Daniele Tosatto

After sequencing RSSOwl 2.x with Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) you may be able to launch RSSOWL during the monitoring and the launch phase, however after the second launch (and subsequent launches) the application fails to start with an application-specific error:

“There are no more files”

Cause

This occurs due to a sharing violation with the initial configuration file and the directory which needs to be opened for Read/Write access.

Resolution

1. Add an exclusion for %CSIDL_PROFILE%\.rssowl2\ prior to monitoring. You can do this by going to “Tools” and then “Options” in the sequencer. Then click the “Exclusion Items” tab.

2. During sequencing, let RSSOwl launch after it finishes installing during the monitoring phase. Then click through (skip) the Launch window. This will ensure all user settings do not get capture and get regenerated for new users and get properly routed to their profile *.PKG files.

Microsoft released App-V 4.6 for RDS Whitepaper.

This whitepaper discusses the benefits, configurations and considerations when planning a Microsoft® Windows Server® Remote Desktop Services solution with Microsoft Application Virtualization.

You can download the whitepaper here.

Just a quick heads-up that the Application Virtualization Sequencing SuperFlow has been released. So what’s a SuperFlow? Think flowchart, but cooler and better. The SuperFlow series “is an interactive content model that provides a structured and interactive interface for viewing documentation.” The App-V SuperFlow that we just released visually maps out the sequencing process, and each section provides the relevant documentation, as well as instructions, for that part of the sequencing process. I have an example screenshot below:

The Resources tab has shortcuts to the App-V TechCenter, Documentation, Forums, and this blog. For more details and to download the App-V Sequencing SuperFlow visit the download center here.

Microsoft has introduced a new MMC snap-in tool called Remote Desktop Connection Manager in Windows Server 2008 R2 for managing the in-box VDI solution from Microsoft. In this blog, I will explain how you can specify various RDP settings for the virtual desktops published using this tool.

You can specify a different set of RDP settings for each type of virtual desktops (Personal and Pooled) published by this tool.

To modify RDP settings for “Personal Virtual Desktops,” expand the “RD Virtualization Host Servers” node, select “Personal Virtual desktops” and then select “Properties” from actions.

To modify the RDP settings for pooled virtual desktops, select the pool node under “RD Virtualization Host Servers” node and then select “Properties” from actions. This allows you to change the RDP property for the pool that you have selected. If you have more than one pool of virtual desktops, you will have to change RDP settings for each pool by going to their respective nodes.

For most common RDP settings there is a “Common RDP Settings” property tab with dedicated UI controls for each of the setting. The “Custom RDP Settings” tab allows you to specify advanced RDP settings which are not modified very frequently. Given below is an example of how Custom RDP Settings can be used to enable optimal audio/visual experience for virtual desktop users.

Enabling optimal user experience

By default, the virtual desktops published through this tool are tuned for performance. For example, with default RDP settings, users will not be able to see the wallpaper on their virtual desktop. To enable the optimal audio/visual user experience, you can add following RDP settings under the “Custom RDP settings” tab:

With the above settings, RDP connections to virtual machines require higher network bandwidth compared to default settings. Therefore the admin should enable these settings taking into account the available network bandwidth and the desired user experience.

For a complete list of RDP settings for Remote Desktop Services, see the Remote Desktop Services Technical Reference (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139899).