the Package ini file use Application Link to link the two packages and start Microsoft Office 2007 Application Sync only updates Microsoft Office 2007 You can update both Microsoft Office 2007 and Adobe Reader by starting each application separately If you do not update all the applications and link a base application to an expired plug in the base application can still load and use the plug in Application Updates That the Administrator Triggers 54 ThinApp provides the AppSync exe and sbmerge exe utilities for administrators The AppSync exe utility forces an Application Sync update on a client machine The sbmerge exe utility make incremental updates to applications For example an administrator might use the utility to incorporate a plug in for Firefox or to change the home page of a Web site to point to a different default site VMware Inc
95. he clutter might be first execution markers by shareware applications written to random computer locations as part of the licensing process VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications When you select Merged isolation ThinApp completes the following operations m Sets the DirectoryIsoLationMode parameter in the Package ini file to Merged m Sets up exceptions that apply WriteCopy isolation to the following directories and their subdirectories m AppData Common AppData m Local AppData m Program Files Common m ProgramFilesDir m SystemRoot m SystemSystem ThinApp retains Merged isolation mode for the SystemSystem spool subdirectory by creating an exception to the SystemSystem parent directory isolation mode m Between the prescan and postscan capture operations assigns Full isolation mode to any directories that the application creates during the installation This process is unrelated to the isolation mode of any new directories that the running virtual application creates Merged isolation mode in the Setup Capture wizard has the same effect as Merged isolation mode in the Package ini file including the directory exceptions that specify WriteCopy isolation mode The Setup Capture wizard and manual capture process with the snapshot exe utility configure the directory exceptions for you with the Attributes ini files within the directories Applying WriteCopy Isolation Mode to Prevent Modifications Outside of the P
96. he update process If you add modify or remove executable files the thinreg exe utility reregisters the file type associations shortcuts and icons If you install protocols MIME types control panel applets and templates other than executable files the thinreg exe utility reregisters these elements VMware Inc Chapter 3 Deploying Applications Run the thinreg exe Utility This example of running the thinreg exe utility provides some sample commands The package name in the thinreg exe commands can appear in the following ways m C lt absolute_path_to_ exe gt m Relative path to exe file m lt server gt lt share gt lt path_to_ exe gt As a variation you can use a wildcard specification such as exe If the path or filename contains spaces enclose the path in double quotation marks The following command shows the use of double quotation marks thinreg exe DEPLOYSERVER ThinApps Microsoft Office Word 2007 exe For information about thinreg exe parameters see Optional thinreg exe Parameters on page 35 Run the thinreg exe utility 1 Determine the executable files that ThinApp must register with the local environment 2 From the command line type the thinreg exe command thinreg exe lt optional_parameters gt lt packagel1 exe gt lt package2 exe gt lt packages_by_wildcard gt If the server name is DEPLOYSERVER and the share is ThinApps use the following example to register Microsoft Word for
97. hines for clean systems 11 cut and paste operations ThinApp limitations 43 D data container See primary data container DCOM services access for captured applications 10 deploying applications on network share 34 applications with deployment tools 33 executable files 34 99 ThinApp User s Guide 100 MSI files 33 deployment tools using MSI files 33 device drivers incompatible with ThinApp 10 DLLs loading into memory 89 recording by Log Monitor 85 drivers support for 43 E entry points defining 15 for troubleshooting 15 in Setup Capture wizard 15 updating with Application Sync 49 G global hook DLLs reduced function with ThinApp 10 l IE6 on Windows XP capturing 22 requirements 22 iexplore exe defining 15 installing ThinApp 11 inventory name purpose of 19 isolation modes defining 16 Merged 16 sample configuration 45 using Application Link 53 WriteCopy 17 L log format 88 Log Monitor extra options 86 suspending and resuming logging 86 troubleshooting procedures 86 using 85 M Merged isolation mode 16 Microsoft Vista deploying MSI files 39 MSI files automating the thinreg exe utility 19 building the database 37 customizing parameters 37 deploying on Microsoft Vista 39 generating 19 20 modifying the Package ini 37 overriding the installation directory 38 N nested links using Application Link 52 network streaming packages 41 O operating systems support for 9 using the lowest v
98. hot Template ini ThinApp requires all of the parameters Creating the ThinApp Project from the Template Package ini File The snapshot exe utility creates the ThinApp project file from the template Package ini file Usage snapshot exe Template ini GenerateProject OutDir Config ConfigFile ini Examples Snapshot Template ini GenerateProject C MyProject Snapshot Template ini GenerateProject C MyProject Config MyExcLusions ini Config ConfigFile ini is optional The configuration file specifies directories or registry subkeys for exclusion from the project If you do not specify a configuration file ThinApp uses the snapshot ini file 66 VMware Inc Chapter 6 Creating ThinApp Snapshots and Projects from the Command Line Displaying the Contents of a Snapshot File The snapshot exe utility lists the contents of the snapshot file Usage snapshot exe SnapshotFileName snapshot Print Examples Snapshot Start snapshot Print ThinApp requires all of the parameters Sample snapshot exe Commands Table 6 2 describes sample commands for the snapshot exe utility The parameters are not case sensitive The commands are wrapped in the Command column because of space restraints Table 6 2 snapshot exe Sample Commands Command snapshot C Capture snapshot Description Captures a complete snapshot of local drives and registry to the file C Capture snapshot snapshot C Capture snapshot C E Cap
99. ide Table 3 1 Optional thinreg exe Parameters Parameter a allusers Purpose Registers a package for all users If an unauthorized user attempts to run the application a message informs the user that he or she cannot run the application Sample Usage thinreg exe a lt server gt lt share gt Microsoft Office 2007 Word exe q quiet Prevents the display of an error message for an unrecognized command line parameter thinreg exe q lt unknown_option gt u unregister uninstall Unregisters a package This command removes the software from the Add Remove Programs control panel applet Unregister Microsoft Word for the current user thinreg exe u lt server gt lt share gt Microsoft Office 2007 Word exe Unregister all Microsoft Office applications for the current user and remove the Add Remove Programs entry thinreg exe u server share Microsoft Office exe If a user registers the package with the a parameter you must use the a parameter when unregistering the package thinreg exe u a exe r reregister Reregisters a package Under typical circumstances the thinreg exe utility can detect whether a package is already registered and skips it The r option forces the thinreg exe utility to reregister the package thinreg exe r lt server gt lt share gt Microsoft Office 2007 Word exe If a user registers the package with the a parameter you
100. iles and registry keys are visible and written by the virtual application you create The detailed setting in the Attributes ini file overrides the overall Package ini setting The Package ini setting determines the isolation mode only when ThinApp does not have Attributes ini information The Attributes ini file appears in most folders for the captured application For example the Attributes ini file might be located in C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 AppData Attributes ini Modify the Attributes ini File Use a text editor to modify the Attributes ini file Modify the Attributes ini file 1 Inthe Attributes ini file uncomment update or delete the parameter 2 Double click the build bat file in the captured application folder to rebuild the application package Capturing Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP 22 After you use the Setup Capture wizard to capture Internet Explorer 6 running on Windows XP on a test machine you can use the ThinApp ThinDirect plug in to redirect Web sites or specific pages to automatically open in a virtual Internet Explorer 6 browser You can view Web pages that are incompatible in the native version of Internet Explorer in the virtual Internet Explorer 6 A list is maintained that facilitates a redirection process for specified incompatible domains and pages You can also install Internet Explorer 6 plug ins such as Java runtime plug ins The plug
101. inApp User s Guide L logging dll A utility that generates trace files Log Monitor A utility that captures chronological activity for executable files that the captured application starts The log_monitor exe file is compatible only with applications captured using the same version of ThinApp M MSI A Windows Installer container that is useful for application deployment tools You can deliver the captured application as an MSI file instead of an executable file N native Refers to the physical environment rather than the virtual environment See also physical network streaming The process of running a package from a central server ThinApp downloads blocks of the application as needed to ensure quick processing and display P package The virtual application files that the ThinApp build process generates The package includes the primary data container file and entry point files to access the application package ini The file that applies configuration settings to the package and that resides in the captured application folder The Setup Capture wizard sets the initial values of the configuration settings physical Refers to the computer memory and file system in which all standard Windows processes run Depending on ThinApp isolation mode settings processes in the virtual environment can access the physical environment See also native virtual postscan To establish an image or snapshot of a machine after you install the appli
102. inapp demo RegFile WriteLine chr 34 amp InventoryName amp chr 34 amp amp chr 34 amp GetBuildOption InventoryName amp chr 34 RegFile Close VMware Inc Chapter 8 Creating ThinApp Scripts 4 Add the information in the system registry RegEditPid ExecuteExternalProcess regedit s amp chr 34 amp RegFileName amp chr 34 WaitForProcess RegEditPid 0 Wait until the process is complete 5 Clean the environment fso DeLeteFile RegFileName End Function API Functions You can use API functions that instruct ThinApp to complete operations such as load DLLs as virtual DLLs convert paths from macro format to system format and run commands inside of the virtual environment AddForcedVirtualLoadPath The AddForcedVirtualLoadPath Path function instructs ThinApp to load all DLLs from the specified path as virtual DLLs even if they are not located in the package Use this function if the application needs to load external DLLs that depend on DLLs located inside the package You can use the ForcedVirtualLoadPaths parameter in the Package ini file to achieve the same result as this API function See Forced VirtualLoadPaths on page 71 Parameters Path in The filename or path for DLLs to load as virtual Examples You can load any DLL located in the same directory as the executable file as a virtual DLL Origin GetEnvironmentVariable TS_ORIGIN TS_ORIGIN is the path from which the e
