DEMdev's Posts

Hi @TomH201110141, If you're not using a writable volume, App Volumes uses an "implicit" writable. I don't know much about App Volumes; is adding exclusions to snapvol.cfg possible if you don't use ... See more...
Hi @TomH201110141, If you're not using a writable volume, App Volumes uses an "implicit" writable. I don't know much about App Volumes; is adding exclusions to snapvol.cfg possible if you don't use a writable?
Hi @TomH201110141, Are you using App Volumes, by any chance? If so, this seems to be another case where App Volumes detaches the writable volume before DEM gets to run.
Hi @TomH201110141, As a test: Does this behave differently if you try this using DirectFlex instead of at logon and logoff? And as another test: What do you see in the log if you use something like... See more...
Hi @TomH201110141, As a test: Does this behave differently if you try this using DirectFlex instead of at logon and logoff? And as another test: What do you see in the log if you use something like    [IncludeFiles]    <C-Drive>\TEST\file1.txt    <C-Drive>\TEST\file2.txt ?
Hi @lansti, That sounds a bit like the scenario I mentioned in my earlier response to this thread. There seems to be a scenario where App Volumes detaches the writable volume before DEM gets to run ... See more...
Hi @lansti, That sounds a bit like the scenario I mentioned in my earlier response to this thread. There seems to be a scenario where App Volumes detaches the writable volume before DEM gets to run at logoff. To validate that assumption, can you test whether it works when you perform the export during the session rather than at logoff? That is, is this something you can do via DirectFlex? Alternatively/additionally: If you run a batch file from a DEM export task that DIR's that folder and redirects the output to some persistent location, do you see the expected files in that output?
Hi @VMHero4Ever, @Andreé, @doninside, Please find attached an ADMX template for the advanced Prevent export for failed import policy setting. For NoAD, add SkipExportForFailedImport="1" in NoAD.xml.... See more...
Hi @VMHero4Ever, @Andreé, @doninside, Please find attached an ADMX template for the advanced Prevent export for failed import policy setting. For NoAD, add SkipExportForFailedImport="1" in NoAD.xml. With this setting enabled, a profile archive that failed to import successfully will not be overwritten at logoff (or, in the case of DirectFlex, at application exit.) This works well if such import failures are temporary. However, if a profile archive has become corrupted somehow, each and every import will fail, the corrupt profile archive will not be overwritten at export, and this cycle will continue forever. It can only be straightened out by resetting the profile archive or restoring a profile archive backup using the Self-Support Tool or the Helpdesk Support Tool. This setting is supported in all non-EoGS DEM versions.
Hi @DPhil23, Policy settings for the DEM agent itself should be configured in Active Directory Group Policy. Doing that using DEM's ADMX-based settings will make them available too late to be picked... See more...
Hi @DPhil23, Policy settings for the DEM agent itself should be configured in Active Directory Group Policy. Doing that using DEM's ADMX-based settings will make them available too late to be picked up, as you have found.
Hi @almostIT, I just tested with the following elevated task: Launching that task does indeed copy the DEM install folder to another folder in Program Files that my non-admin user does not have... See more...
Hi @almostIT, I just tested with the following elevated task: Launching that task does indeed copy the DEM install folder to another folder in Program Files that my non-admin user does not have permissions to: At the start, that destination folder does not exist, and my test user gets access denied when trying to run that xcopy command the "normal" way. I then launch the elevated task, and show that the copy successfully took place. Can you share the XML config file for your elevated task, either publicly or via a private message?  
Hi @TomKalabis, How much time is DEM taking at logon, according to its log file?
Hi @VMHero4Ever, That "verification value still has initial data" message means that registry settings were not (completely) imported correctly, but without DEBUG logging it will be hard to pinpoint... See more...
Hi @VMHero4Ever, That "verification value still has initial data" message means that registry settings were not (completely) imported correctly, but without DEBUG logging it will be hard to pinpoint the problem any further. Sometimes there's anti-malware software that gets in the way of DEM imports; might something have changed in that regard in last 3 months that could have contributed to this? @Andreé, When you say "same issue", what issue do you mean exactly? Profile archives failing to import, seeing that "verification value still has initial data" error message, ...?
Hi @narflouise, The FlexEngine.log you attached contains eight logons, and DEM's processing took less than five seconds for all of those. If you have a log file for a user suffering from those long ... See more...
Hi @narflouise, The FlexEngine.log you attached contains eight logons, and DEM's processing took less than five seconds for all of those. If you have a log file for a user suffering from those long logon delays, I'd love to take a look.
Hi @therog, The approach is pretty similar to what's described in that KB article: you create DEM personalization config files for all applications that are used in the environment (and for the Wind... See more...
Hi @therog, The approach is pretty similar to what's described in that KB article: you create DEM personalization config files for all applications that are used in the environment (and for the Windows settings that you'd like to persist) and then you let DEM and Profile Unity run "side by side" for a while to allow all users to log on and log off at least once. You can then switch over to your new environment, and have DEM import the settings that it exported from your old environment.  
Hi @mbrundage, Does the log file show that DEM still redirects AppData for a user for which this shouldn't happen? What does the AppData value in key HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\... See more...
