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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

App Volumes 3.0 - AppCapture not retaining program files after reboot

I'm testing App Volumes 3.0. The AppCapture utility seems to work well capturing applications except when a reboot is required during the install procedure. I have tested on Windows 7 32 and 64 bit desktops. The AppCapture application resumes after a reboot and completes the AppStack without error. However, all of the files that were copied to the file system during the install have disappeared. The application is listed in the 'programs and features'. Anyone else experiencing these issues?

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Jason_Marshall
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

‌What is the application and where is it installing? Will not capture apps that install into user profile, for example Dropbox.

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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

I've tried various applications. I'm using WinSCP as a test. The installer adds files to "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP". If the AppCapture is completed without a reboot, the appstack can be deployed and works perfectly. If a reboot is done before the AppCapture is completed, the VHD is reattached automatically (as it should be) but the WinSCP folder no longer exists. It's as if a clean VHD file is attached after a reboot. I realise that WinSCP does not require a reboot after installation, but other applications that I'm testing do.

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Jason_Marshall
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

‌i assume but just checking you are logging back in as the same user? Does the appcapture cmd window come back up and allow you to complete?

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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, logging back in as the same user (local administrator). The AppCapture cmd windows comes back automatically and allows the capture to complete. If I run "appcature.exe /list winscp" it states "no application bundles found!".

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Jason_Marshall
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

‌can you post the capture log?

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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

================================= BEGIN LOG ====================================

VMware AppCapture Program

Version 3.0.0.340 (with App Volumes Agent v3.0.0.0)

Copyright (c) 2016 VMware, Inc.

10:14:23 Computer:    AppCapture02 (AppCapture02)

10:14:23 Date-Time:   15 April 2016 10:14:23

10:14:23 Commandline: AppCapture.exe

10:14:23 Arguments:   /n WinSCP

10:14:23 INFO : processing commandline options

10:14:23 INFO : application name: WinSCP

10:14:23 INFO : source vhd: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\AppCapture\templates\wemcapture.vhd

10:14:23 INFO : source disk file attributes: 0x00000020

10:14:23 INFO : output vhd folder attributes: 0x00002010

10:14:23 INFO : output vhd file: C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\WinSCP.vhd

10:14:23 INFO : copying C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\AppCapture\templates\wemcapture.vhd to C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\WinSCP.vhd

10:14:23 INFO : preparing output virtual disk for capture

10:14:23 INFO : attaching virtual disk for capture

10:14:24 INFO : waiting for disk attachment

10:14:24 INFO : disk attachment complete in 0 secs

10:14:25 INFO : disk attachment complete

10:14:26 INFO : service install-start event signaled in 0 secs

10:14:26 INFO : ready to capture application installs

10:14:26 INFO : state saved for execution resumption on reboot

================================= BEGIN LOG ====================================

VMware AppCapture Program

Version 3.0.0.340 (with App Volumes Agent v3.0.0.0)

Copyright (c) 2016 VMware, Inc.

10:19:59 Computer:    AppCapture02 (AppCapture02)

10:19:59 Date-Time:   15 April 2016 10:19:59

10:19:59 Commandline: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\AppCapture\AppCapture.exe

10:19:59 Arguments:   /state:2 C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\WinSCP.vhd

10:19:59 INFO : processing commandline options

10:19:59 INFO : /state:2

10:19:59 INFO : attaching virtual disk for capture

10:19:59 INFO : waiting for disk attachment

10:19:59 INFO : disk attachment complete in 0 secs

10:20:00 INFO : disk attachment complete

10:20:00 INFO : service install-start event signaled in 0 secs

10:20:00 INFO : resuming capture of application installs

10:20:00 INFO : state saved for execution resumption on reboot

10:26:35 INFO : installation complete

10:26:35 INFO : waiting for svservice to reboot

================================= BEGIN LOG ====================================

VMware AppCapture Program

Version 3.0.0.340 (with App Volumes Agent v3.0.0.0)

Copyright (c) 2016 VMware, Inc.

10:27:34 Computer:    AppCapture02 (AppCapture02)

10:27:34 Date-Time:   15 April 2016 10:27:34

10:27:34 Commandline: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\AppCapture\AppCapture.exe

10:27:34 Arguments:   /state:3 C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\WinSCP.vhd

10:27:34 INFO : processing commandline options

10:27:34 INFO : /state:3

10:27:34 INFO : completing the capture process: WinSCP.vhd

10:27:34 INFO : attaching virtual disk to complete capture

10:27:34 INFO : waiting for disk attachment

10:27:34 INFO : disk attachment complete in 0 secs

10:27:34 INFO : disk attachment complete

10:27:34 INFO : service provisioning-successA event signaled in 0 secs

10:27:34 INFO : begun finalizing capture

10:27:35 INFO : service provisioning-successB event signaled in 0 secs

10:27:35 INFO : finished finalizing capture

10:27:35 INFO : service provisioning-successC event signaled in 0 secs

10:27:35 INFO : building metadata

10:27:35 WARN : could not open plugins.state file

10:27:35 INFO : metadata build complete

10:27:35 INFO : detaching disk

10:27:35 INFO : disk detachment complete

10:27:35 INFO : embedding metadata

10:27:36 INFO : metadata embed complete

10:27:36 INFO : creating vmdk disk: WinSCP.vmdk

10:27:36 INFO : metadata file created

10:27:36 INFO : cleaning up

10:27:36 INFO : output vhd at C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\WinSCP.vhd

10:27:36 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

10:27:36  Virtual disks with captured application(s) are now available at:

10:27:36  C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\WinSCP.vhd

10:27:36  C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\WinSCP.vmdk

10:27:36 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

================================== END LOG =====================================

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Jason_Marshall
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

‌well that didn't really help. All apears as it should, strange. Any chance this is a stateless VM or somethnig like that?

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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

No, I have even tried it on a physical machine with exactly the same result.

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Jason_Marshall
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

‌was that physical machine domain joined? This is confusing so going to the more obscure possabilities. It might some GPO. Any way to try it on a vanilla non domain joined machine? Must be something environmental we have not seen before.

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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

The physical machine was not domain joined. I have also tested on a Windows 7 32bit VMware Workstation VM built from ISO which is on an isolated network. The VM was unpatched and had no applications installed. Same result.

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Jason_Marshall
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

‌ok I give up. File an SR.. Let me know the number.

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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

VMware Support Request 16961706204

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mick-baker
Contributor
Contributor

I have found that this is only an issue creating new AppStacks. Updating existing AppStacks works as expected and allows reboots during installation. Just make sure the first application in the AppStack does not require a reboot.

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yakovbee
Contributor
Contributor

Can you post back if you find a resolution to this issue?

We had the same issue. One of our applications requires a reboot when installing. After the VM restarted, the AppCapture window resume the capture but all the files that were added during the install disappered. When attempting to attach the AppStack to a desktop, the application did not show up either. I tried creating an AppStack from the same application with v2.10 and everything worked great.

I did not troubleshoot this much or open a SR as we decided to implement v2.10 over v3.0 due to this and some other stability issues.

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eakarat1141
Contributor
Contributor

log in local  =   .\administrator        run  commard  app capture   Success       

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ARuvVD11
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yup. I can reproduce this using windows 10 and any program, but adobe acrobat was the item I needed. I've worked around it for now by saving before the reboot and then UPDATING the appvol to finish install/updates.

Please post the solution! Smiley Happy

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Raymond_W
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi,

Does your machine have internet access ?

If not, can you check if it works if you give your machine internet access.

Ray

Kind regards, Raymond Twitter: @raymond_himself
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ARuvVD11
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, it does have internet access.

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