103. ion Sync Effect on the thinreg exe Utility 34 Run the thinreg exe Utility 35 Optional thinreg exe Parameters 35 Building an MSI Database 37 Customizing MSI Files with Package ini Parameters 37 Modify the Package ini File to Create MSI Files 37 Controlling Application Access with Active Directory 39 Package ini Entries for Active Directory Access Control 39 Starting and Stopping Virtual Services 40 Automatic Startup for Virtual Services 40 Using ThinApp Packages Streamed from the Network 41 How ThinApp Application Streaming Works 41 Requirements and Recommendations for Streaming Packages 42 Stream ThinApp Packages from the Network 43 Using Captured Applications with Other System Components 43 Performing Paste Operations 43 Accessing Printers 43 Accessing Drivers 43 Accessing the Local Disk the Removable Disk and Network Shares 43 Accessing the System Registry 44 Accessing Networking and Sockets 44 Using Shared Memory and Named Pipes 44 Using COM DCOM and Out of Process COM Components 44 Starting Services 44 Using File Type Associations 44 Sample Isolation Mode Configuration Depending on Deployment Context 45 View of Isolation Mode Effect on the Windows Registry 45 4 Updating and Linking Applications 47 Application Updates That the End User Triggers 47 Application Sync Updates 47 Application Link Updates 50 Application Updates That the Administrator Triggers 54 Forcing an Application Sync Update on Client Machines 55 Updating Applications
104. ions Log Monitor captures detailed chronological activity for executable files that the captured application starts Log Monitor intercepts and logs names addresses parameters and return values for each function call by target executable files or DLLs Log Monitor captures the following activity VMware Inc Win32 API calls from applications running in the ThinApp virtual operating system Potential errors exceptions and security events within the application All DLLs loaded by the application and address ranges 85 ThinApp User s Guide 86 The generated log files can be large and over 100MB depending on how long the application runs with Log Monitor and how busy an application is The only reason to run Log Monitor for an application is to capture trace files Trace files are critical for troubleshooting problems by analyzing and correlating multiple entries within the trace file Troubleshoot Activity with Log Monitor You can use Log Monitor to perform basic troubleshooting Generate ThinApp logs 1 Shut down the captured application to investigate 2 Onthe computer where you captured the application select Start gt Programs gt VMware gt ThinApp Log Monitor To start Log Monitor on a deployment machine copy the log_monitor exe Logging d11 and Setup Capture exe files from C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp to the deployment machine and double click the Log_monitor exe file 3 Start the captured applic
105. ject post processing tasks m Builds the ThinApp project on the network share into a package The silent capture agent then returns control to the ThinApp Converter which reverts the virtual machines to their precapture state using their original snapshot The process is then repeated for the next application installation process that needs to be converted When multiple virtual machines are specified the capture agent runs on the machines simultaneously As a virtual machine becomes available it is once again used for converting the next application ThinApp Converter Limitations Notall application installation processes support silent installation mode ThinApp Converter does not support automatic capture for an installation process that does not support silent installation m The installer directory name must not contain the equals symbol System Requirements for Running ThinApp Converter ThinApp Converter requires one of the following virtual machine environments m VMware ESX Server 4 0 or later m VMware vCenter Server 4 0 or later m VMware Workstation 7 0 or later The virtual machines that are used in the conversion process must have the following items installed m Windows XP with Service Pack 3 Windows Vista or Windows 7 m The latest version of VMware Tools ThinApp Converter includes a private copy of the VMware VIX API library If a more recent version of the library already exists on the host machine ThinApp Converter
106. k utility keeps shared components or dependent applications in separate packages Application Sync Updates The Application Sync utility keeps deployed virtual applications up to date When an application starts with this utility enabled the application queries a Web server to determine if an updated version of the executable file is available If an update is available the differences between the existing package and the new package are downloaded and used to construct an updated version of the package The updated package is used for future launches The Application Sync utility is useful for major configuration updates to the application For example you might update Firefox to the next major version Remote users or users who are not connected to the corporate network can make use of the Application Sync utility by embedding update settings within the package and using any Web server to store the updated version of the package Using Application Sync in a Managed or Unmanaged Environment If you use virtual applications that update automatically in a managed computer environment do not use the Application Sync utility because it might clash with other update capabilities If an automatic update feature updates an application the update exists in the sandbox If the Application Sync utility attempts to update the application after an automatic application update the version update stored in the sandbox take precedence over the files containe
107. lication and link the components You can deploy a single Microsoft Office package to all users and deploy individual add on components for each user VMware Inc Chapter 4 Updating and Linking Applications If you capture Microsoft Office and try to access a PDF attachment in the virtual Microsoft Outlook environment you can set up Microsoft Office to detect a linked Adobe Reader package on the network when Adobe Reader is not available within the immediate virtual or physical environment Hot fixes and service packs Link updates to an application and roll back to a previous version if users experience significant issues with the new version You can deploy minor patches to applications as a single file and reduce the need for rollbacks The Application Link utility provides bandwidth savings For example if you have Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 and you want to update to Service Pack 2 without Application Link you would transfer 1 5Gb of data per computer with the deployment of a new Office 2007 Service Pack 2 package The Application Link utility transfers just the updates and not the whole package to the computers View of the Application using Application Link Figure 4 1 shows the running application with a merged view of the system the base application and all linked components Files registry keys services COM objects and environment variables from dependency packages are visible to the base application Figur
108. maintenance of corporate software packages VMware ThinApp Documentation The complete documentation set for VMware ThinApp consists of the following documents m ThinApp User s Guide Conceptual and procedural information to help you complete a task m ThinApp 4 6 Release Notes Late breaking news and descriptions of known issues and workarounds Migrating Applications with ThinApp During an Upgrade from Microsoft Windows XP to Windows 7 Procedural information for using ThinApp to migrate applications from Windows XP to Windows 7 Document Feedback VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation If you have comments send your feedback to docfeedback vmware com Technical Support and Education Resources The following sections describe the technical support resources available to you To access the current version of this book and other books go to http www vmware com support pubs Online and Telephone Support To use online support to submit technical support requests view your product and contract information and register your products go to http www vmware com support Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support for the fastest response on priority 1 issues Go to http www vmware com support phone_support Support Offerings To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs go to http www vmware com support services VMware Inc 7 ThinApp User
109. me gt Local Settings Temp Templates C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Templates Processing SystemRoot in a Terminal Services Environment A Terminal Services environment has a shared Windows directory such as C Windows and a private Windows directory such as C Documents and Settings User Windows In this environment ThinApp uses the user specific directory for SystemRoot VMware Inc 71 ThinApp User s Guide 72 VMware Inc Creating ThinApp Scripts Scripts modify the behavior of virtual applications dynamically You can create custom code before starting an application packaged with ThinApp or after an application exits You can use scripts to authenticate users and load configuration files from a physical to virtual environment Callback functions run code during specific events If applications create child processes use callback functions to run code only in the main parent process API functions run ThinApp functions and interact with the ThinApp runtime API functions can authenticate users and prevent the start of applications for unauthorized users Adding scripts to your application involves creating an ANSI text file with the vbs file extension in the root application project directory The root project directory is the same directory that contains the Package ini file During the build process ThinApp adds the script files to the executable file and runs each of the script files at runtime
110. missions For both the input and output network shares a prompt will display requiring a user to enter a password Settings InputUncPath AppInstallerServer AppInstallers ThinAppMigration InputMountUserName readonlyUser InputMountPassword secret InputMountPasswordPrompt true OutputUncPath Dep LoymentServer ThinAppProj OutputMountUserName readwriteUser OutputMountPassword secret OutputMountPasswordPrompt true ThinApp Converter Logic for Detecting the Application Installation Processes For the application installer s network share ThinApp Converter examines all subdirectories under the specified UNC path recursively including their subdirectories For each subdirectory it determines which command to run for silent application installation using the following logic 1 Attempts to find a value for InstallationCommand in the AppSettings AppName section of the configuration file If successful ThinApp Converter uses that value 2 Attempts to find a file named instal1 cmd or instal1 bat If successful ThinApp Converter runs that file 3 If ThinApp Converter finds a single cmd or bat file it runs that file 4 If ThinApp Converter finds a single exe file it runs that file 5 If ThinApp Converter finds a single mst file it runs that file and adds the necessary silent installation switches 6 If ThinApp Converter finds a single msi file it runs that file and adds the necessary silent installation switches If n
111. mponents without system changes Troubleshooting Java Runtime Environment Version Conflict A conflict might occur if one version of Java is installed on the physical system and another version is included in a captured executable file Updated versions of Java install a plug in DLL that Internet Explorer loads This plug in DLL overwrites virtual registry keys and conflicts with a virtualized copy of older Java runtimes Prevent Internet Explorer from loading plug in DLLs Add the following entry to the beginning of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE txt file isoLation_fullL HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer Browser Helper Objects VMware Inc 93 ThinApp User s Guide 94 VMware Inc Glossary A Application Link A utility that links dependent applications to a base application at runtime and starts all the applications together when you start the base application You can use the utility to deploy and update component packages separately rather than capture all components in the same package Application Sync A utility that updates an application by detecting a new packaged version on a server or network share You can configure update settings such as the checking of an update server at certain intervals ThinApp detects the most recent application executable file and downloads the differences attributes ini The file that applies configuration settings at the directory level of the package rather tha
