App-V GUID Issue on virtual machine

If you are using Virtual Machines and snapshots there is a possibility you had run into a issue where the GUID of the package is always the same in the first sequencing try after reverting to a previous snapshot.  I asked the support if this could be resolved and they said it must be because I´ve taken the snapshot with App-V Sequencer opened, but I did not take the snapshot with App-V Sequencer opend but still I´m getting the GUID the same. So I did some digging and here is what I found.

The first thing I noticed that the time on the VM was the same date and time as when the snapshot was taken so the time does not syncronize.

7766DDFF-3461-438D-9B15-F23D4129AB43 (Time Created 4/10/2011 2:09:11 PM) (Time Modified 4/10/2011 2:10:36 PM)
7766DDFF-3461-438D-9B15-F23D4129AB43 (Time Created 4/10/2011 2:07:59 PM) (Time Modified 4/10/2011 2:07:59 PM)

As you can see I reverted the snapshot and the GUID is the same on both but does have different time like minute or so.  What you need to do is this.

1. Configure timezone for the VM and create a BAT file that includes "w32tm /resync".  Reboot the computer and create a new snapshot. Before you create a new sequenced application you can run the bat file and see if the date/time does syncronize.  It is a possiblity that the computer needs a restart after the syncronization, you will problably see that in the sequencing wizard, so it is recomended to reboot the machine first. After this I get a new GUID as you can see and a new date time.

04E7BC0C-4F05-42C8-AFA5-011963BC52F2 (Time Created 4/19/2011 1:33:01 PM) (Time Modified 4/19/2011 1:34:26 PM)

Hope this helps.

OffVirt Flag Generator - First Try

Finally I´ve finished with the Office Virtualization Flag Generator I hope it will be usefull for those who don´t understand the flags.  It´s in gui mode but it will create a string of flags that you input.  This is only the first version so if you have any comments about the application such as features, I will then check if it is possible to add them. There can be some things that don´t work such as.

• Generate as VBS Script
• File and Help Menu

The file will be attached to a link on the right side of the menu under "SkyDrive Downloads". 

Here are some screenshots

BTW : You need .NET 4.0 installed to be able to run this application.

The Crash and the speed

The harddisk on my computer failed, I just finished reinstalling the computer on SSD.  WOWhh.. the speed. Thank god I did not loose any data.  I´m going to start again to finish the app, it should be finished quite soon.

In development

I´ve been doing some work on the presentation for the App-V and Med-V this weekend, I think it´s going to be very cool presentation, there will be 3 videos that I created to show how easy it is to virtualize an application. 

Also I´ve been programming a small application for sequencing and client flags as you can see in the screenshot.  I will release this as soon for everyone to use.  If anyone has any comments about this, please feel free to do so.

Long time no see

Hi, I have been doing a lot of work lately so there has been no writing to the blog for a few weeks/months.  Well at least I´m starting again.  I will be speaking here in Iceland about App-V and Med-V on behalf of Microsoft, it will be about 50 minutes long so I have to shorten the speech.  I´m doing some programming for Office Deployment Kit, it´s just a idea for a small kit to create the setup package for licensing and the office proxy, for those who don´t understand the deployment kit.  I´ll post soon about the app. Yeah and the forum has closed because of inactivity, I think the technet forum will be quite good for posting questions.

Analysing the problem

When computer problems occur in your company or the company you are servicing the employee always screems at the computer admins that they don´t do there work and everything not ok with there computer system and it does not matter if the problem is the computer or some software.

I´ve been on two lectures this month and I noticed that everytime the lecture started there where always some software problems.  The first lecture some slides did not show and some other minor problems, the second lecture the computer had virus and was very slow. I learned alot just from watching the teachers trying to figure out what the problem was with the computer and software. I did not want to intervene because I just wanted to see from first hand how the problem would resolve.  The teachers tried to call the computer admins with out any result so the lectures continued with some software problems, even when the computer system was very slow.

I think that similar problems happen very often when users are using the computers at some important meetings, lectures, classes etc. So it got me thinking why is this happening and how can the computer administrator help to fix this problems. There are few options that the computer administrators must consider.

1. Consider using terminal services/remote desktop services
2. Consider using VDI machines
3. Consider using App-V and Med-V

But why should the computer administrator use these features and what problems can this solve for these users.  If you use terminal services/remote desktop services you always need to be online to access the terminal services/remote desktop services.  There can be some issues with compatibility with applications running on terminal services/remote desktop services so it can be hard sometimes especially when some 3rd party applications are badly developed and I have run into many such applications.  The terminal server is locked down so the user cannot install or change anything other than the settings in the user profile unless you choose to use mandadory profile.  If you choose the VDI infrastructure every user gets its own virtual computer and can be older or newer operating system and is rock solid for compatibility for applications.

If you use app-v and med-v you are choosing the holy grail for computer administrator, why because the software does not install itself on the computer, that means that there is less problems.  I can say it´s like if the software is like mandadory profile, it does not change after it has been sequenced.  The only thing that is changed is the settings for the user witch is private, that can be some registry keys or somthing like that.  So the software such as 3rd party applications does not install "junk" registry keys into the actual physical registry of the machine and also the "junk" dlls that conflict with other dlls on the machine. You know if you install a lot of applications into the computer there can be some major problems occuring with the OS, so everytime a user calls the admin it´s because of 3rd party applications that are not working is problably because there is somthing conflicting.  App-V and Med-V solve these problems, and it is actually true.  I´ve been an administrator for a long time now and I´ve seen alot of solutions out there but nothing like App-V.

There is another thing that the administrator has to consided is to teach the users to test everything before the lecture, meeting, class etc.

Thanks,
Gisli Gudmundsson

MOSD Edit - Work in progress

I´m writing a small application that you can use to change contents multiple OSD files.  Here are some screenshots of the application.

Here you can change such as Local interaction allowed to all selected OSD files.

Change the contact information to all OSD files.