topic Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume in Horizon Desktops and Apps

Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

Henrique_Cicuto — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 21:04:33 GMT

Good afternoon,

I'm facing an issue when using App Volumes User Profile Writable Volumes.

First some info on the environment

App Volumes 4 2006 (4.1.0.59)

Windows 10 Version 1909 (Build 18363.836)

Writable volume template: template_uia_plus_profile.vmdk

The issue:

User's first login on the machine works just fine.

From the second login onwards login fails with the following message: The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded.

If the machine is rebooted the scenario repeats itself (first login ok, second and onwards fails).

Deleting/Disabling the Writable Volume makes the problem disappear.

Anyone has any hints on where to search for further info?

Thank you very much.

Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

Henrique_Cicuto — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 13:16:43 GMT

I compared the successful login and the failed login event messages and I think I found the cause of the issue:

Successfull login (all below are svservice events):

Session ID: 1
Manager: <appvolmgrfqdn>, Status: 200 Response (488 bytes): *1*#1#LOGIN <domain\user> MOUNTED-WRITE;vsanDatastore\appvolumes\writables\<domain>!5C!<user>.vmdk;{3b8eee5c-9d57-4463-af26-355fa89a59af} ASYNC WRITABLE-REBOOT;Volumes were not mounted due to an issue with your Writable Volume. Please try logging in again, or contact your administrator. SET-VAR;WRITABLE_FAILURE_ACTION;REBOOT SET-VAR;WRITABLE_FAILURE_MESSAGE;Volumes were not mounted due to an issue with your Writable Volume. Please try logging in again, or contact your administrator.
Action: mounted Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume3 GUID: {471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000} VolumeId: {3B8EEE5C-9D57-4463-AF26-355FA89A59AF}
Manager: <appvolmgrfqdn>, Status: 200 Response (2 bytes): No
Action: mounted Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume3 GUID: {471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000} VolumeID: {3B8EEE5C-9D57-4463-AF26-355FA89A59AF}
Event: [prestartup] Volume Path: [\SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\]
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\PRESTA~1.BAT WaitMilliseconds: -1
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\PRESTA~1.BAT WaitStatus: 0, ExitCode: 0
Event: [startup] Volume Path: [\SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\]
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\startup.bat WaitMilliseconds: -1
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\startup.bat WaitStatus: 0, ExitCode: 0
Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume3 GUID: {471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000} SystemVolume: 0)
Installing fonts Event: windows_install_fonts Path: \SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Refreshing desktop
Session ID: 1
Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\CloudVolumes\Agent\svservice.exe deskmon 1 WaitMilliseconds: 0
Event: [shellstart] Volume Path: [\SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\]
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\SHELLS~1.BAT WaitMilliseconds: -1
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\SHELLS~1.BAT WaitStatus: 0, ExitCode: 0
Checking provisioning state Event: appcapture Path: \SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\

Failed login (all below are svservice events):

Session ID: 2
Manager: <appvolmgrfqdn>, Status: 200 Response (488 bytes): *1*#1#LOGIN <domain\user> MOUNTED-WRITE;vsanDatastore\appvolumes\writables\<domain>!5C!<user>.vmdk;{3b8eee5c-9d57-4463-af26-355fa89a59af} ASYNC WRITABLE-REBOOT;Volumes were not mounted due to an issue with your Writable Volume. Please try logging in again, or contact your administrator. SET-VAR;WRITABLE_FAILURE_ACTION;REBOOT SET-VAR;WRITABLE_FAILURE_MESSAGE;Volumes were not mounted due to an issue with your Writable Volume. Please try logging in again, or contact your administrator.
Action: mounted Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume4 GUID: {471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000} VolumeId: {3B8EEE5C-9D57-4463-AF26-355FA89A59AF}
Action: mounted Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume4 GUID: {471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000} VolumeId: {3B8EEE5C-9D57-4463-AF26-355FA89A59AF}
Event: [prestartup] Volume Path: [\SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\]
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\PRESTA~1.BAT WaitMilliseconds: -1
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\PRESTA~1.BAT WaitStatus: 0, ExitCode: 0
Event: [startup] Volume Path: [\SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\]
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\startup.bat WaitMilliseconds: -1
Path: C:\PROGRA~2\CLOUDV~1\Agent\Config\Default\UIA_PL~1\startup.bat WaitStatus: 0, ExitCode: 0
Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume4 GUID: {471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000} SystemVolume: 0)
Installing fonts Event: windows_install_fonts Path: \SnapVolumesTemp\MountPoints\{471C5721-0000-0000-0000-100000000000}\
Refreshing desktop

