VMware Horizon Community
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

AppVol 2.13.2 & Outlook search woes

My current environment is a follows:

Horizon 7.4

Instant Clones

App volumes v.2.13.2.13

User Environment 9.3

I have spun up Windows 7 64b SP1 instant Clones and am all in with the above and  writeable volumes.

I created a slew off app stacks including Office 2013 and Office 2016.

Using UEM 9.3 I created the OST redirection using the App Volumes option under the user environment.  The OST is being created/redirected into the 'C:\SnapVolumesTemp\writeable\UEM\OST' folder.

I have also modified the writeable volume according to this KB: VMware Knowledge Base   "Outlook Search Indexing with App Volumes (2149799)" and uploaded the zip file which I verified is being used in the writeable volume assigned to my user.

For the life of me Outlook will not index using windows search.  It will not pop up as an Index Location under the Indexing Option within Windows.  Therefore searching for outlook items inside the OST take a long time and my user are really picky with their Outlook search.  They want to see the search term highlighted for each hit. let alone get the hits back instantly.  This only occurs if indexing within windows search is working correctly.  For Outlook 2013 or 2016 it's not.

Anyone have any ideas as to what I may be missing?  Anyone else come across this and fixed the issue or worked around it.  Is it a bug with App Volumes app stacks and/or the writeable volume?

Online mode would be a last resort but I would likely have a revolt.

Thank you,

Larry B.

18 Replies
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

Ended up opening a case with support.   No resolution yet.

Reply
0 Kudos
balagbm2017
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I am also facing the same issues waiting for permanent resolution...

Reply
0 Kudos
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

Still working on this.   Even after creating a new gold image and totally new office 2013/2016 app stacks the results are still the same.   Search is not working as it does if it were a persistent VM.

Reply
0 Kudos
Natestack
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

We also have this issue.

Interested in the results with this.

Reply
0 Kudos
balagbm2017
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Temprorarly the problem is fixed by this https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2149795

will update you if we face any other issues.

Reply
0 Kudos
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

I'm running Windows 7 64B SP1 and I've had the devices.hotplug option set to false from the get-go on the parent image as well as all the instant clones images. This does not address the issue I'm an experiencing.  Although It's good to know that it may address the issue with Windows 10.

Larry B.

Reply
0 Kudos
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

Still battling this one.

I know it's AppStacks and Office though.  Using the same OS where indexing outlook fails using Office as an AppStack, I install Office directly on to the OS and published that.  I still have UEM redirecting search and the OST file onto the C:\SnapVolumesTemp  and indexing works without any issues.  It indexed my 65K emails within minuets.  

So it's something on how Office installs onto the AppStack or how the App Stack itself is merged into the OS image and indexing breaks.

Larry B.

Reply
0 Kudos
Sravan_k
Expert
Expert

I was thinking on windows search service, can you verify that search service is running or not? is it happening to all users or only few users?

Regards,

Vkmr.

Reply
0 Kudos
Erossman
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I cannot recommend to use writable voulmes for the outlook OST. You will notice that the writable volume will not only capture the OST but a lot of temp files. This will cause unpredictable side-effects.

Also the writable volumes will grow fast and never shrink.

You should prefer a third party tool like "Lookeen" or "FSLogix"

LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

Search service is running.   I even followed this article Can Windows Search/Indexing (needed for Outlook) work with App Volumes? using allvolsattached scripts.  No go on that either. 

I've tried office 2016 32bit and 64bit.  Same issue.   I have even gone as far as creating a new OS image and the results were the same..

It happens to my entire user base.   I do really think that the only solution for indexing here is either baking it into the OS. which works for me or going with a third party solution like FSLogix which they have seemed to have figure out virtualizing Outlook and having indexing work.

Thanks,

LB

Reply
0 Kudos
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

I'm agreeing with you.   You are correct.   looking at FSLogix for Outlook.   Their solutions seems to have figured out then intricacies of Outlook and Search/Indexing within Windows.

LB

Reply
0 Kudos
Natestack
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Any update on this ?

Reply
0 Kudos
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

Nope.  It was given to the engineers. Ticket is still open with VMWare.  Apparently there are others with the same and/or similar issues for which they have cases opened.   If you are having the same problems, I strongly suggest you document it here whether it be here or a new discussion and open a case with VMWare.   It would likely push them to figure out a solution sooner rather than later.

In my testing the only way to get Outlook search to work properly using Instant Clone was to install Office onto the gold image.  You can then use outlook cache redirection to either a shared folder of your choice on the network or use the SnapVolumesTemp (non-virtualized directory) of the writable volume for the user.  UEM made these pretty simple to accomplish.

Larry

Reply
0 Kudos
sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

Did you guys see this

Windows 10 Search Indexing Not Working After VMware OS Optimization tool - Zero To Hero

looks like the OS optimization tool disables a package, that even if the search index service is running search still doesn't work.(images are from article)

pastedImage_1.png

sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

I haven't tested, but plan to.

Reply
0 Kudos
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

I do have the package on the gold and enabled.   I also have Windows 7 and not Windows 10.

Although that may assist windows 10 users.

LB

Natestack
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I take it still no resalu for this even with new version of Appvolumes 2.14

im getting tempted to move Office in the build and away from appvolumes.

Reply
0 Kudos
LarryBlanco2
Expert
Expert

I was able to get it to work with 2.14.   Although It's not as simple as just installing 2.14 and create the Office App Stack and away you go.   You are still required to use this article: VMware Knowledge Base

What worked for me was to recreate the office Appstack using 2.14.  You cannot just update the appstack from an older version of 2.x with 2.14.

I also ended up recreating the writable volumes for the users with 2.14 and use the article about to make the required changes to the writable volume configuration files. Although I didn't use the zip file atttached to the article as that was written b4 2.14.  The configuration files for 2.14 are slightly different in which now they use an EXE which wasn't in the 2.13 version.  If you compare the zip file to the files contained in a writeable for 2.14, you will see the difference. 

I created my our zip file using the article and taking the actual files from a 2.14 writeable.

If you are not able to get it working, I can take a look at my modified files and post them here for you.  (prestartup.bat, startup.bat, shutdown.bat and snapvol.cfg)

Larry