If you have been to our session called App-V standalone compared to CM12 Integrated: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly at MMS 2015 , we have showed you that some things by default cannot be done in Configmgr .
We showed a strong business case around the Application model in CM12 SP1 and using App-V 5.0 to do user-based software targeting. As most people are doing App-V integration in Configuration Manager and exploring the possibilities , they ran into some challenges I believe are critical and needs to be solved in a certain way . What the correct way is , I leave that up to the smart engineering guy’s in Redmond .
One of the great promises of application virtualization is dynamic delivery of software to end-users; however delivering plug-ins or add-ons to installed (i.e. not virtualized) software has thus far been a stumbling block. Internet Explorer has been particularly challenging due to the inability to separate the browser from the OS in a supported manner. So using App-V to deploy plug-ins like Flash or Java has meant changing the user experience with virtualization or falling back to standard install methods. Since App-V 5.0 SP2 this is very good news though, with the ability to seamlessly run an installed application inside a specified virtual environment. This means that the Flash plug-in can be delivered as a virtual package and made available to Internet Explorer without resorting to hacks or changing the user experience by providing a special shortcut.
The only requirement for specific Virtual Extensions (like the flash add-in) is that the package needs to be published Globally… only it doesn’t work great when deploying all your virtualized apps to users with System Center Configuration Manager and App-V 5.x. The table below will explain in what cases you will have to use Global publishing.
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We can overcome that hurdle with a sort of workaround that we are not going to explain in absolute detail as every customer has specific needs. See the steps below as a guide to think outside the box.
Workaround :
1. We are going to create a scheduled task which triggers on a eventID action 1003 from the eventlog “Microsoft-AppV-Client/Operational”
The script to create the scheduled task :
param( [Parameter(ParameterSetName='Register')] [switch]$Register, [Parameter(ParameterSetName='UnRegister')] [switch]$UnRegister ) switch($PsCmdlet.ParameterSetName){ "Register"{ $Xml = Get-Content (Join-Path $PSScriptRoot "ScheduledTaskTemplate_Publish.xml") $hReplace = @{ _Date_=(Get-Date -Format s) _Author_="Publish_User2Global_1.0_EN" _WorkingDirectory_=$PSScriptRoot } foreach($key in $hReplace.Keys) { $Xml = $Xml -creplace $key, $hReplace.$key } Register-ScheduledTask -Xml ($Xml | Out-String) -TaskName "1_user_Publish_User2Global" -TaskPath "Microsoft\AppV\Publishing" -Force | Out-Null $Xml = Get-Content (Join-Path $PSScriptRoot "ScheduledTaskTemplate_UnPublish.xml") $hReplace = @{ _Date_=(Get-Date -Format s) _Author_="UnPublish_User2Global_1.0_EN" _WorkingDirectory_=$PSScriptRoot } foreach($key in $hReplace.Keys) { $Xml = $Xml -creplace $key, $hReplace.$key } #Register-ScheduledTask -Xml ($Xml | Out-String) -TaskName "1_user_UnPublish_User2Global" -TaskPath "Microsoft\AppV\Publishing" -Force | Out-Null } "UnRegister"{ Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\AppV\Publishing\" -TaskName "1_user_Publish_User2Global" | Unregister-ScheduledTask -Confirm:$False | Out-Null #Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\AppV\Publishing\" -TaskName "1_user_UnPublish_User2Global" | Unregister-ScheduledTask -Confirm:$False | Out-Null } }
The script is based on the following templates :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?> <Task version="1.4" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task"> <RegistrationInfo> <Date>_Date_</Date> <Author>_Author_</Author> <URI>\Microsoft\AppV\Publishing\1_user_Publish_User2Global</URI> </RegistrationInfo> <Triggers> <EventTrigger> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <Subscription><QueryList><Query Id="0" Path="Microsoft-AppV-Client/Operational"><Select Path="Microsoft-AppV-Client/Operational">*[System[Provider[@Name='Microsoft-AppV-Client'] and EventID=1003]]</Select></Query></QueryList></Subscription> <ValueQueries> <Value name="ThePackageId">Event/EventData/Data[@Name='Package']</Value> <Value name="TheVersionId">Event/EventData/Data[@Name='Version']</Value> <Value name="UserSid">Event/System/Security/@UserID</Value> </ValueQueries> </EventTrigger> </Triggers> <Principals> <Principal