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App-V 5: On Sequencing Using Tokenized Paths, PVAD’s, VFS, and VFS Write Mode
Update 12/5/2014: The PVAD is now considered optional due to changes in App-V 5Service Pack 3. Read more here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn858700.aspx#BKMK_pvad_hidden
When sequencing applications, you often never know how the application was written with regards to what paths are actually referenced via hard-coded paths or through tokenized, or well-known paths or KNOWNFOLDERIDS. In previous versions of App-V and Softgrid, these paths were referenced using %CSIDL% variables. These are well-documented on MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762494(v=vs.85).aspx). If the application was developed to reference CSIDLs, they usually function when virtualized just fine with App-V. CSIDLs are still supported for backward compatibility, but going forward starting with App-V 5, a different tokenization process is used to align better with KNOWNFOLDERIDs. The new App-V Tokens and their default locations upon installations are well documented in the App-V 5 sequencing guide:
Tokenization helps to remove a specific application’s tie-in to specific folder paths and to allow for greater portability especially when these KNOWNFOLDERIDS have been redirected for specific configurations.
It is important to understand that for sequencing applications that will be used for Connection Groups or to better take advantage of the App-V 5.0 SP2 HF4 VFS Write Mode, all files will need to be located in the VFS structures. This will drastically affect the sequencing process.
Sequencing to a PVAD, Installing to the PVAD
If you specify a Primary Virtual Application Directory and then install to that same location, the base directory of installation files will not be tokenized. For many older applications, this may be the best route to take. For example, if the Primary Virtual Application Directory (PVAD) is specified as C:DIRECTORY1 and the sequencer monitors an install during sequencing to C:DIRECTORY1 then everything created beneath DIRECTORY1 goes beneath Root and will not be tokenized or located beneath the VFS folder. There may be additional files that do in fact get written to tokenized paths and they will be tokenized but you will now have a mixture of both “rooted” file assets and VFS file assets.
In the example below, Notepad ++ is sequenced to C:Notepad and installed to C:Notepad:
As you can see above, the majority of the files appear below the Root structure and are not contained with the VFS tokenized directories. Also notice the folders beneath Root cannot be adjusted for opacity:
When the files are deployed to the App-V immutable package cache, they will be laid out the same way.
In addition, in order to troubleshoot and navigate the file system within the bubble, non-VFS folders do not appear in directory listings.
You will be able to change to virtual directory by using cd Notepad+
Sequencing to the PVAD, Installing to Program Files or a Different Location other than the PVAD (Fake PVAD)
If you specify a PVAD and then install to a different location, all of the files will be written to the VFS location inside the package. For example, if the PVAD is C:DIRECTORY1 and the sequencer monitors an install to C:Program FilesDIRECTORY1 during sequencing, then everything gets put beneath RootVFS and root installation files will get tokenized if they are written to write to a KNOWNFOLDERID or CSIDL during installation.
In the example below, Notepad++ is sequenced using a fake PVAD and installed into C:Program Files
As you can see, all of the files are stored beneath the VFS directory structure.
When files are VFS’ed, you can see the directory listings as normal directories converged with the local directories when you launch a command inside the App-V bubble.
What About Using a KNOWNFOLDERID as the PVAD?
This question comes up quite a bit. Many packagers like to match PVAD with the installation directory (especially now that the Q: requirement is gone.) This is fine but understand that when you install to a PVAD during sequencing, all installation files beneath that folder that are not otherwise set to install to another explicit KNOWNFOLDERID or CSIDL path will be treated as rooted files.
For example, if you choose C:Program FilesDIRECTORY as the PVAD and the sequencer monitors an install to C:Program FilesDIRECTORY1 during sequencing, then most files will still be beneath root and NOT VFS except for tokenization of explicit KNOWNFOLDERID paths.
In the example below, when sequencing Notepad++, a PVAD of C:Program FilesNotepad++ is specified.
During the monitoring of the installation, notice the specified install directory is also C:Program FilesNotepad++.