And then it follows (User Profile Service events):

Access is denied. C:\Users\<user>\ntuser.dat
Access is denied
The system cannot find the file specified

Therefore I came to the conclusion that the writable volume content is unaccesible due to wrong permissions.

Now to figure it out why and how to solve it.

Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

Henrique_Cicuto — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 20:14:38 GMT

I've done some further digging and noticed weird behaviours by comparing:

Event viewer entries when login successful VS Event viewer entries when login fails;
App Volumes log when login successful VS App Volumes log when login fails.

I compiled them in an Excel table (I attached it if anyone is willing to check it).

Therefore I'd like to ask something: Is App Volumes Writable Volumes (Profile) supposed to work on PERSISTENT desktops? Or only on non-persistent?

Thank you very much.

Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

alienjoker — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 09:12:49 GMT

Hi,

Writeable Volumes are supported with persistent VMs but using the UIA template only. It would appear you are trying to use UIA + Profile as per your first post. This and the Profile Only templates are NOT supported with persistent virtual machines.

The following table is from:-

VMware Knowledge Base

The table below shows the possible individual use cases for VMware App Volumes.

Assignment Type	Volume Type	Instant Clone	Linked clone		FullClone	RDSH
			Floating	Dedicated	FullClone	Application	Desktop
			with Delete or refresh machine on logoff	with Refresh OS disk after logoff	with Delete machine on logoff	Application	Desktop
User	AppStack	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
User	Writable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Computer	AppStack	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Computer	Writable	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Legend = Yes - Supported Scenario.

Persistent Disk with AppStacks and Writable Volumes (UIA Only template) is supported.

Hope that helps.

Thanks

Andrew

Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

Henrique_Cicuto — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 11:28:40 GMT

I'd say that kind of explains it although the KB is not update for App Volumes 4.

It seems that whatever causes the issues on persistent desktops (no refresh) is solved by either refreshing it or just rebooting it.

Now to check what would be better to workaround it.

Thanks a lot Andrew for pointing that out.

Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

alienjoker — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:10:32 GMT

No problem.

I imagine the Profile UIA template does not issue a "clean" dismount or registry release of NTUser.dat thus freeing up the OS for a successful logon for subsequent uses without a reboot hence the error messages you are seeing. I would imagine this could be fixed by VMware as other competitor products such as FSLogix and Liquidware ProfileDisk are able to handle these scenarios without issue.

Thanks

Andrew

Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

sjesse — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:20:09 GMT

Reread that KB

"Persistent Disk with AppStacks and Writable Volumes (UIA Only template) is supported.

this isn't saying persistent desktops are supported, its saying the persistent disk which is a feature.

Horizon Composer Persistent Disks

Persistent vms aren't supported with normal or any writeable template, The issue is with persistent vms you get stuff leftover, and you'll get conflicts.

Re: Windows 10 User Profile Service and App Volumes Profile Writable Volume

alienjoker — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 15:19:09 GMT

Apologies, this was the reference I should have included:-

Features of Writable Volumes

"You can understand how Writable Volumes can be used with VMware Dynamic Environment Manager, behavior of Writable Volumes in a non-persistent virtual desktop, how Writable Volumes are used in a shared datastore, and how to exclude specific locations of Writable Volumes from being overwritten."

There is no mention of persistent machines as they are indeed unsupported.