UEM tools, like AppSense DesktopNow, can be used to present and modify App-V 5 applications. Some of the benefits of integrating App-V packages within AppSense are:
- Package modification;
- Reduced packaging times;
- Granular access control;
- License control;
- Extensive reporting;
- Etc.
AppSense created a document about these benefits, which can be downloaded here.
But they lack the technical details how to modify App-V packages using AppSense Environment Manager. In this post I am going to describe three ways to modify App-V packages using AppSense Environment Manager.
AppSense DesktopNow components
AppSense DesktopNow consists of the following components:
- Environment Manager
- Application Manager
- Performance Manager
Using Environment Manager it is possible to create shortcuts to App-V packages and modify AppSense packages. With Application Manager it is for example possible to block executables and using Performance Manager system resource usage can be guarded.
Modify the native environment
To modify the native (non virtual) registry and file system, Environment Manager offers many options from the ribbon. This makes it easy to modify the registry of the file system:
But unfortunately the file and folder method cannot be used for App-V applications and the registry is not the best way to do it (see later in this post).
Processing of (personal) settings
AppSense processes modifications (modified by the user or by the administrator) in the following manner:
Settings in the local file system or registry is overwritten by the App-V package and the App-V package settings are overwritten by scripting, scripting is overwritten by Personalization.
So if we want to modify an App-V package we can:
- Modify the Personalization layer;
- Use scripting;
- Modify the local file system;
1) Modify App-V packages using the Personalization layer
Personalization is the profiling solution of DesktopNow and manages the profile of the user. Here are the changes that users make to their applications en workspace saved. If you do not use this feature (because you use a roaming profile or another profiling solution) you need to enable it to modify App-V packages.
The benefit of Personalization, in contrast to other profiling solutions, is that it uses the process name to save modifications. This makes it easy to migrate personal settings between different versions with the same executable name.
Enable Personalization
If Personalization isn’t already active in the Configuration, it needs to be enabled.
| Open Environment Manager | |
| Click on Manage, Personalization Servers |  |
| Click on Add Server and enter the server name of the personalization server.
Click on Add Click on Ok Now the Personalization server is enabled within the AppSense configuration. The configuration needs to be deployed to the clients, then personalization is active. |
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| Deploy the configuration using the Management Server |
The next step is to add a App-V application to the Personalization list.
| Open Environment Manager | |
| Click on User Personalization | |
| Click on Connect |  |
| Click on Add Server and enter the server name of the personalization server.
Click on Add Click on Ok |
|
| Click on Add Application |  |
| Fill in the Name and the executable of the virtual application, in my case XMLSpy.exe
Click on Ok |
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The next step is to add the package to an Application Group.
A group is not mandatory but it is a best practice. It allows other applications to access the Personalization information. If you add an application to a group later, when users have already personalized their applications, their settings will be lost.
| Click on Application Groups |  |
| Click on Add Application Group |  |
| Enter a Name Click on Ok |
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| Click on Add application |  |
| Select the application and click on Ok |  |
When the group is created and the application is added, the next step is to add the registry keys and/or the files which need to be saved (personalized).
| Click on Registry |  |
| Add the registry path that you want to Personalize
Click on Ok |
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|
| Add HKCU\Software to the excludes list.
This is a best practice and will prevent pollution of the personalization database. |
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Now that the Application Group is configured, it needs to be assigned to a group of users or computers.
| Click on Personalization Groups |  |
| Click on Add Personalization Group |  |
| Enter a name |  |
| Add a membership role |  |
| Modify the membership role Click on Ok |
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| Click on Application Personalization |  |
| Select the Application Group
Click on Ok |
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Now the Personalization settings of the application are assigned to the members of the group.
Inject settings into the Personalization layer
| Open the Environment Manager | |
| Click on User, Process Started |  |
| Add a new Node |  |
| Enter the name of the executable |  |
| Add an Execute action |  |
| Enter the following code:
This will add the registry key and the value in the Personalization layer of XMLSpy |
Filename: %SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe
Working directory: %SystemRoot%\System32 Parameters: /APPSENSESPECIAL:XMLSpy.exe:.* /C "REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Altova" /v License /t REG_BINARY /d 12345"
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| Make sure that REG.exe is removed from the Application Exclusion list otherwise REG.exe has no rights to write to the Personalization layer. | 
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So this method takes a lot of steps to get the custom settings (a license key) into the virtual environment. But the benefits are that end user can modify the changes and they will be written to the Personalization layer and processed last.
2) Modify App-V packages using the local registry
If you do not want to use Personalization within AppSense, there are alternatives.
It is possible to modify the local registry. App-V reads these these keys and the modification is applied.
In the local registry, under HKCU \Software\Microsoft\AppV\Client\ Packages\*GUID*\Registry\User\*SID*\ the virtual registry of the App-V packages resides.
These registry keys can be modified directly.
It is a bit difficult to create a script to modify these registry keys because the SID of the user needs to be queried and placed into the script. See this post how to resolve the SID.
Two remarks when using this method:
1) Make sure that the package is published to the user before the script is ran, otherwise the package GUID and version cannot be found.
1) In combination with Personalization, this feature can not be used to overwrite settings because Personalization is injected later and will overwrite the modified keys.
3) Modify App-V packages using the scripting possibilities of App-V
Another option to inject settings into AppSense is using the scripting possibilities of App-V.
In App-V 5 there is a new argument called “/appvve”. This stands for App-V Virtual Environment and using this argument it is possible to inject settings into the virtual environment.
| Open the Environment Manager | |
| Click on User, Process Started |  |
| Add a new Node |  |
| Enter the name of the executable
Click on Ok |
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| Add a an Execute |  |
| Enter the following code:
Change the GUID of the App-V package. The part before the _ is the package GUID and the part after the _ is the version. |
Filename: %SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe
Working directory: %SystemRoot%\System32 Parameters:
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Two remarks when using this method:
1) Make sure that the package is published to the user before the script is ran, otherwise the package GUID and version cannot be found.
1) In combination with Personalization, this feature can not be used to overwrite settings because Personalization is injected later and will overwrite the modified keys.
Conclusion
Although it is not easy to modify App-V 5 virtual applications using AppSense, it is possible. The best way to do it is to inject settings into the Personalization layer using Personalization groups.
Using this method the personal settings from the user are applied as last, saved when there is a new versions of the application en interchangeable with other applications in the group.
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