Upon completion of sequencing, you will then notice that the package files are laid out just like any other PVAD-sequenced package.
The base installation files are located beneath Root.
Like the example earlier, when you open up a command prompt inside the bubble, you will not see the root directory in a directory listing.
However, you can still change to it manually inside the bubble.
So What about this VFS Write Mode?
For a lot of applications, especially older applications, they are written to use configuration files beneath the root of the installation directory. Natively installed applications often have to use shims to redirect these modifiable configuration files to safer directories. Combine this with the fact that most packagers are not always sure where to place the installation files in relationship to the PVAD (we cannot always read the minds of developers) and you can run into problems when virtualizing applications. While using shims is possible with virtualized applications, this can drastically increase the sequencing and remediation time for an application.
Enter VFS Write Mode. The App-V team added this “silver bullet” of a feature into HF4 of App-V 5 SP2. Using the advanced configuration options in sequencing, you can now select this option to enable an application to normally open files for modification within the package.
To demonstrate how this can be helpful, once again we will use Notepad++. When you install Notepad++, you have the option to load/write the configuration files from the install directory instead of using the %APPDATA% directory which would be properly tokenized.
Prior to the invention of VFS Write Mode, if you selected “Don’t use %APPDATA%” during sequencing, this is what would happen when you tried to run the program virtualized. First you would get an error message like this:
This would be followed by a crash.
When you troubleshoot the application with Process Monitor, you will notice a series of failures when trying to load the files:
In HF4, you can open up the package in the new sequencer, navigate to the “Advanced” tab, and check the box enabling VFS Write Mode.
As a result, Notepad++ will open and function as expected.
You will also notice in Process Monitor, the file operation to open the XML configuration files in the installation directory (with Read/Write/Delete) is successful.
The great thing about VFS Write Mode is that it can be enabled simply by opening up the package in the App-V 5 SP2 HF4 sequencer. You can now put this into your arsenal of App-V AppCompat secret weapons.
Update 12/5/2014: The PVAD is now considered optional due to changes in App-V 5 Service Pack 3. Read more here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn858700.aspx#BKMK_pvad_hidden
App-V @ #msTechEd 2014 – View the recordings in case you missed it!
We had quite a few breakout sessions on App-V at TechEd North America this year! If you were there and were not able to attend all of them or missed TechEd altogether, you can view the recorded sessions here on Channel 9:
My Presentation 🙂
Sizing App-V 5.0: Planning and Designing a Highly Available, Scalable, and Resilient Management and Delivery System
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/WIN-B360#fbid=
Then we have an excellent presentation by Briton Zircher on deploying Office 2013 with App-V 5:
Everything You Need to Know for a Successful Microsoft Office 2013 App-V Deployment
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/WIN-B330#fbid=
You also will want to see Project VRC's presentation on their independent performance analysis of App-V 5.
Project Virtual Reality Check: Microsoft App-V 5.0 Performance, Tuning, and Optimization (App-V PTO)
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/WIN-B362#fbid=
Are you thinking about or planning to deploy App-V 5 with Citrix XenDesktop and studio integration? You will want to see this:
Deploying Microsoft App-V 5.0 and Citrix XenDesktop 7
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/WIN-B215#fbid=
New to Intune? Want to understand how applications are managed with Intune? Want to know your App-V options with Intune, check out this presentation:
Application Management with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager and Windows Intune
https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/PCIT-B323#fbid=
Finally, my favorite of the event – done by the Virtual Vibe guy himself -Thamim Karim:
The Circle of Life for an App-V 5.0 Package: From Sequence to Termination
https://channel9.msdn.com/events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2014/WIN-B355#fbid=
App-V 5: Application Troubleshooting: On the Origins of an Error Message
Have you ever been testing a virtualized application and it fails with a bizarre application error that is either extremely vague (unknown error) or coupled with some random hex code? Your first reaction usually is “Where’d that error come from?” That is a good reaction to have as it is the first major hurdle in determining how to troubleshoot what has gone wrong. If you have not narrowed down the target of where the application error is coming from, you leave yourself open for spending a tremendous amount of wasted time down “troubleshooting rabbit-holes.”