112. n m LegalTrademarks m PrivateBuild m FileVersion m OriginalFilename m SpecialBuild Returns This function returns a string value If the requested filename does not exist or the function cannot locate the specified value in the file the function returns an empty string Examples FileVersion GetFileVersionVaLue C windows system32 kernel32 d11 FileVersion if FileVersion 1 0 0 0 then MsgBox This is Version 1 0 End if GetCommandLine The GetCommandL ine function accesses the command line parameters passed to the running program Returns This function returns a string that represents the command line arguments passed to the current running program including the original executable file Examples MsgBox The command line for this EXE was GetCommandLine GetCurrentProcessName The GetCurrentProcessName function accesses the full virtual path name of the current process Returns This function returns a string that represents the full executable path name inside of the virtual environment In most circumstances this path is C Program Files even if the package source runs from a network share Examples MsgBox Running EXE path is GetCurrentProcessName VMware Inc Chapter 8 Creating ThinApp Scripts GetOSVersion The GetOSVersion function returns information about the current version of Windows Parameters This function has no parameters Returns This function r
113. n entry from the Potential Errors section of a trace file might involve searching the full body of the Log Monitor trace file for that specific entry and reviewing the system calls and conditions leading to the potential error VMware Inc Chapter 9 Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp For example the following entry for the cmd exe utility in the Potential Errors section might require a more thorough examination throughout the Log Monitor trace file 001550 FindFirstFilew C test cmd_test bin foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed system probe Perform an advanced examination of the cmd exe entry 1 To determine why the cmd exe utility probes c test cmd_test bin scan the log for this log entry number and determine what occurs before this call 2 To determine the locations where the cmd exe utility obtains the c test cmd_test path scan the log for GetCurrentDirectoryW and GetFullPathNamew entries 000861 0a88 cmd exe 4ad01580 gt USERENV d11l 769c0396 GetCurrentDirectoryW IN DWORD nBufferLength 104h 000862 0a88 GetCurrentDirectoryW gt 0x14 C test cmd_test bin 000863 0a88 cmd exe 4ad01580 lt USERENV d11 769c0396 GetCurrentDirectoryW gt DWORD 14h COUT LPWSTR lLpBuffer 4AD34400h gt L C test cmd_test bin 000864 0a88 cmd exe 4ad05b74 gt 01e32 d11 774e03f0 Getfile type CIN HANDLE hFile 7h 000865 0a88 Getfile type 7 gt 0x2 000866 0a88 cmd exe 4ad05b74 lt 0le32 d11 774e03f0 Getfile type
114. n the entire package The Attributes ini settings override the overall Package ini settings B build To convert a ThinApp project into a package You can build a package with the Setup Capture wizard or with the build bat utility Cc capture To package an application into a virtual environment and set initial application parameters ThinApp provides the Setup Capture wizard or the snapshot exe utility to create a portable application package that is independent of the operating system it runs on clean machine The computer or virtual machine installed with only the basic Windows operating system on which you capture the application The Windows operating system version must be the earliest version of Windows that you expect the application to run on E entry point An executable file that starts the captured application An application might have multiple entry points For example the Firefox exe file might serve as an entry point for a Mozilla Firefox application The primary data container file can exist within an entry point or asa dat file l inventory name A name that ThinApp uses for internal tracking of the application The inventory name sets the default project directory name and appears in the Add or Remove Programs dialog box for Windows isolation mode A package setting that determines the read and write access to the physical environment ThinApp has WriteCopy Merged and Full isolation modes VMware Inc 95 Th
115. ng applications methods and considerations 47 59 V virtual file system format stages 69 representing path locations with macros 69 using 69 VMware View using captured applications 33 vregtool listing virtual registry contents 64 W WriteCopy isolation mode 17 101 ThinApp User s Guide 102 VMware Inc
116. ns the entry point to Internet Explorer 6 and the list of redirect addresses and edit the file This file only exists after you create entries in the Native Browser Redirect dialog box The redirection list is located in appdata roaming Vmware VMware Thinapp Thindirect Follow the prompts to build the project The ThinDirect exe file is embedded in the package with the plug in ThinDirect d11 and plug in launcher ThinDirectLauncher exe files 23 ThinApp User s Guide Extracting and Registering ThinDirect After you have built the Internet Explorer 6 package you need to extract and register the ThinDirect plug in on the test machine The ThinDirect plug in must be installed as part of the virtual package The plug in is installed in your native browser during the registration process Extract and register ThinDirect In the console run the thinreg a VirtIE6 exe command to extract the ThinDirect application and extract and register the ThinDirect library The ThinDirect application is installed in the Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp ThinDirect directory You can have multiple ThinDirect text files in the ThinDirect directory if they all have unique names The ThinDirect plug in then reads all files In addition to individual machine registration you can register Web page redirects on a individual user basis by omitting the a switch To achieve individual user redirects requires that the ThinDirect plug in be installed
117. nt by copying files deleting files or applying registry changes using regedit s regfile reg Run this script only for the first parent process If you run this script for other processes each copy of the cmd exe utility runs the script and an infinite recursion develops Function OnFirstParentStart Set Shell CreateObject Wscript Shell Shell Run jcdesk2 test test bat End Function Timeout Example The following script prevents the use of an application after a specified date The VBS date uses the mm dd yyyy format regardless of locale This check occurs upon startup of the parent process and any child processes if Date gt 03 20 2007 then msgbox This application has expired please contact Administrator ExitProcess 0 end if 74 VMware Inc Chapter 8 Creating ThinApp Scripts Modify the Virtual Registry The following script procedure modifies the virtual registry at runtime to load an external ODBC driver from the same directory where the package executable file is located Modify the registry 1 Obtain the path to the package executable files Origin GetEnvironmentVariable TS_ORIGIN 2 Find the last slash in the path and obtain the characters that precede the slash LastSLlash InStrRev Origin SourcePath Left Origin LastSlash 3 Form anew path to the ODBC DLL file located outside of the package DriverPath SourcePath tsodbc32 d11 4 Modify the virtual registry to point it to this loca
118. ntegrates with Windows Explorer cannot add specific entries to the Windows Explorer context menus DCOM Services that are Accessible on a Network ThinApp isolates COM and DCOM services Applications that install DCOM services are accessible on the local computer only by other captured applications running in the same ThinApp sandbox ThinApp supports virtual DCOM and COM on the same computer but does not support network DCOM Global Hook Dynamic Link Libraries Some applications use the SetWindowsHookEx API function to add a DLL file to all processes on the host computer The DLL intercepts Windows messages to capture keyboard and mouse input from other applications ThinApp ignores requests from applications that use the SetWindowsHookEx function to try to install global hook DLLs ThinApp might reduce the application functions Recommendations for Installing ThinApp 10 When you install ThinApp consider the recommendations and best practices for the software Using a Clean Computer VMware recommends using a clean computer to install ThinApp because the environment affects the application capture process A clean computer is a physical or virtual machine with only a Windows operating system installed In a corporate environment where you have a base desktop image the base desktop image is your clean computer The desktop computer might already have some components and libraries installed VMware Inc Chapter 1 Installing ThinApp
119. o 2007 from failing because of registry settings that might preexist on the host computer at the same location VMware Inc 45 ThinApp User s Guide 46 Figure 3 4 shows the registry from the perspective of the captured Microsoft Visio 2007 Figure 3 4 Windows Registry as Seen by the Captured Microsoft Visio 2007 Eres Office FE 12 0 GM Access Connectivity Common H Registration E B User Settings H Visio H 10 0 H 11 0 i 8 0 fi 9 0 E 9 Common Feel Delivery Live Meeting H Outlook r PowerPoint VMware Inc Updating and Linking Applications You can update virtual applications with different utilities depending on the extent of change and dependencies on other applications This information includes the following topics m Application Updates That the End User Triggers on page 47 m Application Updates That the Administrator Triggers on page 54 m Automatic Application Updates on page 56 m Upgrading Running Applications on a Network Share on page 57 m Sandbox Considerations for Upgraded Applications on page 58 m Updating the ThinApp Version of Packages on page 58 Application Updates That the End User Triggers ThinApp provides the Application Sync and Application Link utilities to update applications with new versions or new components The Application Sync utility updates an entire application package The Application Lin
120. oject For example create the Profile Local Settings Out LookTempxxxx directory In the Profile Local Settings OutLookTempxxxx directory create a Attributes ini file with the following entries Isolation DirectoryIsolLationMode Merged Starting Explorer exe in the Virtual Environment Running one instance of the explorer exe utility on a Windows operating system makes it difficult to add an entry point to Windows Explorer and start it inside the virtual environment You can use the following methods to open a Windows Explorer window inside the virtual environment Add an entry point to iExplorer and start it with the E parameter For example add the following entries to the Package ini file iexplore exe Shortcut xxxx exe Source ProgramFiLlesDir Internet Explorer iexpLore exe VMware Inc Chapter 9 Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp CommandLine ProgramFiLesDir Internet Explorer iexplore exe E Add the following virtual registry key isoLation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer Value DesktopProcess REG_DWORD 01 00 00 00 Add the following entries to the Package ini file explorer exe Shor tcut xxxxxx exe Source SystemROOT expLorer exe Use this method to browse the virtual file system with a familiar interface and enable accurate file type associations without system changes especially when using portable applications You can access shell integrated co
