Theike's Posts

Hi, In this situation i would not advise to save the files to the native file system. In general your answer is correct to try to store temporary or logging files tothe native system as it ... See more...
Hi, In this situation i would not advise to save the files to the native file system. In general your answer is correct to try to store temporary or logging files tothe native system as it prevents the sandbox from exploding due to continiously growing disk space usage. For example having 25 MB of temp files for 1000 users is quite some space. Especially if this is for 100+ apps. Cleaning a single TEMP-folder in the profile is simpler than cleaning 100 sandboxes temp folder, for 100 applications... And there are common tools for doing that. In this case however the logging is stored to the program files folder, which is protected (read only) for normal user accounts (non local admin) on vista and win7. So the application could throw errors to the user when saving the files there or the user must have specific permissions (which is not advised to be able to simply deploy the app). It would be best to redirect the logging either to a networkdrive or a personal (profile) folder like %appdata%/enteryourpathhere... If possible of course. And make sure that folder is in merged mode like Cievo stated... Kind regards, Michael Baars - Comprehensive ICT Solutions (Weert NL) (Please remember to mark the post answered if so and reward points to those who helped you...)
In general Oracle is no problem at all. In general you can create a Aoracle package and even applink it without any issue. With Oracle 10 we had one specific situation (application: Beaufort) ... See more...
In general Oracle is no problem at all. In general you can create a Aoracle package and even applink it without any issue. With Oracle 10 we had one specific situation (application: Beaufort) in which one dll from the oracle bin-folder had to be available locally. Unfortunatly i have no idea which dll it was or with what version of ThinApp it was captured/built (and i assume it should be possible to work around it when spending some time). We solved it by having our deploymentsystem copy the file locally to the winsystem32-folder during the 'installation'. But except this one application we never encountered any problems. The hardest is ensuring the correct config files to be applied. Good luck, Michael Baars - Comprehensive ICT Solutions (NL)
Hi, First a welcome to the forums... Short answer: you don't/can't... To set the 'default emailclient' this would involve altering the native systemsettings and the purpose of ThinApp i... See more...
Hi, First a welcome to the forums... Short answer: you don't/can't... To set the 'default emailclient' this would involve altering the native systemsettings and the purpose of ThinApp is to 'shield' the system from such settings. You have to see it as follows: When you capture an application and a mail client in a single package, the application (that has a 'send email' feature) would see the features end configuration provided by the virtualisation wrap. (as intended). For the native system however there are no settings that have been altered to allow sending email. For example the (most common) interface to send email from an application is using the MAPI interface. This is used by the Microsoft products like outlook (express). If you would have no email client at all on your system this interface would not have been configured. To the system your email client would not be there at all. A ThinApp application in general is nothing more than a single EXE. You don't install any local 'services'. Using ThinReg (or MSI install) to do the registration of general handlers (.doc = ThinApp WinWord) or add the shortcuts to the startmenu are 'just' convinience accessors. They will not be able to provide the services/configuration needed for this. With ThinApped applications you just don't want your local system to be 'corrupted' with undesired settings. And in general... We don't use ThinReg or the MSI option as it also introduces some undesired or uncontrolable behaviour. Eg: Office 2003 and 2007, thinapped & 'installed' using MSI or ThinReg: which one opens '.doc' depends on which one was 'installed' first. This is undesired in a professional environment in which you want consistent behaviour... If the other applications are ThinApped as well, you could applink it. In that case the application would see the application... It is possible to modify the local system to get a configuration in which the MAPI interface get's installed locally and it could call the virtualised email client. But i think you would mis the point with desired results (you would still be modifying the native system beyond simple recovery, which the packaging and virtualisation targets) Kind regards, Michael Baars - Comprehensive ICT solutions (Please remember to mark the question aswered if so and reward points to those who helped you)
Hi First welcome to the forums! Based on the yestion i assume you have limited experience with ThinApp or did 'normal' application deployment so far. For this question some more detailed i... See more...
