I don’t usually post articles with a hotfix is released for App-V. But I figured I’d make an exception for this one as it fixes some very heavy hitting issues for App-V 5.0 users. I had a communication with some who attended the App-V User Group in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, the suggestion there was that the top issues expressed by the attendees were:
- Running applications from a network share (Before this hotfix, you need to give Domain Computers access to the share)
- Permissions being required when files needed to be written to the VFS during runtime (Dan Gough had a great script to get around this, in some cases you could also exclude the folder from the package and allow it to write locally)
- General Performance
Hotfix 4 which can be found HERE addresses these concerns and then some! Frankly, for a full list of the fixes you should out the link I provided.
This hotfix will require you to deploy to your clients and also to update your Sequencing machines with a newer release of the Sequencer. When deploying the client, any App-V applications will be closed, so if your user is up to something they may lose any un-saved data. So plan the deployment accordingly.
The Sequencer is not a seamless upgrade. You can’t just run the installer provided by the hotfix and have it update that way. You must first remove the Sequencer on your machine and then install the new release.
After installing the Sequencer, when using it to sequence any applications going forward, you will notice an extra checkbox under the Advanced Tab. ‘Allow virtual applications full write permissions to the virtual file system’
I’ve played around with this a little bit. It doesn’t look like the permissions are set when viewing in the Package Store for Users or Everyone. However, if using an application with this setting. I am able to save a file within the application to the package store. There’s something a little curious in the release notes at the bottom of the link I provided:
Files and folders that are accessed outside the VFS by a virtual package can’t be modified if Full VFS Write Mode is enabled. To work around this issue, add the necessary files or folders to the package.
I haven’t encountered this yet…If anybody has and has any info, please feel free to share!
Applications can now be run from a network share without the requirement of providing access rights to computer objects in your environment. I believe this was a big stumbling block for some as it was perceived as a security hindrance.
Performance…well, I can’t say how much better it is. Publishing is much, much quicker. Streaming seemed quicker but I don’t have any metrics to back me up, it’s all my own perception AND it’s now 3am when I’m writing this so take that for what it’s worth 🙂 The fact the hotfix site also lists the Performance guide which if you’ve read it, instructs on ways to improve performance by making certain changes to your environment (Introduce a UEM) and disable certain virtual subsystems (e.g. fonts)
Like I said, read the article for the full list but another change which is pretty interesting and welcome, is that powershell is now suppressed on startup. I would strongly advise anybody working with App-V currently to check out this hotfix.