121. one of the steps enable ThinApp Converter to find a correct installation command the subdirectory is skipped A warning is logged in the log file You must remove all network connections to the file server referenced in the INI file from the host on which you run ThinApp Converter to prevent conflict between user credentials VMware Inc 29 ThinApp User s Guide 30 PackageIniOverrideFile Specify the file path to the global Package ini override file This optional parameter enables you to specify a global override file for Package ini that is generated for each ThinApp project The values in the override file are merged into Package ini in the ThinApp project that is generated for each application Global overrides are useful when you have a global policy setting for example PermittedGroup in Package ini A Package ini override file is formatted like a standard Windows INI file You can add INI parameters and values that are relevant to the Package ini file The path is relative to the application installer s network share Using the example for specifying the network shares for the application installers and ThinApp projects if you specify PackageIniOverrideFile override ini ThinApp Converter will try to find the file under AppInstallerServer AppInstaller You can provide a more explicit value by using predefined variables For more information see Predefined Environment Variables on page 31 You can specify a Pa
122. oobar paths as the locations in the virtual file system that ThinApp probes Potential Errors Detected xx Unable to determine if any services need to be auto started error 2 001550 FindFirstFilew C test cmd_test bin foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed system probe C test cmd_test bin foobar gt ffffffFFh no virtual or system matches xxx FindFirstFilew gt HANDLE ffffffffh GetLastErrorQ returns 2 203 The system cannot find the file specified xxx FindFirstFilew C test cmd_test bin foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed FS missing in view O fs entry not found drive_C test cmd_test bin foobar fs entry not found drive_C test cmd_test bin xx FindFirstFilew C WINDOWS system32 foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed system probe C WINDOWS system32 foobar gt fffffffFh no virtual or system matches x FindFirstFileW C WINDOWS system32 foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed FS missing in view O fs entry not found SystemSystem foobar xxx FindFirstFilew C WINDOWS foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed system probe C WINDOWS foobar gt fffffFFFh no virtual or system matches xxx FindFirstFilew C WINDOWS foobar gt INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE failed FS missing in view O fs entry not found SystemRoot foobar Perform Advanced Examination for cmd exe Log Entries A more thorough examination of a
123. otential Errors Detected section marks log entries that might post problems with three asterisks For information about interpreting this section see Locating Errors on page 87 VMware Inc 89 ThinApp User s Guide 90 Potential Er 006425 0000075c 8 0 Reader Micro 006427 0000075c 8 0 Reader Micro gt 0 failed 006428 0000089c gt HMODULE 7c8000 specified 007062 0000075c 8 0 Reader en US 010649 0000075c 8 0 Reader en US flags 2 gt 0 fa 019127 0000075c gt DWORD 0h OUT could not find t 019133 0000075c gt FARPROC 0h found 019435 0000075c gt DWORD 0h 019500 0000075c gt FARPROC 0h rors Detected LoadLibraryExw C Program Files Adobe Reader soft Windows Common Controls DLL flags 2 gt 0 failed LoadLibraryExW C Program Files Adobe Reader soft Windows Common Controls Microsoft Windows Common Controls DLL flags 2 nview d11l 1005b94b lt kerne1l32 d11 7c80ae4b LoadLibraryW 00h QC GetLastErrorQ returns 2 0 The system cannot find the file LoadLibraryExW C Program Files Adobe Reader Microsoft Windows Common Controls DLL flags 2 gt 0 failed LoadLibraryExW C Program Files Adobe Reader Microsoft Windows Common Controls Microsoft Windows Common Controls DLL iled MSVCR80 d1LL 781348cc lt msvcrt d1l 77c10396 GetEnvironmentVariableA LPSTR LpBuffer Oh lt bad ptr gt GetLastError r
124. ou can view the file with a text editor that supports UNIX style line breaks Locating Errors ThinApp logging provides a large amount of information The following tips might help advanced users investigate errors m Review the Potential Errors Detected section of the txt trace file Entries might not indicate errors ThinApp lists each Win32 API call where the Windows error code changed m Review exceptions that the applications generate Exceptions can indicate errors Exception types include C and NET The trace file records the exception type and DLL that generates the exception If the application such as a NET or Java application creates an exception from self generating code the trace file indicates an unknown module The following example is a trace entry for an exception x Exception EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION on read of 0x10 from unknown_module 0x7c9105f8 If you find an exception scan the earlier part of the trace file for the source of the exception Ignore the floating point exceptions that Virtual Basic 6 applications generate during typical use m Review child processes Log Monitor produces one trace file for each process If an application starts several child processes determine which process is causing the problem Sometimes such as in circumstances involving out of process COM a parent application uses COM to start a child process runs a function remotely and continues to run functions m When y
125. ou run applications from a network share that generates two processes ignore the first process ThinApp addresses the slow performance of Symantec antivirus applications by restarting processes VMware Inc 87 ThinApp User s Guide 88 Search for the error message displayed in dialog boxes Some applications call the MessageBox Win32 API function to display unexpected errors at runtime You can search a trace file for MessageBox or the contents of the string displayed in the error and determine what the application was running just before the dialog box appeared Narrow the focus on calls originating from a specific DLL and thread The log format specifies the DLL and thread that makes a call You can often ignore the calls from system DLLs Log Format A trace file includes the following sections System configuration This section includes information about the operating system drives installed software environment variables process list services and drivers The information starts with a Dump started on string and ends with a Dump ended on string Header This section shows contextual information for the instance of the process that Log Monitor tracks Some of the displayed attributes show logging options address ranges when the operating system runtime is loaded and macro mapping to actual system paths ThinApp marks the beginning of the header section with sequence number 000001 In typical circumstances ThinAp
126. p marks the end of this section with a message about the Application Sync utility Body This section includes trace activity as the application starts and performs operations Each line represents function calls that target executable files or one of the DLLs make The section starts with a New Modules detected in memory entry followed by the SYSTEM_LOADED modules list The section ends with a Modules Loaded entry Summary This section includes modules that the captured application loads potential errors a profile of the 150 slowest calls and a profile of Win32 APIs The section starts with the Modules Loaded message General API Log Message Format The following message shows a format example for API calls 000257 0a88 mydll dll 4ad0576d gt kernel132 d11 7c81b1f0 SetConsoleMode CIN HANDLE hConsoleHandle 7h IN DWORD dwMode 3h 000258 0a88 mydll dll 4ad0576d lt kernel32 d11 7c81b1f0 SetConsoleMode gt BOOL 1h This example includes the following entries 000257 indicates the log entry number Each log entry has a unique number 0a88 indicates the current running thread ID If the application has one thread this number does not change If two or more threads record data to the log file you might use the thread ID to follow thread specific sequential actions because ThinApp records log entries in the order in which they occur myd11 d11 indicates the DLL that makes the API call 4ad0576d indicates the return address
127. pecifies what registry keys to exclude from a ThinApp project when you capture an application For example if you use Internet Explorer 7 you might need ThinApp to capture the following registry keys HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Internet Explorer Desktop Components HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Internet Settings HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Internet Settings Connections HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Hardware Profiles 0001 Software Microsoft windows CurrentVersion Internet Settings If the snapshot ini file excludes the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Internet Settings Connections key by default you can remove this key from the snapshot ini file to ensure that ThinApp captures the key in the capture process If you do not customize the snapshot ini file the snapshot process loads the file from one of these locations Application Data Thinapp snapshot ini This location is the AppData directory of the user C Program Files VMware VMWare Thinapp snapshot ini This is the location from which ThinApp runs the snapshot exe utility VMware Inc ThinApp File System Formats and Macros ThinApp stores the differences between snapshots during the setup capture process in a virtual file system and virtual registry The virtual file system uses folder macros to represent Windows shell folder locations This information about
128. ppData Microsoft Addins AppData Microsoft Office AppData Microsoft Out Look Local AppData Microsoft FORMS Local AppData Microsoft Out Look Optional If the subdirectories do not exist create the directories Viewing Attachments in Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook creates a default directory to store attachments when you open an attachment for viewing The typical location is C Documents and Settings lt user_name gt Local Settings Temp Temporary Internet Files OLK lt xxxx gt The last xxxx is replaced by a random entry You can view attachments when the viewing application runs in the same virtual sandbox as Microsoft Outlook External applications might not be able to find the file to display because Microsoft Outlook stores the file in the sandbox You must use the Merged isolation mode for the directory that stores the attachments Set up Merged isolation mode to view Microsoft Outlook attachments 1 Add a value to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER txt file that sets the name of the attachment directory isoLation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft 0Of fice 11 0 Out Look Security Value Out LookSecureTempFolder REG_SZ Profile Local Settings Out LookTempxxxx 2300 In this example 11 0 in the key name is for Microsoft Outlook 2003 Replace the last four xxxx characters with random alphanumeric entries to increase security Create a directory that is named in the Out LlookSecureTempFolder registry key in your ThinApp pr
129. pplication The next time you start the application you can see the updated version When you start the application after the package expires ThinApp downloads the update in the foreground and prevents you from working with the application When the download is ready ThinApp restarts the application with the new version Fix an Incorrect Update with Application Sync If you have multiple Application Sync download updates such as multiple Microsoft Office updates and a certain update has an adverse effect or needs to be withdrawn you can address the problem Fix an incorrect update Place the correct update on the server that ThinApp can access The update is applied the next time the application is started on a client machine VMware Inc Chapter 4 Updating and Linking Applications Application Sync Effect on Entry Point Executable Files The Application Sync utility updates entry point executable files For example assume you deploy a Microsoft Office 2007 package that does not include Microsoft PowerPoint The Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 exe entry point does not exist for the original package If you rebuild the Microsoft Office 2007 package to include Microsoft PowerPoint and you use the Application Sync utility to update client machines the end users can access an entry point executable file for Microsoft PowerPoint Updating thinreg exe Registrations with Application Sync If you register virtual applications on the syst
