VMware has published a new Knowledge Base article which describes the parameters PermittedComputers and PermittedComputersAccessDeniedMsg which can be used in the ThinApp package.ini configuration file. Those parameters have been introduced with ThinApp 4.0.1 but haven’t been supported so far what changed now. Please visit the VMware KB article for detailed information. If you like to check the whole ThinApp documentation please visit this site.

Link: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1030989

VMware has released a new version of their application virtualization solution ThinApp today. The new version 4.7.3 Build 891762 adds support for packaging and execution of virtualized applications on Windows 8 operating systems. Of course it only supports Intel but NOT ARM technology. Next to this main feature VMware added a new package.ini parameter which prevents applications from loading Global Hook DLL’s if they’re already loaded by another application.

You can download the release here: http://www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/

VMware has also fixed loads of issues with prior versions:

• JavaScript errors are displayed on the EULA screen when you attempt to install ThinApp application.
• When you start virtualized Internet Explorer 7 on a Windows 8 or Windows Server system, the following error message is displayed:
  Cannot find 'url'. Make sure the path or Internet address is correct.
• Virtualized Microsoft Outlook 2003 running on Windows 2000 fails when it receives an e-mail message containing an embedded object as an attachment.
• When you start virtualized applications for the first time, an access violation error message is displayed. This issue is observed for applications virtualized with ThinApp 4.7.2.
• Virtualized Internet Explorer 6.0 stops responding when you attempt to open a PDF file from the Acrobat Reader X installed on the system.
• ThinApp MSI upgrade option fails when you try to upgrade virtualized Mozilla Firefox 12 to Mozilla Firefox 13.
• Crossbase application virtualized using ThinApp 4.7.1 fails to start on Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems.
• Compared to ThinApp versions 4.6.1 or 4.7 the performance of virtualized Firefox 12 is inconsistent on ThinApp 4.7.1.
• Service Center Perigrine virtualized with ThinApp fails to start on Windows 7 and Windows 7 X64 operating systems.
• When you activate EULA with RuntimeEULA=1 in Package.ini file and run the application package, ThinApp displays older version of the VMware logo and EULA text.
• On a Windows 8 operating system, if you open a file with a virtualized instance of PowerPoint 2003, PowerPoint fails with the following error message:
  Microsoft Office PowerPoint has stopped working.
• When you try to run the virtual version of Lotus Notes whose sandbox path is on a Novell share, the application fails with the following error message:
  Unable to access data directory 'C:\Programme\IBM\Lotus\Notes' using the preferences file 'J:Notes\Data\notes.ini'
• When you attempt to use the record function of a HP Vugen application virtualized with ThinApp 4.7 the application fails with the following error:
  iexplorer.exe- Application Error The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click on OK to terminate the application.
• Virtual version of Eclipse might not recognize the system path and the system environment variable if the user modifies them.
• If the directory in the DFS share is hosted on a NetApp device, in the user interface ThinApp might not display directories or files present on the DFS share.
• ThinApp forces the repair of the Microsoft Office 2010, when you launch some instances of Microsoft Excel from the virtual version of SAP 7.20.
• When you open and close a PDF file multiple times using Adobe Acrobat in virtual Internet Explorer 6.0 as an inline viewer, virtual IE 6.0 fails due to increased memory usage.
• Virtual Internet Explorer 6.0 fails to access any Website on Windows 8 operating system.
• Internet Explorer does not redirect the Thindirect URLs to the SeaMonkey browser even, if you enable the Thindirect plug-in.
• When you perform Appsync upgrade of an application from ThinApp 4.7.0 to 4.7.2 it results in the following error message:
  The system cannot find the file specified. For more information see Knowledge Base article 2036567.
• The ThinDirect plug-in allows only the virtual Internet Explorer 6.0 to redirect the URLs to the native browser. On other browsers the redirection option might not work.
• When you enable the Turn on User Account Control option in Control Panel, virtual Internet Explorer 8.0 and Internet Explorer 9.0 might not display Internet Explorer help topics.
• Virtualized Google Chrome browser fails to start on Windows 8 operating system.
• On Windows 8 operating system, you cannot save a file with .pdf or .xps extension with virtualized Microsoft Word 2010 or Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.
• ThinApp fails to start virtual URL package on Windows 8 operating system.
• Virtualized Internet Explorer 7.0 fails to start on Windows 8 operating system.
• In virtualized Internet Explorer 7.0 when you select What’s new in windows Server 2012 option from the help menu, Internet Explorer fails with the following error message:
  Internet Explorer has stopped working
  This issue is observed on the Windows Server 2012 operating system.
• When you start the virtual version of HP User Generator for the first time, the application displays the following error message:
  spill file I/O error.
• In virtualized Internet Explorer 6.0 the Browse option in the Certificate Import Wizard (Tools >Internet Options >Content >Certificates >Import) might not work. This issue is observed on Windows 8 operating system.
• On Windows 8 operating system, when you attempt to print a Web page from virtualized Internet Explorer 6.0 the application displays the following Printing error message:
  An error occurred during this operation.
• When you start Camtasia Studio virtualized with ThinApp 4.7.1 the application fails with the following error message:
  Camtasia Studio has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
• ThinApp sandbox might not save the changes made to the virtual version of Mozilla Firefox on Windows 8 operating system.
• On Windows 8 operating system, the buttons on the Manage Add-ons page of virtualized Internet Explorer 9.0 might not work.
• The Protected Mode settings of the virtualized Internet Explorer 9.0 are inconsistent with the native Internet Explorer settings on Windows 8 operating system.
• Blackberry 9780 Simulator’s browser might not start on ThinApp which is deployed on a system with Windows XP operating system.
• Some Log monitor features like Profiling Data and Function Usages do not work on official ThinApp builds of Buildweb.