Hi First welcome to the forums! Based on the yestion i assume you have limited experience with ThinApp or did 'normal' application deployment so far. For this question some more detailed information about the desired solution is required. I assume you want to ThinApp MS Office and as well add some 'template' documents (excel sheets, access database, ...) in it. My general answer would be: Use a clean system, capture the office installation (check the blogs for the best practice) and create the documents you need. Next create some shortcuts to the documents on the desktop and make sure everything works. End the capture and ensure the entrypoints (shortcuts) to your documents are included. This would be it already. Build the solution and you would have a all-in-one 'split access database'. I just think this is not realy what you want... The data entered in the database would end up in the application sandbox. This means whenever you delete the sandbox your data wourl be reset to the version it was when capturing. So i assume you want to have the documents on some sort of network share or similar. This would be excluded from the capture/sandboxing. By including the shortcuts in the office capture to these network documents you would have a portable 'editor' environment. All in all, we need more information to help you with your custom solution (as i assume is what you need: advice on howto...) I hope the hinst give you a push in the right direction and feel free to post more info/ask questions! Kind regards, Michael Baars - Comprehensive ICT Solutions (NL, Weert) (Please remember to mark the question answered when so and assign points to helpfull answers)
Hi ThinApp itself be default has no features to handle such functionalities. In general, ThinApp is 'just' a way to deploy an application easily without installation and shielding the local s... See more...
Hi ThinApp itself be default has no features to handle such functionalities. In general, ThinApp is 'just' a way to deploy an application easily without installation and shielding the local system from changes/interactions by providing sandbox functionality. It is possible however to 'build' such a functionality using the scripting (or better, the code API introduced with 4.5). There are some examples from people that did similar on this forum, but don't expect a fully integrated solution with management console. Also View is not intended for such purposes. You should realy look for some desktop management tools. We (the company I work for) have good experiences with the RES productrange (desktop manager for start menu / your desired 'licensing'/concurent user limitation feature and provisioning manager for deployment). Also Quest provides such functionalities (and sory for all those out there i missed). Sorry I don't have a 'yes, just do X' solution for you... Kind regards, Michael Baars - Comprehensive ICT Solutions (NL, Weert) (Please remember to mark the question answered if so and reward points to those who helped you)
I have encountered an issue with Agilent 2100 Expert.This program starts some services in the background, which are not terminated when closing the application. The 'not closing' itself is not... See more...
I have encountered an issue with Agilent 2100 Expert.This program starts some services in the background, which are not terminated when closing the application. The 'not closing' itself is not a real issue as it solves another problem encountered: slow startup speed (usually starting takes about 1-15 seconds, thinapped 30-50 due to the starting services). Now only the first time is slow, next starts are nearer the 'normal' startup times. The real problem is that when shutting down the system the virtual services are not terminated and block the shutdown process. What i already tried: Tested with different versions of ThinApp, including latest & greatest (4.6.1) VB script with service-stopping functions in 'on first sandbox owner' This fails as adding an (even empty) VB results in a crashing application. Testing all variations of service startup options As the services are (re)started when the virtualised main-application is started i have tried to have them 'manual started', no improvement... A Sandbox-preheater/service stopper helper I have a small application that puts itself in the systemtray and can be used as a 'sandbox preheater' allowing often started but slowly initialising apps to start faster. I have extended it with service stopping features. also on shutdown it does not work... Especially the last option is a bit weird. When i stap the preheater manually the services are stopped nicely and shutdown is no problem. When the preheater is not closed manually and on system shutdown the service stopping functions are triggered, the services are NOT terminated. I can see the service stopping features are called. When installing the application natively of course everything works fine. Just to tackle the first question... Anyone having new ideas how to solve the issue before issueing a ticket? Kind regards, Michael Baars, Comprehensive ICT Solutions
Hi, Just as a note: Yes, deleting the sandbox is a best practice whenever you change your package. The sandbox contains a lot of information, like folder isolation modes and so on. You would ... See more...