Hi @mbrundage, Does the log file show that DEM still redirects AppData for a user for which this shouldn't happen? What does the AppData value in key HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders look like in that case? Is it C:\Users\user name\AppData\Roaming, or does it point to the (old) network location? If the latter: Are you by any chance exporting the Shell Folders key with DEM?
Hi @ScottTrowbridge, Profile cleanup can only be used for settings within the Windows user profile ("addressed" via folder tokens, or HKCU registry paths.) To remove information from another locati... See more...
Hi @ScottTrowbridge, Profile cleanup can only be used for settings within the Windows user profile ("addressed" via folder tokens, or HKCU registry paths.) To remove information from another location, I'd suggest to use a DEM logoff task.
Hi @PublicTransport, DEM's "Remove local profile at logoff" feature does not do anything else than tweak some registry settings that instruct Windows to remove the profile. A similar case was recen... See more...
Hi @PublicTransport, DEM's "Remove local profile at logoff" feature does not do anything else than tweak some registry settings that instruct Windows to remove the profile. A similar case was recently opened with VMware support (also Citrix, but on Windows 10 Version 21H2), so maybe something changed in Windows that breaks this. The customer that opened that case will engage Citrix and Microsoft to get more details on this. I'll report back on what we get to know from that. You can also open a case with VMware support if you like and send me the SR #.
Hi @ScottTrowbridge, That \[EXPAND ENV VARS] option only tells the DEM agent to expand env vars in the content before that token, to support scenarios like <AppData>\Badly\Written\App\%USERNAME%\use... See more...
Hi @ScottTrowbridge, That \[EXPAND ENV VARS] option only tells the DEM agent to expand env vars in the content before that token, to support scenarios like <AppData>\Badly\Written\App\%USERNAME%\user-specific-data\[EXPAND ENV VARS]. Env var expansion does not change the overall functionality, so lines still need to start with a folder token. DEM is meant to manage settings inside the Windows user profile. If you need to manage settings for an application that stores its settings elsewhere, we recommend copying those settings to/from a "real" profile location at logoff and logon (or application exit and start, for DirectFlex-enabled applications), and referencing that profile location in the DEM personalization config file.
Hi @ktebo01, In the log that you shared, DEM only takes about 9 seconds at logon: 2023-04-20 08:35:50.112 [INFO ] Done (8664 ms) [<<IFP#4153b353-T5] Does your DEM GPO maybe also contain some non-D... See more...
Hi @ktebo01, In the log that you shared, DEM only takes about 9 seconds at logon: 2023-04-20 08:35:50.112 [INFO ] Done (8664 ms) [<<IFP#4153b353-T5] Does your DEM GPO maybe also contain some non-DEM-related settings that affect the overall logon duration? (NOTE: It's unrelated to your slow logons, but DEM 9.11 is very old – it reached end of general support more than a year ago. I'd strongly suggest to plan an update to a current version.)
Hi @goran_j, This is an agent setting, which is why you can't find it in the Management Console. If you configure the DEM agent via GPO, you can download the advanced ADMX template from KB 2145286,... See more...
Hi @goran_j, This is an agent setting, which is why you can't find it in the Management Console. If you configure the DEM agent via GPO, you can download the advanced ADMX template from KB 2145286, and then configure the Custom commands as SYSTEM policy setting: If you use NoAD mode, you can configure the equivalent settings your NoAD.xml config file.
Hi @Andreas_M, Logon script: Ah, too bad. I assumed that a published app would only start once the (invisible) desktop session had completed its logon, but I (clearly don't know anything about Ci... See more...
Hi @Andreas_M, Logon script: Ah, too bad. I assumed that a published app would only start once the (invisible) desktop session had completed its logon, but I (clearly don't know anything about Citrix. Monday will be fine for opening the support case, of course. I'll keep an eye on this thread in case there are any new developments before then.
Hi @Andreas_M, Thank you for testing that. I'd say that this would need to be looked at from the Citrix side, given that DEM isn't doing anything except for "delaying" the logon. If you (or Citrix) ... See more...
Hi @Andreas_M, Thank you for testing that. I'd say that this would need to be looked at from the Citrix side, given that DEM isn't doing anything except for "delaying" the logon. If you (or Citrix) would like to loop us in for that, please open an SR with VMware Support and DM me the SR #. And/or if you feel like performing yet another test: Does PicaVcHost also terminate if you don't use DEM but configure a standard Windows logon script (running synchronously) with that 20-second delay?
Hi @Andreas_M, OK, that pretty much rules out hooking being the culprit here. (Not important, but just in case: "FlexService.ex" is missing the final "e" in that UviProcessExcludes value.) Let's ta... See more...
Hi @Andreas_M, OK, that pretty much rules out hooking being the culprit here. (Not important, but just in case: "FlexService.ex" is missing the final "e" in that UviProcessExcludes value.) Let's take a different approach: Does the issue also occur if DEM doesn't really do anything during logon, except for taking some time? That is, if you only have a DEM logon task that performs something like timeout.exe 20, does the problem occur in that case too?