130. r a full overview of the standard Setup Capture process Run setup capture on a machine running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 and with the NET framework installed Capture Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP 1 2 o N A aA A 10 VMware Inc Create a system image using the Prescan process of the Setup Capture wizard In the Install Application dialog box click Internet Explorer Select Include entry point for virtualized Internet Explorer 6 in the virtual package and click OK This option captures both the files that changed during setup capture and other required files and registry settings Install any plug ins for Internet Explorer that you want to be included in the package Rescan the system using the Postscan process of the Setup Capture wizard In the Setup Capture Entry Points dialog box select the default VirtIE6 exe Follow the prompts until the Native Browser Redirect dialog box appears Create a list of the Web sites and pages that you want to redirect to the virtual Internet Explorer 6 package Each entry must be on a separate line m You can use wildcards for example example com m You can specify a site so that all pages on that site are redirected for example ww example com m You can specify a site name followed by a page name so that the specific page is redirected for example javatester org version html Optional When you have saved the package open the ThinDirect txt file which contai
131. r accessible entry point 2 Rename the exe file that ThinApp produces to a dat file This renaming prevents users from accidentally running the application The name of the dat file you select does not matter because users do not run the file directly For example use dotnet dat 3 Save the NET project to C Captures dotnet 4 Capture the base application by using the same physical system or virtual machine with the NET framework already installed 5 Save the project to C Captures MyApp 6 Open the Package ini file in the captured application folder for the base application 7 Enable the RequiredAppLinks parameter for the base application by adding the following line after the BuildOptions entry RequiredAppLinks dotnet dat Application Link parameters must reference the primary data container of the application you want to link to You cannot reference shortcut exe files because these files do not contain any applications files or registry keys 8 Build the NET 2 0 and base application packages a Double click the build bat file in C Captures MyApp b Double click the build bat file in C Captures dotnet Running these batch files builds separate ThinApp packages 9 Deploy the applications to an end user desktop in C Program Files MyApp a Copy C Captures MyApp bin MyApp exe to lt end_user_desktop gt lt Program_Files_share gt MyApp MyApp exe b Copy C Captures dotnet bin cmd exe to lt end_user_
132. r is not a member of the Active Directory group ThinApp does not start the application For information about restricting packages to Active Directory groups see PermittedGroups on page 69 In the following Package ini entry App1 and App2 inherit PermittedGroups values BuildOptions PermittedGroups Administrators 0fficeUsers App1 exe App2 exe VMware Inc 39 ThinApp User s Guide In the following entry only users belonging to the Applusers group can use the App1 exe file and members of the Everyone group can use the App2 exe file The default message for denied users changes for App1 BuildOptions PermittedGroups Everyone App1 exe PermittedGroups App1Users AccessDeniedMsg Sorry you can t run this application App2 exe Starting and Stopping Virtual Services 40 When you capture and deploy a package that contains a Windows service such as the SQL Server service any user can run the package and start and stop the service Unlike native applications virtual applications do not require administrator rights for these operations Automatic Startup for Virtual Services You can install a virtual service as a physical service so that it starts when the physical machine is started The virtual service remains in its ThinApp project package but is registered on the physical machine and controlled using the natively installed service management tools After you package your service for example
133. ration and compression Defining the Primary Data Container The primary data container is the main virtual application file that includes the ThinApp runtime and the read only virtual file system and virtual registry The primary data container file is a exe or a dat file that resides in the same bin directory with any subordinate application executable files Entry points reference the information in the primary data container To identify the primary data container after you capture an application check the ReadOnlyData parameter in the Package ini file Generating MSI Packages in the Capture Process You can capture an application and deploy it as an MSI Windows installation package The MSI installation places the application in the C Program Files directory A typical Firefox application does not require an MSI installation Other applications such as Microsoft Office that integrate with application delivery tools work well as an MSI package MSI generation requires you to install the MSI on the target device before you can use the application package MSI packages automate the process of registering file type associations registering desktop and Start menu shortcuts and displaying control panel extensions If you plan to deploy ThinApp executable files directly on each computer you can accomplish the same registration by using the thinreg exe utility Compressing Packages in the Capture Process Compressing a package in the
134. rators from replacing a packaged executable file with a new version until all users exit the application and release their locks Upgrade a Running Application You can copy a new version of an application into an existing deployment directory with a higher filename extension such as 1 or 2 This procedure uses Firefox as a sample application You do not have to update shortcuts only the primary data container Upgrade a running application 1 Deploy the original version of the application such as Firefox exe 2 Copy the application to a central share at lt server gt lt share gt Firefox exe A sample location is C Program Files Firefox Firefox exe VMware Inc 57 ThinApp User s Guide 3 Create a desktop or Start menu shortcut to the user s desktop that points to a shared executable file location at lt server gt lt share gt Firefox exe Assume two users start Firefox exe and lock the application 4 Copy the updated version of Firefox exe to the central share at lt server gt lt share gt Firefox exe 1 If you are a new user ThinApp starts the application with the new package data in Firefox exe 1 If you are a user working with the original version you can see the new version after you exit the application and restart the application 5 If you must deploy a more current update of Firefox place it in the same directory with a higher number at the end 6 Copy Version 2 0 of Firefox exe to central sh
135. rescan the system 1 When the Install Application page appears minimize the Setup Capture wizard and install the applications to capture For example double click Firefox Setup 2 0 0 3 exe to install Firefox If the application needs to restart after the installation restart the system The process restarts the Setup Capture wizard Optional If you are capturing Internet Explorer in the Install Application page click Internet Explorer to complete additional steps before installing the browser If you are capturing Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP see Capturing Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP on page 22 For more information about entry points see Defining Entry Points as Shortcuts into the Virtual Environment on page 15 Optional Make any necessary configuration changes to comply with your company policies such as using specific security settings or a particular home page If you do not make configuration changes at this time each user must make changes Optional Start the application and respond to any messages for information before you continue with the Setup Capture wizard If you do not respond to any messages at this time each user who uses the application must do so during the initial start VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications 5 Close the application 6 Maximize the Setup Capture wizard click Postscan to proceed with another scan of the computer and click OK to confirm the pos
136. riable 82 SetfileSystemlsolation 82 SetRegistrylsolation 83 WaitForProcess 83 Application Link defining 47 50 defining access with the PermittedGroups parameter 53 effect on isolation modes 53 file and registry collisions 54 linking packages to base applications and using Application Sync 54 sample workflow 51 setting up nested links 52 storing multiple versions of linked applications 54 view of 51 Application Sync clashing with automatic update capabilities 47 defining 47 editing parameters 48 effect on entry point executable files 49 effect on thinreg exe 34 VMware Inc fixing incorrect updates 48 forcing updates with appsync exe commands 55 maintaining the primary data container name 49 updating base applications with linked packages 54 updating thinreg exe registrations 49 applications capturing 13 controlling access for Active Directory groups 39 data statistics 18 difference between Application Sync and Application Link 47 not supported by ThinApp 10 sandbox considerations during upgrade processes 58 streaming requirements and recommendations 42 updating 47 Cc capturing applications IE6 on Windows XP 22 phases of 13 requirements and dependencies 13 using ThinApp Converter 24 with the Setup Capture wizard 14 21 with the snapshot exe utility 67 cmd exe defining 15 compression for executable files 20 for trace files 87 computers defining a clean system 10 using virtual mac
137. riteCopy isolation the application recognizes the host computer files and virtual files All write operations convert host computer files into virtual files in the sandbox An application fails because it has write permission to global locations and is not designed for a locked down desktop environment found in a corporate setting or on Windows Vista Use the WriteCopy isolation mode ThinApp makes copies of registry keys and files that the application writes and performs all the modifications in a user specific sandbox For directories and subkeys that have WriteCopy isolation the application recognizes the host computer files and virtual files All write operations convert host computer files into virtual files in the sandbox View of Isolation Mode Effect on the Windows Registry Figure 3 3 shows a section of the Windows registry for a computer that has older Microsoft Office applications installed Microsoft Office 2003 creates the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software Microsoft Office 11 0 registry subtree Figure 3 3 Windows Registry as Seen by Windows Regedit ODBC a Of tice E J 10 0 11 0 8 0 9 0 J Common J Delivery J Live Meeting jj Outlook jj PowerPoint J Visio When ThinApp runs a captured version of Microsoft Visio 2007 ThinApp sets the HKLM Software Microsoft 0ffice registry subtree to full isolation This setting prevents Microsoft Visi
