UEM removal of shortcuts with AppVolumes

[jahegyi]

Win10 v1607 + AppVolumes 2.12.1 and UEM 9.1.

I have an app stack with various applications such as chrome that drops onto the desktop. UEM is then used to drop a shortcut on the desktop if the chrome.exe path exists. This works as expected. However, I have one desktop pool we need to lock down a bit more and I do not want those desktops to receive that shortcut.

To fix that I hav emy conditions set up like this for that shortcut in UEM:

NOT Horizon client property 'Pool name' starts with 'Test'

AND File or folder 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe' exists

I have this client property variable in place for other applications such as IE, Outlook, etc. I also have UEM Shortcut refresh set to run on startup. What happens when I log in to the desktop pool named "Test" is the application desktop shortcuts all appear. A few seconds later that UEM refresh will happen and maybe half or sometimes none of the desktop shortcuts remove. If I manually do a refresh later they still do not remove. My experience is very inconsistent because other times they will all remove and sometimes none of them remove.

Anyone else have similar issues or any idea how to fix??

[techguy129]

Enable UEM debugging and check the logs to see if it gives you any hints:

Enabling debug logging for a single user in VMware User Environment Manager (2113514) | VMware KB

I would check the environmental variable ViewClient_Launch_ID to see if it matches your condition of the pool  starts with "Test"

Open cmd and type Set or HKCU\Volatile Environment\ViewClient_Launch_ID

In my environment, I check the ComputerName instead. My pools have specific computer names I can check again.

Is it possible the shortcuts are place there because they are in the appstack?

[DEMdev]

In addition to techguy129​'s response, just wanted to make sure that

is indeed set for that particular shortcut. If that's not set and the shortcut is created initially (for whatever reason), a UEM refresh will not delete it.

[jahegyi]

The check for ViewClient_Launch_ID failed. Says it is not defined.

I now have it set to:

NOT Environment variable 'COMPUTERNAME' starts with 'Test'

AND File or folder 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe' exists

The check box to undo at logoff and refresh during shortcut refresh is selected. Still not removing the icons. I can see in the log file that the checks are happening:

2017-05-22 12:03:06.008 [INFO ] Skipping UEM shortcut due to conditions ('Google Chrome.xml')

2017-05-22 12:03:06.024 [DEBUG] Conditions: Check for environment variable 'COMPUTERNAME' = true ('TEST_XIO_001' starts with 'Test')

The logs looked good before as well when I was doing the pool check.

[DEMdev]

The ViewClient_Launch_ID environment variable typically isn't be available yet when UEM runs at logon, so that's to be expected. Checking 'Pool name' using the Horizon client property should work, though...

What version of Horizon are you using, and how are you running UEM at logon?

[techguy129]

The shortcuts option in UEM adds but doesn't remove shortcuts unless its during logoff. Unless I'm mistaken.

You need to find out how the shortcuts are getting there. Appstack, folder redirection, uem personalization setting etc.

Either you need to remove the shortcuts from the appstack, run a script to remove them using a logon task, or use a gpo preference.

[DEMdev]

> The shortcuts option in UEM adds but doesn't remove shortcuts unless its during logoff. Unless I'm mistaken.

If so configured, shortcuts (and all the other "refreshable" items) are also removed during a UEM refresh, if the conditions for a previously-created item no longer match. The OP stated that they have a "UEM Shortcut refresh set to run on startup". However, your hunch that the shortcut is put there (or left there) through some other mechanism is more probable.