Hi, Just as a note: Yes, deleting the sandbox is a best practice whenever you change your package. The sandbox contains a lot of information, like folder isolation modes and so on. You would find changing it in the package and still not having the desired result  (files not accessible for example). Also in a sandbox there might be installed patches or configuration settings applied in earlier sessions. Our best practice is during testing is to have the sandbox on auto-delete (property in package.ini). Just make sure to remove this setting when publishing the application. In general we even change the sandbox name as soon as the package has been installed on client systems, others than the capture/test systems. This to also ensure 'old' settings don't interact in undesired ways with the package. Kind regards, Michael Baars, CIS (Please remember to mark the post answered when it is, and reward helping answers by assigning points)
Hi, As Peter already stated it will not be possible to update content in the Program Files folder. Starting Windows Vista this is a restricted area. And as the app is started with the normal u... See more...
Hi, As Peter already stated it will not be possible to update content in the Program Files folder. Starting Windows Vista this is a restricted area. And as the app is started with the normal user account this will be a no-go. Even power users would at least get the UAC noticication. Just a note: We usually try to keep all applications (virtual or 'portable' like single exe) 'installed' outside the system folders (windows, program files, ...) to prevent this. I assume you use MSI roleout, so changing the target folder (to for example 'c:\virtualisedapplications\myappname' will be relative painless. I f you have a different distribution method, changing the target path will also be only a minor change. The location the package is placed is not relevant for the app anyway. We have very good experience using the desktop managing and application distribution software from RES Software (http://www.res.nl). It works great in combination with ThinApp! (MSI roleout has it's pro's and con's, just like appsync) Good luck. Michael Baars - CIS
Hi, I assume you have tried the following on the native install, but just to verify: - Does the app work when running as administrator? - Does the app start when you activate 'backward compa... See more...
Hi, I assume you have tried the following on the native install, but just to verify: - Does the app work when running as administrator? - Does the app start when you activate 'backward compatibility mode'? (setting 256 colors etc, not XP mode using the semi-VM!) In case it works as administrator: http://pubs.vmware.com/thinapp4/help/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm?href=pkg_UACReqPrivilegesLevel.html In case backward compatibility works: http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2011/02/launching-a-thinapp-packaged-app-in-windows-compatibility-mode.html Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS (Remember to mark the post answered if so and reward helping posts with points)
Hi, The reason MS does not 'support' it is because outlook relies on almost any function on the info in the PST. By putting it on a 'unreliable' source (usb stick, networkshare, preferrably ac... See more...
Hi, The reason MS does not 'support' it is because outlook relies on almost any function on the info in the PST. By putting it on a 'unreliable' source (usb stick, networkshare, preferrably accessed via WIFI, ...) makes the chance for corruption real likely to happen soon or later (more soon than later). And a corrupt PST is the last a busy system admin or company wants at all... There are some reasons you don't want this in the first place. If you put the PST in the sandbox at all, the sandbox will grow large soon. In general we (our company) have the statement that it is preferred to have the sandbox small. This for planning purpose (space on sandbox shares required), as well as for stability (smaller sandbox = better performance & stability). But most important: In case an application no longer works, the best way to get it running again is to delete the sandbox. This works great, as long as there is no 'working' data in the sandbox like documents or -in this case- all mails, addressbook, calendar and so on. I would not like to be the one to tell the manager he 'lost' his agenda because of an app update or because the sandbox was deleted as the sandbox-drive was getting full... Also if other apps use outlook using applinks thay will not be able to access the PST, as it is in another sandbox. Result would be either duplication (another sandbox that holds the 200MB of mails) or 'not available'. In theory: yes it will work... My recomendation would be: I don't think you want this... I'm open to more/other or even 'yes, it is better because...' points Kind regards, Michael Baars, CIS (Make sure to mark the question answered if so and reward answers with points if they helped you)
Hi, Yes, this is possible. This type of problem occurs relative often. What you need is a script (or if you have a programmer: extension dll) that pushes a file to the native system. Note: y... See more...