Is it an App-V Operational Issue?
The first thing you will want to narrow down is whether or not it is an operational issue coming from the App-V Client itself, or is it related to the package (Application not functioning as expected.) I always recommend to first look at the source of the error window. If the error message is originating from a “Microsoft Application Virtualization” window, it is likely an operational issue tied to one of the client engine components or perhaps a streaming issue.
If it looks to be an operational issue, I would advise you leverage some scripts and tools written by Dave Falkus, one of my colleagues in the UK: http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualworld/archive/2014/04/12/app-v-5-0-etw-tracing-automation.aspx
In addition, one of my previous articles will assist you in dissecting App-V error codes: http://blogs.technet.com/b/gladiatormsft/archive/2013/11/13/app-v-on-operational-troubleshooting-of-the-v5-client.aspx
So I’ve determined it is an error that occurs within the virtualized application itself, now what?
Whether you are isolating an issue that may be caused by virtualization or by bad sequencing, if you have determined the error is coming from the virtual application then it is time to start doing a little reverse engineering with a couple of Sysinternals tools. The first thing I do for an application completely new to me is map out the EXE and DLL launch tree. You can do this by capturing the issue with Process Monitor ensuring that you start capturing at application launch.
You can then run a quick capture filter (I usually load a saved filter with these filter settings)
My filters contain these operation events:
-
Process Create
-
Process Start
-
Load Image
-
Process Exit
If the application is devirtualized on the sequencer, you will be looking to start from the shell process that initiated the Process Create operation (CMD.EXE or EXPLORER.EXE likely.) On a side note, svchost.exe will spawn modern apps, but that is out of scope here. J
If the application is running virtualized on the client, you will see that the AppVClient.exe process interjects spawning the mavinject32.exe or mavinject64.exe process depending on application bitness – followed by the shell creating the process. The example below using virtualized SongSmith displays this in Process Monitor:
Incidentally, if you want to know more about how the AppVClient.exe determines when to run the MAVInjector, read this previous article:
OK, I have identified the EXEs and DLLs, Now What?
You can do one of two things. You can search the Processes for strings using Process Explorer, or in the case of DLLs and EXE’s, you can simply leverage the Sysinternals STRINGS.EXE tool. The Process Explorer tool is great for finding error strings (by going to the properties of a process, selecting the “Strings” dialog box, clicking the “Find” button.)
The reason I do not use this is because it requires the process to still be active and it is not easy for searching DLL modules if they are not still in memory. I use instead the STRINGS.EXE utility (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897439) as it allows for more search flexibility.
Case in point, this bizarre error in Notepad++:
I can confirm the error came from the EXE NOTEPAD++.EXE by using the following command:
Strings-o “C:Program FilesNotepad++Notepad++.exe” | findstr /I scintilla
Putting it All Together
When you get that unknown application error, you can then proceed to investigate towards a resolution using a clear path by:
- Determining whether it *IS* an application error and not an operational error.
- Determining if it is a sequencing or virtualization issue.
- Collecting the Process/DLL load/execution order.
- Identify which EXE or DLL is contains the error string.
You can then proceed to continue troubleshooting by focusing around that EXE or DLL with Process Monitor, SpyStudio, APIMon, or whatever tool you prefer to further debug the issue.
MDOP 2014 Released – along with App-V 5 SP2 Hotfix 4 – plus New Performance Guidelines!
MDOP 2014 is now available:
In addition, Hotfix 4 for the App-V Client (no new server patches in this hotfix) is also available:
"Hotfix Package 4 for Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0 SP2"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2956985/en-us
With this hotfix, we also recommend that you leverage new performance guidelines that was recently published on Technet:
"Performance Guidance for Application Virtualization 5.0"
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn659478.aspx
My favorite two new features that has been added with this hotfix are the PreserveUserIntegrationsOnLogin and VFS Write Mode features! 🙂
madvirtualizer
The Mad Virtualizer at Microsoft 