VMware App Volumes 2.18 | 17 September 2019 | Build 2.18.0.25 Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What is in the Release Notes

• What's New
• What’s New to Extended Service Branch (ESB)
• Internationalization
• Resolved Issues
• Known Issues

The VMware App Volumes 2.18 release includes the following new features, updates, and bug fixes.

What is New

• Centralized Job Management - Administrators can use the Jobs tab under Activity in the App Volumes Manager UI to fine-tune large deployments.
  For more information about sizing large deployments, see knowledge base article 67354.
• Support for Microsoft Windows 10 1909
• Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2019
• Support for IPv6
• Security updates
• Support for rolling upgrade of App Volumes Manager servers from App Volumes 2.18 to later versions of 2.x.

What is New to Extended Service Branch (ESB)

App Volumes 2.18 is an ESB release. For more information about ESB, see the knowledge base article Horizon Extended Service Branch (ESB) (52845).

• Profile-only template for Writable Volumes - The App Volumes agent has a new dual-write capability to ensure support of AppStacks while retaining only the files related to the user’s profile. The profile-only template feature also provides the ability to specify folders within the profile to be excluded. This ability gives administrators additional controls to reduce files persisted to a user’s Writable Volume.
• Support for Microsoft OneDrive For Business - Improved support for Office 365 on non-persistent desktops by using Writable Volumes to persist OneDrive’s local files across login sessions.
• Support for Box Drive - latest version of Box Drive is supported using Writable Volumes to persist credentials and file cache.
• Support of App Volumes on VMware Cloud on AWS
• Support for Microsoft Windows 10, version 1809 and 1903
• Support for App Volumes Manager on Windows Server 2019.
• Support for SQL server 2014 Enterprise SP3 64-bit.
  NOTE: SQL Server 2008 is no longer supported. For this release, customers must upgrade to a supported version of SQL Server.
• Administrators can view a list of all the App Volumes Managers of their instance from within the App Volumes Manager console.
• App Volumes Manager secure registration is automatically activated for new installations and any environment with one App Volumes Manager. Customers upgrading to the latest version of App Volumes are encouraged to activate the new registration feature.
• App Volumes Manager can now communicate to SQL Server using TLS 1.2 protocol.
• App Volumes API reference documentation is available on VMWare {code}.

Internationalization

App Volumes documentation is available in English.

Resolved Issues

• When Office 2016 is installed in the base, an installer pop-up is displayed as follows:

  Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office 2016
  [2336096]

• When Writable Volumes with auto-start configured for Skype is used, subsequent logins display an error message stating the OST file is in use by another application. [2345838]

• While using AppStacks and Writable Volumes from earlier versions of App Volumes, Windows search goes into a disabled state. [2353870]

• When logging in using Writable Volumes with the uia_plus_profile template, the following error is displayed:

  The gpsvc service failed the sign-in. Access is denied.
  [2355333]

• Some users using Writable Volumes with the uia_plus_profile template observe delays while logging into the App Volumes Agent. [2368332]

• Start provisioning dialog box does not appear on App Volumes Agent machines when an existing AppStack is updated. [2381526]

• In-built metro applications fail when using Writable Volumes with the uia_plus_profile  template. [2381799]

• Intermittently, credentials of the OneDrive account are not saved when using Writable Volumes with the uia_plus_profile template. [2390114]

Known Issues

• Writable Volumes created with profile-based templates on Windows 10 versions prior to 1803 may exhibit Start Menu or search-related issues after using the same volume on Windows 10 versions 1803 or later.

• When using Microsoft Outlook Cached Exchange Mode with a UIA-only type Writable Volume and no profile persistence solution such as VMware Dynamic Environment Manager or roaming profiles, a new .ost cache file is created in the user’s volume upon each login.

• When many users are logging into their desktops simultaneously, Writable Volumes may not get created for a few users and they may not be able to log in to a desktop.
  Note: This issue does not occur if the users already have an existing Writable Volume.

  Workaround: The users must log in again or have an administrator pre-create the Writable Volume for the user.

• A Writable Volume move or copy operation may fail when bulk operations are performed on a large number of volumes.

  Workaround: Retry the move or copy operation.

• Multiple duplicate Writables are seen after upgrading from App Volumes 2.13.2 to App Volumes 2.18.

  Workaround: See the Knowledge Base article 67482.