Hi, Yes, this is possible. This type of problem occurs relative often. What you need is a script (or if you have a programmer: extension dll) that pushes a file to the native system. Note: you state appdata, note that on Win7 there is a %appdata% for roaming and local profiles... %appdata% by default refers to roaming profile. Check which your app uses if you target that platform. Steps (generalized): - Set the isolation mode for the folder in question (%appdata%, subfolder "\Name of the Software Company\Software Name" in your case) to 'Merged' using a ##attributes.ini. (file atached) - In the capture, include the desired file needed on the native system with a '.template' extension appended (or similar) - Create a VBScript and give it a unique name in your application (like the sandboxname) to prevent conflicts when using applinking (if all have 'thinapp.vbs' you get a naming conflict/undefined behaviour due to duplicate). This VB has to copy the 'template' file to the correct place. To only do this on app start add  it to the 'onfirstsandboxowner'-placeholder/handler (example VB appended. I did not test it and it might require some tweaking...) I hope this answers your question... Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS (Please mark the question answered if so and reward helping participants with assigning points)
Hi Willie, Welcome to the forums. ThinApp allows you to virtualise applications (or in your case: services) no longer requiring you to natively install them on a target system. Although it is... See more...
Hi Willie, Welcome to the forums. ThinApp allows you to virtualise applications (or in your case: services) no longer requiring you to natively install them on a target system. Although it is possible to technically virtualise SQL server, you will never be able to run 2 versions nect to each other on the same machine. This is already a limitation based on the ports claimed to communicate. Furthermore you will have to check if this is a desired way of using it. As a developer myself i had much better (stability/performancewise) results with running the server in a virtual system. With a thinapped version you will have to think about how you want to manage the databases, as you don't want them in your sandbox (they might grow huge, especially the log files). On the other hands i have great experiences virtualising the applications using the server to be able to deploy them without having to install the clients and create the database connections on each client system available. My tip would be: Download VMware server/ESXi or use VMware Workstation and install on a (minimal) system. Kind regards, Michael Baars (CIS) (Please mark the question answered if so and remember to reward those who helped you)
If you look at the release cycles you will notice releases are about every 3-4 months. VMware however does not state this is their planning or inform us if it will be any other interval. The rele... See more...
If you look at the release cycles you will notice releases are about every 3-4 months. VMware however does not state this is their planning or inform us if it will be any other interval. The release is ready when it is ready. You want to have a stable release, not the nightly build which VMware will not be able to support in production environments. If you search the forums you will notice this question has been asked several times. There are ppl that requested for those intermediate builds (like me), even if it was for testing that issue experiencing. To check if the issue has been fixed already. This is just the way VMware works. It has positive and 'less desired' but understandable reasons. Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS
Hi, This is an old post and assume you already have the answer. First i want to refer to the (latest) user manual which is easiest to find using Google and search for 'ThinApp user guide'. ... See more...
Hi, This is an old post and assume you already have the answer. First i want to refer to the (latest) user manual which is easiest to find using Google and search for 'ThinApp user guide'. Make sure to get the link with the current release. Of course you can get it from the VMware site directly, but google finds it faster for me... The manual is quite good on this.The basics are the folder virtualisation settings. There are 2 settings that are involved (i hint ion 3 and 4 later on). 1) The obvious 'isolation mode' in the package.ini, which can be specified for registry and folders. This is the default setting applied. 2) For the various folders it is possible to overrule these settings using a '##attributes.ini' in the corresponding folder. Check the documentation for the various % foldername %-definitions that exist.The most common ones are pre-generated when performing a capture. Just a note: if TEMP points to c:/temp, %temp% wins regarding definition over %drive-C%/temp! Make sure to get a good understanding on the different isolation modes as it will make or break your package (behave as desired or hide/cloak files). I noted there were a 3 and 4: 3) When using applinked modules, the MOST RESTRICTING isolation mode will win! 4) Using scripting (or via DLL) it is possible to alter the isolation mode using the 'Set(filesystem/registry)IsolationMode' function. Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS-Group
Hi, It is a quite old question, but still... In general there will be no problem with invoking native installed applications. Especial: if you just open a word document it should invoke the c... See more...
