ThinApp Shortcut Help

[kschude]

Hey all,

So we're deploying ThinApps through View to our linked clone pools and I'm being asked to place the shortcuts inside (so in this example, for Adobe Pro this is the path):

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Applications\Adobe

Having them go into the C:\ProgramData start menu isn't an option.  The ThinApps are presently being packaged on an XP VM (due to compatibility with our Windows 7 View environment and future desktop deployment, not everyone is on 7 yet) and I'm using the paths detailed here: http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2012/05/macro-folder-locations-and-newer-versions-of-windows.html#mo...

Here's an example from our Adobe Pro package.ini:

[Adobe Acrobat Distiller X.exe]
Source=%ProgramFilesDir%\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat\acrodist.exe
Shortcut=Adobe Acrobat X Pro.dat
FileTypes=.joboptions.ps
ObjectTypes=PdfDistiller.PdfDistiller.1;PdfDistiller.PdfDistiller6.1
Shortcuts=%Programs%\Applications\Adobe

When I install it on my XP VM the shortcuts go in the proper place, but when I install on Windows 7 they go into the ProgramData start menu.  All I'm thinking is that I've gotten the path mixed up for where to put the icon, can someone help me out with where I need to point it instead so it will go to the right spot? Help?

Thanks!

[kschude]

Anyone have any suggestions at all for this?  Is no one using the User Start Menu for shortcuts with ThinApps?  I'm still fighting with this, any help would be appreciated.

[pbjork]

Are you using thinreg.exe or View Manager for ThinApp registration?

If using View Manager your packages are registered machine wide, i.e. the shortcuts will not be per user. This is because View Manager can only entitle on a per desktop or pool basis. Using thinreg.exe (not using its /a parameter) should create per user registration, i.e. shortcuts created in the users profile.

[kschude]

First, thank you so much for replying, I really appreciate it. 🙂

Second, am I hearing correctly that you can't deploy thinapps using the deployment method in view to deploy thinapps on a per user basis?  What's the best practice for shortcuts for users then?  In our case there's a GPO that blocks the machine-wide start menu and we're forced to use the user start menu, thus why I was trying to make use of that.  Does everyone just do Desktop shortcuts then or is there something else I can do to still deploy these through view and end up with something in the users start menu (short of building the shortcuts into the template, which I really dislike the idea of, makes it far less flexible)?

[kschude]

Also as an additional note, they've been packaged as msi's and if I try to install on a desktop, so not only not through view, but not even on a virtual machine, they show up in the ProgramData, so, again, I feel like I must simply be doing something incorrectly, I just don't know what it is 😞

[pbjork]

Larger implementations of View make use of the ThinApp tool called thinreg.exe rather than use View Manager for entitlement. Your issues are exactly the reason why.. View Manager is on a per desktop / desktop pool basis only.

What needs to be understood is that the MSI ThinApp generates acts in one way when using a deployment tool like SCCM or when simply double clicking on it. View Manager have its unique method of dealing with registration/entitlement.

Here's some links for more thinreg.exe info:

http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2010/04/simple-thinregexe-login-script.html

http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2012/03/configuring-the-thinapp-sdk-in-place-of-thinreg.html

http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2008/10/thinapp-thinreg.html

[kschude]

Right, I understand that, and we're testing the implementation with running it off a network share (shortcut on the desktop) and using thinreg, but I was looking more for an answer on how to do it through View, though I understand what you're getting at now.

We got around this by implementing a simple script so any thinapps the pool/users are entitled to have their shortcuts copied from the ProgramData start menu into the user's start menu, it's not ideal, but certainly does the job. 🙂

Thanks everyone.