138. rity The last package imported has priority in such cases and the file or registry contents from that package are visible to the running applications VBScript Collisions in Linked Packages VBScript name collisions might prevent scripts in other imported packages from running If you link packages with Application Link and those packages have scripts with the same name ThinApp places the VBScripts from the linked packages into a single pool For scripts with the same name ThinApp runs the script from the last imported package and disregards the other scripts For example a base package might contain the a vbs and b vbs files and a dependent package might contain the b vbs and c vbs files Because a filename collision exists between the b vbs files the VBScript in the last imported package specified in a RequiredAppLinks or OptionalAppLinks parameter overrides any previously imported scripts with the same name In this case ThinApp condenses the pool of four vbs files into a single pool with the a vbs file from the base package and b vbs and c vbs files from the dependent package VBScript Function Order in Linked Packages In a pool of VBScripts for packages linked with Application Link functions in the main bodies of the scripts run in alphabetical order of the script names ThinApp callback functions in the scripts run in reverse alphabetical order of the script names in the pool Storing Multiple Versions of a Linked Application in t
139. rk and the package size does not affect the startup time of an application If you add an extra 20GB file to a package that is not in use at runtime the package loads at the same speed If the application opens and reads 32KB of data from the 20GB file ThinApp only requests 32KB of data The ThinApp runtime client is a small part of the executable file package When ThinApp loads the runtime client it sets up the environment and starts the target executable file The target executable file accesses other parts of the application stored in the virtual operating system The runtime client intercepts such requests and serves them by loading DLLs from the virtual operating system The load time of the runtime client across a network is a few milliseconds After ThinApp loads the runtime client to memory on the client computer the end user computer calculates which blocks of data are required from the server and reads them based on application activity When the application makes subsequent read requests for the same data the Windows disk cache provides data without requiring a network read operation If the client computer runs low on memory Windows discards some of its disk cache and provides the memory resource to other applications VMware Inc 41 ThinApp User s Guide 42 Figure 3 2 Application Streaming packaged executable VMware ThinApp VOS local PC virtual registry 128KB read request compressed file decompre
140. ry groups to authorize access to the virtual application You can restrict access to an application to ensure that users do not pass it to unauthorized users Active Directory Domain Services define security groups and distribution groups ThinApp can only support nested security groups Set user groups in the Setup Capture wizard 1 Onthe Groups page limit the user access to the application a Select Only the following Active Directory groups b Click Add to specify Active Directory object and location information Option Description Object Types Specifies objects Locations Specifies a location in the forest Check Names Verify object names Advanced Locates user names in the Active Directory forest Common Queries under Advanced Searches for groups according to names descriptions disabled accounts passwords and days since last login 2 Optional Change the message that appears for users that ThinApp cannot authorize Defining Isolation Modes for the Physical File System Isolation modes determine the level of read and write access to the native file system outside of the virtual environment You might adjust isolation mode settings depending on the application and the requirements to protect the physical system from changes The selection of isolation modes in the capture process determines the value of the DirectoryIsolationMode parameter in the Package ini file This parameter controls the default isolation
141. s ThinApp expand a macro to obtain the correct location for the local computer DestFile ExpandPath ProgramFilLesDir MyAppLication Config ini Use the file systemObject parameter to check the source file exists Set objFSO CreateObject Scripting filesystemObject If objFSO FileExists SourceFile Then If the source file exists copy it into the virtual file system The ProgramFilesDir MyAppLication virtual directory is in the package objFSO CopyFile SourceFile DestFile TRUE End if End Function Add a Value to the System Registry This script procedure adds a value to the physical system registry Add a value to the system registry 1 Create a reg file and run the regedit s command as an external process that accesses the system registry instead of the virtual registry Function OnFirstParentStart 2 Create the reg file in a location that has the IsolationMode parameter set to Merged so that the virtual environment can access it with this script and the physical environment can access it with the regedit s command RegFileName ExpandPath Personal thin reg Set fso CreateObject Scripting filesystemObject Set RegFile fso CreateTextFile RegFileName true The Personal directory is a directory that has Merged isolation mode by default 3 Construct the reg file RegFile WriteLine Windows Registry Editor Version 5 00 RegFile WriteBLankLines 1 RegFile WriteLine HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Th
142. s into the Virtual Environment 15 Set Entry Points 15 Manage with VMware Horizon Application Manager 15 Set User Groups 16 Defining Isolation Modes for the Physical File System 16 Set File System Isolation Modes 18 Storing Application Changes in the Sandbox 18 Customize the Sandbox Location 18 Send Anonymous Statistics to VMware 18 Customize ThinApp Project Settings 19 Defining Package Settings 19 Customize Package Settings 20 Opening Project and Parameter Files 20 Build Virtual Applications 21 Advanced Package Configuration 21 Modifying Settings in the Package ini File 21 Modifying Settings in the Attributes ini File 22 Capturing Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP 22 Requirements for Capturing Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP 23 Capture Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP by Using the Setup Capture Wizard 23 Extracting and Registering ThinDirect 24 Capturing Multiple Application Installers with ThinApp Converter 24 ThinApp Converter Process 24 System Requirements for Running ThinApp Converter 25 Preparing the Configuration File for ThinApp Converter 25 Predefined Environment Variables 31 3 Deploying Applications 33 ThinApp Deployment Options 33 Deploying ThinApp with Deployment Tools 33 VMware Inc ThinApp User s Guide Deploying ThinApp in the VMware View Environment 33 Deploying ThinApp on Network Shares 34 Deploying ThinApp Using Executable Files 34 Establishing File Type Associations with the thinreg exe Utility 34 Applicat
143. s sets the level of read and write access to the physical file system to determine which directories are visible and writable by the virtual application For information about Full isolation and registry isolation that are available only outside of the Setup Capture wizard see DirectoryIsolationMode on page 64 and RegistryIsolationMode on page 65 Set file system isolation modes in the Setup Capture wizard On the Isolation page select the isolation mode for the physical file system Option Description Full write access to non system directories Allows the application to read resources on and write to the local machine Merged isolation mode Restricted write access WriteCopy Allows the application to read resources on the local machine and to isolation mode restrict most modifications to the sandbox ThinApp copies file system changes to the sandbox to ensure that ThinApp only modifies copies of files instead of the actual physical files Storing Application Changes in the Sandbox The sandbox is the directory where all changes that the captured application makes are stored The sandbox is runtime modification storage and is not a cache The next time you open the application those changes are incorporated from the sandbox When you delete the sandbox directory the application reverts to its captured state You might delete a sandbox when an application has a problem and you want to revert the application back to the
144. setting up file type associations that allow you to open applications tlink exe Links key modules during the build process of the captured application vftool exe Compiles the virtual file system during the build process of the captured application vregtool exe Compiles the virtual registry during the build process of the captured application VMware Inc Capturing Applications You can capture applications to package an application into a virtual environment The Setup Capture wizard is the main method to capture applications and set initial application parameters Advanced users who must capture applications from the command line can use the snapshot exe utility instead of the Setup Capture wizard This section includes the following topics m Phases of the Capture Process on page 13 m Preparing to Capture Applications on page 13 m Capturing Applications with the Setup Capture Wizard on page 14 m Advanced Package Configuration on page 21 Capturing Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP on page 22 Capturing Multiple Application Installers with ThinApp Converter on page 24 Phases of the Capture Process Capturing an application involves system scans application configuration package configuration and generation of the virtual application for distribution The Setup Capture wizard sets initial parameters for the application You can customize the full set of parameters outside o
145. ssed Block 1 64KB Block 1 ee 64KB Block 2 ap decompressed Block 2 64KB Block 3 64KB Block 4 64KB Block 5 Requirements and Recommendations for Streaming Packages ThinApp does not require specific server software to provide streaming capability Any Windows file share NAS device or SMB share can provide this capability The amount of data that needs to transfer before the application can begin running varies for each application Microsoft Office requires that only a fraction of the package contents stream before an application can run VMware recommends that you use ThinApp streaming in a LAN based environment with a minimum of 100MB networks For WAN and Internet deployments that involve frequent or unexpected disconnections VMware recommends one of the following solutions m Use a URL to deploy the applications m Use a desktop deployment solution to push the package to the background Allow the application to run only after the entire package downloads These solutions reduce failures and eliminate situations in which the application requires unstreamed portions during a network outage A company with many branch offices typically designates one application repository that mirrors a central shared folder at each branch office This setup optimizes local performance for client machines located at each branch office Security Recommendations for Streaming Packages VMware recommends that you m
146. system or configuration VMware Inc 61 ThinApp User s Guide 62 ThinApp starts the sandbox search by trying to find the following environment variables in this order mg lt sandbox_name gt _SANDBOX_DIR This environment variable changes the sandbox location for specific applications on the computer For example if the Mozilla Firefox 3 0_SANDBOX_DIR environment variable exists its value determines the parent directory sandbox location If the value is z FirefoxSandbox before you run the application ThinApp stores the sandbox in z FirefoxSandbox JOHNDOE COMPUTER if the directory already exists If the directory does not exist ThinApp creates a sandbox in z FirefoxSandbox m THINSTALL_SANDBOX_DIR This environment variable changes the location of all sandboxes on a computer For example if the THINSTALL_SANDBOX_DIR environment variable exists its value determines the parent directory sandbox location If the value is z MySandboxes before you run the application ThinApp creates a sandbox in z MySandboxes If ThinApp does not detect the lt sandbox_name gt _SANDBOX_DIR or THINSTALL_SANDBOX_DIR environment variable ThinApp checks for the following file system directories and creates a sandbox in the first directory it detects m lt exe_directory gt lt sandbox_name gt lt computer_name gt For example C Program Files Firefox Mozilla Firefox 3 0 JOHNDOE COMPUTER m lt exe_directory gt lt sandbox_name gt