Hi, It is a quite old question, but still... In general there will be no problem with invoking native installed applications. Especial: if you just open a word document it should invoke the corresponding handler automatically (iow: word or excel in your case). In general: This should just work 'by default'... The only thing to keep in mind is whether you want to run the invoked native application in native mode or within the virtualization bubble. Running it native will be the usual desired way, as it allows integration with an already running instance. For example: a user runs outlook natively (to check for mail) and runs a virtualized app that wants to send a mail. The mail has to be sent by the native instance or the mail archive (PST) or profile might get corrupted... Invoking the native app as virtualised is fine of course for all tools, small self containing apps and possibly plugins. To specify the way how to open the native application check the ThinApp user manual on 'ChildProcessEnvironmentExceptions' (and the default as well). Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS-Group
Hi, Welcome to the thinapp forum. I assume you are using ThinApp 4.5? If you are using an earlier version get the latest one and build the package with it (or relink if you don't have th... See more...
Hi, Welcome to the thinapp forum. I assume you are using ThinApp 4.5? If you are using an earlier version get the latest one and build the package with it (or relink if you don't have the capture anymore). 4.0.4 provided basic Win7-support, but most apps had problems. With 4.5 support has been improved quite a bit. It might be handier if you provide a bit more info btw. For example application name/edition, capture situation (you stated you capured on XP, SP? 32/64 bit?), ThinApp version and whatever more could help troubleshooting. Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS-Group (Remember to mark the post answered and reward points to those who helped you...)
Hi, In general with any development environment you will run into problems with debugging. Virtualised debugging is not (yet) possible, at least i have not been succesfull with various IDE'... See more...
Hi, In general with any development environment you will run into problems with debugging. Virtualised debugging is not (yet) possible, at least i have not been succesfull with various IDE's. Kind regard, Michael Baars - CIS-Group (Remember to mark the post answered and reward points to those who helped you...)
Hi, First a welcome to the community as it is your first post. I am afraid this is not as simple as you state. As a developer I know a quite some ways to determine what version of windows m... See more...
Hi, First a welcome to the community as it is your first post. I am afraid this is not as simple as you state. As a developer I know a quite some ways to determine what version of windows my app is running on. The simplest is just a check in the registry to determine the os version. Others just use the OS version info API function and then there are some other more complicated. As long as it is not known how the app determines the version it will be very hard to simply give you a way to 'alter' the virtual OS version. If you have more info on the app we might have a way to help you. For future posts, please give as much info as possible, like application name and version. Maybe this triggers someone who has captured this app before... Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS-Group (Remember to mark the post answered and reward points to those who helped you...)
Hi, Acrobat reader/standard/pro (any version) can be virtualised without much trouble. There are just some items to know: - The printer driver (PDF printer) will not work, as it would have... See more...
Hi, Acrobat reader/standard/pro (any version) can be virtualised without much trouble. There are just some items to know: - The printer driver (PDF printer) will not work, as it would have to be integrated in the system. - The integration in office etc. will not work, as it requires the printer driver - Remember to activate the product (start the application at least once to complete the 'hello' and activation process). - Remember to deactivate the auto-update! I tried to install the printer driver natively, and capture the rest. The printer driver however requires acrobat standard/pro to be installed on the system for the rendering, so what will be the big gain of having it virtual. So best practice: capture the app, leave out the printer driver/integration features in office etc. and start the app to activate the app and do common settings before post capture. Kind regards, Michael Baars - CIS-Group (Remember to mark the post answered and reward points to those who helped you...)
Hi, Well, exchange 2007 MMC is possible: 1) make sure the IIS common files (control panel->add/remove Software->windows components) is enabled/are installed 2) install powershell 3) install... See more...
Hi, Well, exchange 2007 MMC is possible: 1) make sure the IIS common files (control panel->add/remove Software->windows components) is enabled/are installed 2) install powershell 3) install KB942763 4) start setup exchange 4a) error reporting off (select no) 4b) Select custom install and use 'Management tools'. Kind regards, Michael Baars (Remember to mark the post answered and reward points to those who helped you...)