Link: Release Notes | ThinApp User Guide for 4.7.3 | ThinApp Package.ibi Refrence Parameters

My colleague Sascha Thiede who’s a Thinapp specialist at VMware in Central EMEA and I just had a conversation about the new Microsoft App-V version 5 which was released today within the MDOP 2012. There are loads of changes and “enhancements” in the new version which doesn’t make it easier for customers to manage their legacy systems. As you may know the support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is going EOL and this seems to be reflected into App-V 5 as the new application virtualization version doesn’t support Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 anymore. These are still supported in 4.6 and you can also run the 4.6 and 5.0 servers side by side but is this really a good option? In the App-V supported configurations documentation you’ll find only Windows 7 and Windows 8 as supported client OS. Does that mean that Windows Vista is also not longer supported?

With version 5 of App-V, the client needs .NET 3.5, .NET 4 and Silverlight installed on the system. A great enhancements in our eyes is the “compatibility” to VDI. You can now disable the local application cache which makes of course sense.

Let’s see what additionally to the support is gone.

• No support for 16-Bit apps (Thinapp doesn’t have that one a 64-Bit system, but on 32-Bit)

App-V is grown up to a good solution within the last years since it was Softgrid but it still has a bloated machinery in the backend. You need a server or more which will server the roles Publishing, Streaming and Database, maybe SCCM and of course we shouldn’t forget IIS in some cases.

It’s just our private opinion but compared to Thinapp, App-V does cost a fortune. Think about the licenses needed for MDOP, (Ok, that’s included in an EA), the licenses for the server OS, the database, the hardware or resources, maintenance.

Think about Thinapp…

No need for a backend infrastructure, with that no additional licenses for servers, no hardware + maintanance (only file service, storage)

• Agentless/Clientless Architecture
• Pakets still run on Windows XP, Vista and Windows Server 2003
• Simply plugs in any Enterprise Software Deployment Framework (SCCM, Landesk, Enteo, Matrix42 and more…)
• Standard formats (EXE or MSI)
• Easily integrates into any existing software deployment process
• Thinapp supports IE6, IE7 and IE8 virtualization
• Execute applications in user mode with no administrative rights
• Browser virtualization with URL specific control (ThinDirect)

What’s your opinion on that?

Interesting video on how to capture SAP GUI with VMware ThinApp. As mentioned in an old article on my blog there is a SAP support note ID which declares support for this solution.

The VRC Team (Ruben Spruijt, Sven Huisman and Jeroen van der Kamp) have just released their new VRC Phase IV whitepaper which is about the impact of application virtualization on VDI. A very interesting read, especially when you’re interested in the performance differences between the several application virtualization solutions.

Here a statement from the article:

Depending on the use case scenario, Project VRC discovered that this impact can be significant. Test results show that Application Virtualization has impact on the VDI user density, which can be decreased by 20% to 45% when Office 2007 is completely virtualized. This should be considered as a worst case scenario. When only a couple of specific (business) applications is virtualized, the session density decreases by only 3 to 12%. In practice the Application Virtualization overhead will be highly dependent on how often virtualized applications are started, and how much file IO and registry access they generate: specifically the creation of the virtualization ‘bubble’/environment for the application can have a significant overhead.

Link: BrianMadden.com

If you are working with VMware ThinApp, the most important thing is to understand the Isolation Modes with which the virtualized application can be configured. Peter Björk a VMware ThinApp expert from Sweden explains in a video how it works. Brilliant Peter!