Personas not syncing after update to v6.2

[Mercutio879b]

We took the plunge and updated from View 5.2 to Horizon 6.2 about 2 months ago. Initially, everything went fairly smoothly, the biggest issue was the new security that is enabled in v6.2. However, we've begun to realize that all is not well. We had a user who had a suspected malware incident, our standard plan is to rename their Persona folder, then copy anything they need over. However, while their new Persona folder was created, it's 100% empty, other than a .lck file. All we are trying to sync is their local appdata folder, as we use Windows Roaming Profiles for the rest of it. New staff members' Personas folders are always empty, and I've begun to suspect that nobody's has updated since we upgraded from 5.2 to 6.2.

I did file a ticket with VMware, however, we haven't made much progress. They did advise to roll the version of VMware tools from v10 to v9.4 under the vague pretense of 'known incompatibilities', which I did, but it didn't help.

After the move from Tools v10 to v9.4, there's actually more issues in the VMWVvp.txt log, generally stuff that looks like this:

[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!VMWQueryEA       ] No EAs Found: File: \Users\user

[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!PostCreate       ] Failed to update name in stream context for file \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\user\Videos (Cbd = FFFFFA800341A860, FileObject = FFFFFA8003D08070)

[24435][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RedirectFile     ] VMWGetFileInfo Failed: Process: svchost.exe, File: \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\user\Saved Games, 0xC0000034

[24435][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RTORetrieveOfflineFile] Retrieved User Identity: Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\user\Saved Games

[24435][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RTORetrieveOfflineFile] Received FALSE From Service: 0x0, ulResult: 0x80070002

[24435][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RedirectFile     ] RTORetrieveOfflineFile Returned: Process: svchost.exe, Offline: 0, 0x80070002

[24446][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RedirectFile     ] VMWGetFileInfo Failed: Process: svchost.exe, File: \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\user\Saved Games, 0xC0000034

[24446][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RTORetrieveOfflineFile] Retrieved User Identity: Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\user\Saved Games

[24446][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RTORetrieveOfflineFile] Received FALSE From Service: 0x0, ulResult: 0x80070002

[24446][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RedirectFile     ] RTORetrieveOfflineFile Returned: Process: svchost.exe, Offline: 0, 0x80070002

I don't see these strings in the logs that I have when we were running on v10.

The other thing I find strange is this line:

[0][05/03/2016 07:53:44:0234][CRedirectedFolders::Load  ] Failed Opening SOFTWARE\Policies\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Persona Management\Service\Redirected Folders, 0x80070002

I've confirmed there is no 'Persona Management' key in the VMware VDM key in the registry.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I've attached the complete log.

[h3nkY]

Quick looked at your logs and saw that "something" in filesystem might interfere Persona driver to create user profile. Here is one of sample message.

[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RedirectFile

] VMWGetFileInfo Failed: Process: svchost.exe, File: \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\username\Videos, 0xC0000034

[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RTORetrieveOfflineFile] Retrieved User Identity: Path: \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\username\Videos

[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RTORetrieveOfflineFile] Received FALSE From Service: 0x0, ulResult: 0x80070002

[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!RedirectFile	] RTORetrieveOfflineFile Returned: Process: svchost.exe, Offline: 0, 0x80070002
[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!VMWQueryEA	] No EAs Found: File: \Users\username
[24418][05/03/2016 08:10:56:0128][RTOLogon!PostCreate	] Failed to update name in stream context for file \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Users\username\Videos (Cbd = FFFFFA800341A860, FileObject = FFFFFA8003D08070)

You need to isolate the issue by un-installing software which may use filter driver such as antivirus or storage monitoring software.

I don't mean you can't use that kind of software but just to isolate the issue so we can narrow down what cause it.

[Mercutio879b]

We use Trend Micro Deep Security, which uses the filter driver. Not sure I'm comfortable running without that. I'll see if I can disable it somehow.

[h3nkY]

This looks like known issue on Persona with TrendMicro virus scan engine.

I included the "workaround" fix in upcoming View minor release.

[Mercutio879b]

What's the 'workaround' that you're referencing?

[Mercutio879b]

I disabled the Trend DS Profile on a machine, which didn't help. I did have a 'CSC Enabled' issue listed in the Persona Event ID 256, which I was able to disable via GPO, but that hasn't helped, either, although it did clean up some errors in the log file.

[h3nkY]

The workaround is code changes which should not in Persona. I change the code to avoid conflicting with antivirus.

Can do me a favour?

#1. Open command prompt using Administrator

#2. Run: "fltmc filters"

We can see what filter drivers are involving in filesystem.

This is to verify that antivirus driver is not in the kernel when you say that you already disable it.

[Mercutio879b]

Filter Name               Num Instances               Altitude               Frame

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VMWVvpfsd               4                                   386200                0

vsepflt                         4                                  328200                 0

luafv                           1                                   135000                 0

FileInfo                       4                                   45000                    0

I disabled the A/V after logging in.

[h3nkY]

Now we can see that vShield driver (vsepflt) involves in filesystem.

Can we isolate the issue with reproducing it without vShield driver?

This is just to ensure that other drivers don't interfere logon process.

However, since vsepflt is VMware product so whatever the result is, you need to open a ticket with VMware for further analysis.

[Mercutio879b]

VMWare is currently casting their suspicion on the CIFS share on our VNXe. Can't explain why it worked with 5.2, though.

[h3nkY]

In 6.x version, Persona strictly requires the share server to support Extended Attributes (EA). Otherwise, some applications may not work as expected if their files are different to original one.

[Mercutio879b]

I've filed a ticket with EMC requesting support. Do you know what EAs are required by Persona?

[Mailsouth]

I have been having the same issues when trying to move users from a linked clone pool to a full clone pool. Changing the cd-rom drive from 😧 to Z: or anything that the original linked clone pool used resolved the black screen if persona management was being used.

[Mercutio879b]

We're not having a black screen, thankfully. Personas just aren't being updated on the network share. Most still show the same date from when we moved from 5.2 to 6.2.

[h3nkY]

The EA is set by application. Persona just query file EA (created by application) and set it to the remote site. So local and remote will have exactly the same file.