147. t Firefox Firefox cannot detect those changes because Firefox has its own sandbox Opening a pdf file with Firefox does not reflect the preference changes that exist in the standalone Acrobat Reader application Import Order for Linked Packages ThinApp imports linked applications according to the order of applications in the RequiredAppLinks or OptionalAppLinks parameter If either parameter specifies a wildcard character that triggers the import of more than one file alphabetical order determines which package is imported first The OptionalAppLinks parameter might appear as OptionalAppLinks a exe b exe plugins exe Using a exe and b exe as sample executable files ThinApp imports linked packages in the order described in Table 4 1 Table 4 1 Imported Linked Packages Import Order Linked Package 1 Base application 2 a exe 3 b exe 4 Plug ins loaded in alphabetical order 5 Nested plug ins for a exe 6 Nested plug ins for b exe 7 Nested plug ins for the first set of plug ins in this list For information about nested links see Set Up Nested Links with Application Link on page 52 VMware Inc 53 ThinApp User s Guide File and Registry Collisions in Linked Packages If the base application and a dependent package linked to the base application contain file or registry entries at the same location a collision occurs When this happens the order of import operations determines which package has prio
148. ter should try to detect if an application installer is stalled for example when the application is waiting for user input on the guest virtual machine because incorrect silent installation switches were specified The default value is true ThinApp Converter might not be able to detect all situations in which the installer is idle VMware Inc Chapter 2 Capturing Applications InstallerTimeout Specify how long ThinApp Converter should wait for an application installer to finish before it quits By default the value is 7200 seconds AppSettings AppName This optional section provides parameters that you can use to add settings that are specific to an application AppName is the actual name of the subdirectory that contains the application installer These parameters can be added to each AppSettings section In most circumstances you will not need to configure this section Instal lLationCommand Specify how ThinApp Converter should start the application installer If there is no value ThinApp Converter attempts to select one installation command using the logic described in ThinApp Converter Logic for Detecting the Application Installation Processes on page 29 PackageIniOverrideFile The Package ini override file that is applied to a single application installer When this parameter has a value the global override file is processed first followed by this application specific override file The file path is relative to the
149. the ThinApp Package ini Reference from the ThinApp download site VMware Inc 21 ThinApp User s Guide Modify the Package ini File Use a text editor to modify the Package ini file Modify the Package ini file 1 Open the Package ini file located in the captured application folder For example a Firefox 2 0 0 3 path might be C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 Package ini 2 Activate the parameter to edit by removing the semicolon at the beginning of the line For example activate the RemoveSandboxOnExit parameter for Firefox RemoveSandboxOnExit 1 3 Delete or change the value of the parameter and save the file 4 Double click the build bat file in the captured application folder to rebuild the application package For example a Firefox 2 0 0 3 path to the build bat file might be C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp Captures Mozilla Firefox 2 0 0 3 build bat Modifying Settings in the Attributes ini File The Attributes ini file exists in the folder macros of the project folder and applies configuration settings at the directory level The Package ini file applies settings at the overall application level You can use the DirectoryIsolationMode CompressionType and ExcludePattern parameters in an Attributes ini file to override the Package ini settings at the directory level For example you can set the isolation mode at the directory or application level to determine which f
150. those changes are incorporated from the sandbox When you delete the sandbox directory the application reverts to its captured state This information includes the following topics m Search Order for the Sandbox on page 61 m Controlling the Sandbox Location on page 63 m Sandbox Structure on page 64 Search Order for the Sandbox During startup of the captured application ThinApp searches for an existing sandbox in specific locations and in a specific order ThinApp uses the first sandbox it detects If ThinApp cannot find an existing sandbox ThinApp creates one according to certain environment variable and parameter settings Review the search order and sandbox creation logic before changing the placement of the sandbox The search order uses Mozilla Firefox 3 0 as an example with the following variables m lt sandbox_name gt is Mozilla Firefox 3 0 The SandboxName parameter in the Package ini file determines the name See SandboxName on page 97 m lt sandbox_path gt is Z sandboxes The SandboxPath parameter in the Package ini file determines the path See SandboxPath on page 97 m lt exe_directory gt is C Program Files Firefox The application runs from this location m lt computer_name gt is JOHNDOE COMPUTER m AppData isC Documents and Settings JohnDoe Application Data ThinApp requests the Application Data folder location from the operating system The location depends on the operating
151. tion Set WSHSheL1 CreateObject Wscript SheLL WSHSheLL RegWrite HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE ODBC ODBCINST INI Transoft ODBC Driver Driver DriverPath This modification causes the application to load the DLL from an external location reg Example The following script imports the registry values from an external reg file into the virtual registry at runtime Function OnFirstParentStart ExecuteVirtualProcess regedit s C tmp somereg reg End Function Stopping a Service Example The following script stops a virtual or native service when the main application quits Function OnFirstParentExit Set WshShell CreateObject WScript Shell WshShell Run net stop iPod Service End Function Copying a File Example The following script sections shows how to copy a configuration file located in the same directory as the captured executable file into the virtual file system each time the application starts This script is useful for an external configuration file that is easy to edit after deployment Because the copy operation occurs each time you run the application any changes to the external version are reflected in the virtual version For example if your captured executable file is running from server share myapp exe this script searches for a configuration file located at server share config ini and copies it to the virtual file system location at C Program Files my application config ini By putting this
152. tions You can add file type associations to the local computer registry to point to captured executable files for individual users and machines VMware Inc Chapter 3 Deploying Applications Sample Isolation Mode Configuration Depending on Deployment Context Isolation modes control the read and write access for specific system directories and system registry subkeys You can adjust isolation modes to resolve the problems in Table 3 3 Table 3 3 Sample Problems and Solutions That Use Isolation Modes Problem An application fails to run because previous or future versions exist simultaneously or fail to uninstall properly Solution Use the Full isolation mode ThinApp hides host computer files and registry keys from the application when the host computer files are located in the same directories and subkeys that the application installer creates For directories and subkeys that have Full isolation the applications only detect virtual files and subkeys Any system values that exist in the same location are invisible to the application An application fails because users did not design or test it for a multiuser environment The application fails to modify files and keys without affecting other users Use the WriteCopy isolation mode ThinApp makes copies of registry keys and files that the application writes and performs all the modifications in a user specific sandbox For directories and subkeys that have W
153. tions sets up Start menu and desktop shortcuts and facilitates the opening of files You must run the thinreg exe utility to register executable files MSI files automate the thinreg exe registration process tlink exe A utility that links key modules during the build process vftool exe A utility that compiles the virtual file system during the build process virtual Refers to the logical file and memory within which a captured application runs Processes in a physical environment cannot access the virtual environment See also physical virtual application An application that you capture to make it portable and independent of the operating system it runs on virtual file system The file system as the captured application sees it virtual registry The registry as the captured application sees it vregtool exe A utility that compiles the virtual registry during the build process VMware Inc 97 ThinApp User s Guide 98 VMware Inc Index Symbols Attributes ini comparing to Package ini 22 editing 22 A Active Directory authorizing group access 16 controlling access to applications 39 using Package ini parameters 39 API parameters AddForcedVirtualloadPath 77 ExecuteExternalProcess 78 ExecuteVirtualProcess 79 ExitProcess 77 ExpandPath 78 GetBuildOption 79 GetCommandLine 80 GetCurrentProcessName 80 GetEnvironmentVariable 81 GetFileVersionValue 79 GetOSVersion 81 RemoveSandboxOnExit 82 SetEnvironmentVa
154. tions simplify application customization deploy applications to different operating systems and eliminate application conflict This information includes the following topics ThinApp Requirements on page 9 Recommendations for Installing ThinApp on page 10 Install ThinApp Software on page 11 Checking ThinApp Installation Files on page 11 ThinApp Requirements Review the requirements for operating systems and captured applications before installing ThinApp Operating Systems Applications and Systems That ThinApp Supports ThinApp supports various operating systems applications and systems 32 bit platforms include Windows 8 Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows XPE Windows 2003 Server Windows Vista Windows Server 2008 Windows 7 64 bit platforms include Windows 8 Windows XP 64 bit Windows 2003 64 bit Windows Vista 64 bit Windows Server 2008 64 bit Windows Server 2008 R2 64 bit Windows 7 64 bit 16 bit applications running on 32 bit Windows operating systems 32 bit applications running on 32 bit and 64 bit Windows operating systems Terminal Server and Citrix Xenapp ThinApp supports Japanese applications captured and run on Japanese operating systems Certain operating systems and applications are not supported by ThinApp VMware Inc 16 bit or non x86 platforms such as Windows CE 64 bit applications running on 32 bit or 64 bit Windows operating systems 16 bit applications running on 64 bit