id="Author"> <GroupId>S-1-5-18</GroupId> <RunLevel>LeastPrivilege</RunLevel> </Principal> </Principals> <Settings> <MultipleInstancesPolicy>IgnoreNew</MultipleInstancesPolicy> <DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>false</DisallowStartIfOnBatteries> <StopIfGoingOnBatteries>false</StopIfGoingOnBatteries> <AllowHardTerminate>true</AllowHardTerminate> <StartWhenAvailable>false</StartWhenAvailable> <RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>false</RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable> <IdleSettings> <StopOnIdleEnd>true</StopOnIdleEnd> <RestartOnIdle>false</RestartOnIdle> </IdleSettings> <AllowStartOnDemand>false</AllowStartOnDemand> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <Hidden>true</Hidden> <RunOnlyIfIdle>false</RunOnlyIfIdle> <DisallowStartOnRemoteAppSession>false</DisallowStartOnRemoteAppSession> <UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine>true</UseUnifiedSchedulingEngine> <WakeToRun>false</WakeToRun> <ExecutionTimeLimit>P3D</ExecutionTimeLimit> <Priority>7</Priority> <RestartOnFailure> <Interval>PT1M</Interval> <Count>3</Count> </RestartOnFailure> </Settings> <Actions Context="Author"> <Exec> <Command>powershell.exe</Command> <Arguments>-NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -WindowStyle Hidden -File User2Global.ps1 -Publish -PackageId $(ThePackageId) -VersionId $(TheVersionId) -UserSid $(UserSid)</Arguments> <WorkingDirectory>_WorkingDirectory_</WorkingDirectory> </Exec> </Actions> </Task>
2. When the scheduled task is triggered by event-ID action 1003 from the eventlog “Microsoft-AppV-Client/Operational” , we kick-off the following Powershell script (see below). It will unpublished the package from the user and will publish the package globally instead.
param( [Parameter(ParameterSetName='Publish')] [switch]$Publish, [Parameter(ParameterSetName='UnPublish')] [switch]$UnPublish, [guid]$PackageId, [guid]$VersionId, [string]$UserSid ) Function New-BurntToastNotification{ <# This function will show a BurnToastNotification #> [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess = $True)] Param ( [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)] $Text, [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)] $Title ) # create toast template TO xml [Windows.UI.Notifications.ToastNotificationManager, Windows.UI.Notifications, ContentType = WindowsRuntime] > $null $toastXml = ([Windows.UI.Notifications.ToastNotificationManager]::GetTemplateContent([Windows.UI.Notifications.ToastTemplateType]::ToastImageAndText02)).GetXml() # message to show on toast $stringElements = $toastXml.GetElementsByTagName("text") | select -First 1 $stringElements.AppendChild($toastXml.CreateTextNode($Title)) > $null $stringElements = $toastXml.GetElementsByTagName("text") | select -Last 1 $stringElements.AppendChild($toastXml.CreateTextNode($Text)) > $null # image $imageElements = $toastXml.GetElementsByTagName("image") $imageElements[0].src = "file:///" + "$PSScriptRoot\appv.png" # convert from System.Xml.XmlDocument to Windows.Data.Xml.Dom.XmlDocument $windowsXml = New-Object Windows.Data.Xml.Dom.XmlDocument $windowsXml.LoadXml($toastXml.OuterXml) # send toast notification $toast = New-Object Windows.UI.Notifications.ToastNotification ($windowsXml) [Windows.UI.Notifications.ToastNotificationManager]::CreateToastNotifier("App-V").Show($toast) } Import-Module "$env:ProgramFiles\Microsoft Application Virtualization\Client\AppvClient\AppvClient.psd1" $package = Get-AppVClientPackage -PackageId $PackageId -VersionId $VersionId -All switch($PsCmdlet.ParameterSetName) { "Publish" { try { Unpublish-AppvClientPackage $package -UserSID $UserSid if (! $package.IsPublishedGlobally) { Publish-AppVClientPackage $package -Global New-BurntToastNotification -Text "$($package.name)`nSuccesfully Published Globally." -Title "App-V User2Global" } } catch { New-BurntToastNotification -Text "Something went wrong while Publishing: `n$($package.name)." -Title "App-V User2Global" } } "UnPublish" { try { if (($package = Get-AppVClientPackage -PackageId $PackageId -VersionId $VersionId -All).IsPublishedGlobally) { $package | stop-AppVClientPackage -Global -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Unpublish-AppvClientPackage -Global New-BurntToastNotification -Text "$($package.name)`nSuccesfully UnPublished Globally." -Title "App-V User2Global" } } catch { New-BurntToastNotification -Text "Something went wrong while unpublishing: `n$($package.name)." -Title "App-V User2Global" } } }
You can choose how to deploy the script. You can create an App-V bubble or simply deploy this with Configmgr or GPO ….
Disclaimer : The script are delivered AS-IS and are not the complete solution to this story. It is an example on how to think outside the box and make a potential solution that will fit your specific company issue.
Hope it Helps ,
Kenny Buntinx & Roy Essers .