155. tions and system installed applications By default ThinApp saves all registry modifications from captured applications in an isolated sandbox and the system remains unchanged Accessing Networking and Sockets Captured applications have standard access to networking features Captured applications can bind to local ports and make remote connections if the user has access permissions to perform these operations Using Shared Memory and Named Pipes Captured applications can interact with other applications on the system by using shared memory named pipes mutex objects and semaphores ThinApp can isolate shared memory objects and synchronization objects This isolation makes them invisible to other applications and other application objects are invisible to a captured application Using COM DCOM and Out of Process COM Components Captured applications can create COM controls from the virtual environment and the system If a COM control is installed as an out of process COM the control runs as a virtual process when a captured application uses it You can control modifications that the captured applications make Starting Services Captured applications can start and run system installed services and virtual services System services run in the virtual environment that controls the modifications that the services can make Using File Type Associations Captured applications can run system installed applications by using file type associa
156. to 1 in the Package ini file the default cleanup behavior for the package with is Yes You can change the cleanup behavior to No by calling RemoveSandboxOnExit with the value of 0 If you do not modify the RemoveSandboxOnExit 1 entry in the Package ini file the default cleanup behavior for the package is No You can change the cleanup behavior to Yes by calling RemoveSandboxOnExit with the value of 1 Parameters Yes No in Do you want to clean up when the last process shuts down 1 Yes 0 No Examples The following example turns on cleanup RemoveSandboxOnExit 1 The following example turns off cleanup RemoveSandboxOnExit 0 SetEnvironmentVariable The SetEnvironmentVariable Name Value function set the value of an environment variable Parameters Name in The name of the environment variable to store the value Value in The value to store Examples SetEnvironmentVariable PATH C Windows system32 SetfileSystemlsolation The SetfileSystemIsolation Directory IsolationMode function sets the isolation mode of a directory Parameters Directory in Full path of the directory whose isolation mode is to be set IsolationMode in Isolation mode to set 1 WriteCopy 2 Merged 3 Full VMware Inc Chapter 8 Creating ThinApp Scripts Examples You can set the Merged isolation mode for the temp directory Setfile systemIsolation GetEnvironmentVariableC TEMP 2 SetRegistrylsolation The S
157. tscan operation ThinApp stores the differences between the first baseline image and this image in a virtual file system and virtual registry Defining Entry Points as Shortcuts into the Virtual Environment Entry points are the executable files that act as shortcuts into the virtual environment and start the virtual application The entry points you can choose from depend on the executable files that your captured application creates during installation For example if you install Microsoft Office you can select entry points for Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel and other applications that are installed during a Microsoft Office installation If you install Firefox you might select Mozilla Firefox exe and Mozilla Firefox SafeMode exe if users require safe mode access During the build process that occurs at the end of the Setup Capture wizard ThinApp generates one executable file for each selected entry point If you deploy the application as an MSI file or use the thinreg exe utility the desktop and Start menu shortcuts created on user desktops point to these entry points Entry Points for Troubleshooting ThinApp provides entry points to troubleshoot your environment Debugging an application might involve the following entry points m cmd exe Starts a command prompt in a virtual context that enables you to view the virtual file system m regedit exe Starts the registry editor in a virtual context that enables you to view the virt
158. tures a complete snapshot of the C and E drives ThinApp does not capture registry information snapshot C Capture snapshot C data snapshot C HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Captures a complete snapshot of the C drive and all of the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry subtree snapshot C Original snapshot Diff C NewEnvironment snapshot C MyProject Generates a ThinApp project directory by comparing two snapshots snapshot Original snapshot DiffPrint NewEnvironment snapshot Displays differences between two captured snapshots snapshot C data snapshot C HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Saves the state of the computer file system and registry snapshot C start snapshot diffprint C end snapshot Compares two recorded states snapshot C start snapshot print Prints the contents of a saved state snapshot C start snapshot SuggestProject C end snapshot C project ini Generates a ThinApp project by comparing two saved states Create a Project Without the Setup Capture Wizard You can use the snapshot exe utility from the command line instead of using the Setup Capture wizard that runs the snapshot exe utility in the background The command line utility is useful to package a large number of applications or automate ThinApp project creation The typical location of the snapshot exe utility is C Program Files VMware VMware ThinApp snapshot exe The snapshot process makes a copy of the all registry
159. ual registry m iexplore exe Starts iexplore exe ina virtual context that enables you to test virtualized ActiveX controls Entry points start native executable files in a virtual context Entry points do not create virtual packages of cmd exe regedit exe or iexplore exe If you cannot predict the need for debugging or troubleshooting the environment you can use the Disabled parameter in the Package ini file at a later time to activate these entry points Set Entry Points You can designate the executable files that make up the list of entry points ThinApp installs the executable files during the capture process Set entry points in the Setup Capture wizard 1 On the Entry Points page select the check boxes for user accessible entry points The wizard displays the executable files that were directly accessible through the desktop or Start menu shortcuts 2 Optional To debug your environment select the Show entry points used for debugging check box to display the iexplore exe regedit exe and cmd exe troubleshooting options Manage with VMware Horizon Application Manager You can use VMware Horizon Application Manager to manage the deployment and entitlement of ThinApp packages See Using VMware Horizon Application Manager to Manage the Deployment and Entitlement of ThinApp Packages available from the ThinApp download site VMware Inc 15 ThinApp User s Guide 16 Set User Groups ThinApp can use Active Directo
160. vents the merging of specific files or registry entries from the sandbox You can specify a ini file to determine the content for exclusion This file contains separate sections to specify files such as the FileSystemIgnoreList and the RegistryIgnoreList The sbmerge exe utility uses the snapshot ini file in the ThinApp installation folder by default to exclude certain content from the merge process This option enables you to specify another ini file to ensure the additional exclusion of content Automatic Application Updates 56 If an application can update automatically its update mechanism functions with ThinApp If the application downloads the update and runs an installer or patching program this activity occurs inside the virtual environment and ThinApp stores the changes from the update software in the sandbox When the application restarts it uses the version of the executable file in the sandbox and not the executable file from the original package For example if you capture Firefox 1 5 your autoupdate mechanism might prompt you to upgrade to Firefox 2 0 If you proceed with the upgrade the application downloads the updates writes the updates to the sandbox and prompts you to restart the application When you run the captured application again Firefox 2 0 starts If you delete the sandbox Firefox reverts back to version 1 5 To merge changes that an auto update mechanism makes with the original package to build an upd
161. with Runtime Changes 55 Automatic Application Updates 56 Dynamic Updates Without Administrator Rights 57 Upgrading Running Applications on a Network Share 57 File Locks 57 Upgrade a Running Application 57 Sandbox Considerations for Upgraded Applications 58 Updating the ThinApp Version of Packages 58 relink Examples 58 5 Locating the ThinApp Sandbox 61 Search Order for the Sandbox 61 Controlling the Sandbox Location 63 Store the Sandbox on the Network 63 Store the Sandbox on a Portable Device 63 Sandbox Structure 64 Making Changes to the Sandbox 64 4 VMware Inc Listing Virtual Registry Contents with vregtool 64 6 Creating ThinApp Snapshots and Projects from the Command Line Methods of Using the snapshot exe Utility 65 Creating Snapshots of Machine States 65 Creating the Template Package ini file from Two Snapshot Files 66 Creating the ThinApp Project from the Template Package ini File 66 Displaying the Contents of a Snapshot File 67 Sample snapshot exe Commands 67 Create a Project Without the Setup Capture Wizard 67 Customizing the snapshot ini File 68 7 ThinApp File System Formats and Macros 69 Virtual File System Formats 69 ThinApp Folder Macros 69 List of ThinApp Macros 70 Processing SystemRoot in a Terminal Services Environment 71 8 Creating ThinApp Scripts 73 Callback Functions 73 Implement Scripts ina ThinApp Environment 74 bat Example 74 Timeout Example 74 Modify the Virtual Registry 75 reg Example 75 Stoppin
162. xe file entry point Changes occur in the sandbox during automatic updates or manual updates to allow you to revert to the original version by deleting the sandbox If you apply patches in the virtual environment on a central packaging machine you can use the sbmerge exe utility to merge sandbox changes made by the update with the application See Application Updates That the Administrator Triggers on page 54 m Inthe captured project If you must update a small set of files or registry keys replace the files in the captured project This approach is useful for software developers who integrate ThinApp builds with their workflow Upgrading Running Applications on a Network Share ThinApp allows you to upgrade or roll back an application that is running on a network share for multiple users The upgrade process occurs when the user quits the application and starts it a second time In Terminal Server environments you can have multiple users executing different versions at the same time during the transition period File Locks Starting an application locks the executable file package You cannot replace delete or move the application This file lock ensures that any computer or user who accesses a specific version of an application continues to have that version available as long as the application processes and subprocesses are running If you store an application in a central location for many users this file lock prevents administ
163. xecutable file is running You can delete the filename from TS_ORIGIN by finding the last backslash and removing all of the characters that follow it LastSlash InStrRev Origin SourcePath Left Origin LastSlash You can instruct ThinApp to load all DLLs in the same or lower directory from where the source executable file resides AddForcedVirtuaLLoadPath SourcePath This process enables you to drop additional files in the SourcePath tree and have them resolve import operations against virtual DLLs ExitProcess The ExitProcessExitCode function quits the current process and sets the specified error code Parameters ExitCode in The error code to set This information might be available to a parent process A value of 0 indicates no error VMware Inc 77 ThinApp User s Guide Examples You can exit the process and indicate success ExitProcess 0 When the process exits the scripting system receives its OnLastProcessExist function callback Any loaded DLLs run termination code to clean up the environment ExpandPath The ExpandPath InputPath function converts a path from macro format to system format Parameters InputPath in A path in macro format Returns The expanded macro path in system format Examples Path ExpandPath ProgramFilesDir Myapp exe Path C Program Files myapp exe All macro paths must escape the and characters by replacing these characters with 25 and 23 Path

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