| VMware App Volumes 4, version 2111 | November 30 2021 | 4.5.0.77 Check for additions and updates to these release notes. |
What is in the Release Notes
The release notes cover the following topics:
The VMware App Volumes 4, version 2111 includes new features, bug fixes, and known issues.
What's New
- Apps On Demand
Now applications can be delivered on-demand when a user clicks to launch the application from the desktop and start menu just as if the application was already installed natively on the Windows machine. The setting is available for newly created packages and the admin has an option to select on-demand for this new type of delivery, or classic, to have the user and computer assigned applications delivered at login and startup as they have in the past.
- Multi-instance Management
Join your App Volumes instances together to control them from a single source instance. Now manage all your packages from one environment across the globe. Working in alongside Storage Groups admins can set source-target relationships so that packages are created across their whole environment. Furthermore, these packages can now be edited and deleted from one single console interface.
- New Advanced Scripting Tools
New batch files that run in User Context, such as OnPostEnableAppAsUser.bat, have been added to App Volumes. Also, administrators can now use the RunAsUser.exe binary to run certain commands in the User Context. Additionally, OnAllAppsEnabled.bat has been added which runs in the System Context.
- Support for New Microsoft Products
- Microsoft Windows 10, version 21H2
- Microsoft Windows 11
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022
- Microsoft Office 2021
Internationalization
App Volumes documentation is available in English.
Resolved Issues
Duplicate programs in the JSON file of an application prevents the application package from getting captured or imported correctly. [2789621]
Sometimes application programs are not displayed in the Programs tab in the App Volumes Manager UI. [2764003]
Application packaging fails with an error Metadata format decode failure no implicit conversion of nil into String in the System Messages tab of the App Volumes Manager UI when the metadata.json file of an application contains empty "icons" values. In addition to this error, the following error message is observed on the packaging computer: Error during packaging. Packaging failed with error - 76. [2814105]
Unable to convert VMDK packages to VHD when using the appcapture.exe /vhd <vmdk_filepath> command with the following error:
ERROR: metadata extraction from virtual disk: metablock: seek for head read, failed (Error: 0x83) ERROR: unable to extract metadata from vmdk disk ERROR: failed to extract metadata from vmdk while building vhd. Error: 0x83 ERROR: vhd creation failed
[2887248]
When a UIA+profile Writable Volume is attached, excluded programs fail in various ways when attempting to create or access files in C:\Users\<UserID> or any of its subfolders. [2721859]
NOTE: An excluded program is a program whose executable is in a folder which is excluded in snapvol.cfg or the program's executable itself is excluded in snapvol.cfg.
A user-initiated reboot during a package update, prior to the reboot requested by App Volumes as part of capture complete, results in App Volumes deleting any service present on the package. [2739167]
The Windows 10 BITS service (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) fails repeatedly with varying symptoms for some users when a Writable Volume is attached. The symptoms depend on how the service is used. For example: Users are unable to install applications through Microsoft's Software Center. [2776420]
When some users with a Profile-only Writable Volume left click on the Windows 10 Start button at the first login, the following Critical Error message is displayed instructing the user to sign out immediately: Your start menu isn't working. We'll try to fix it the next time you sign in. [2754787]
End user experiences slow UI responses within the VDI when CrowdStrike and App Volumes are used together because some files of the CrowdStrike application gets copied to the Writable Volume from the Windows base image. [2410498]
Some versions of Firefox might not launch when delivered through an application package or installed in a Writable Volume. [2736851]
A user-initiated reboot during a package update, prior to the reboot requested by App Volumes as part of capture complete, results in App Volumes deleting any service present on the package. [2724792]
Known Issues
Desktop shortcuts for an on-demand application is not visible to an end user if desktop folder redirection is activated for the end user. [2953681]
Unable to register an additional App Volumes Manager server via HTTPS within the same App Volumes Manager instance and the following error is displayed: Failed to connect Manager Service with server guid <> to "user@host:443". [2907577]
Workaround:
Register the App Volumes Manager server via HTTP. To enable HTTP after installing the App Volumes Manager Server, modify the Nginx configuration file in the App Volumes Manager.
For more information, see Enable HTTP in App Volumes Manager After Installation section in the VMware App Volumes 2111 Administration Guide at VMware Docs.NOTE: After registering the App Volumes Manager server via HTTP, revert the Nginx configuration file to the earlier configuration setting.
Applications packaged on Windows 11 are shown as packaged with Windows 10 in App Volumes Manager. [2841689]
When creating Writable Volumes for a group with many users before user login (Delay check box is not selected), the Create Writable Volume page times out with a Server Timeout error. However, the background job for creating Writable Volumes continues to run and Writable Volumes are created for the group. [2722421]
Workaround: To continue performing further operations, refresh the App Volumes Manager Admin UI.
After upgrading to VMware App Volumes 4, version 2203 or VMware App Volumes 4, version 2111, SVservice fails to run scripts that are placed in
%SVAgent%\Config\Default\Systemand%SVAgent%\Config\Custom\System.[2969412]Workaround: None
Application installers that create data at a sub-path of HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider registry key might impact application behavior and the application might not work as expected. The symptoms vary and are dependent on the application. A common symptom is that when the application is captured, the modified registry data at the sub-path of HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider is created on the base volume instead of in the application package. As a result, the application does not behave as expected. For example: In one of the scenarios, the single sign on functionality did not work for an application. [2871141]
Workaround: Before deploying the application package, create the application data on the VDI image and roll out the updated image. Deploy the application package, test the application, and ensure that the application behaves as expected.
When a Writable Volume and FSLogix Office Container are deployed together in a VDI, the FSLogix Office Container VHD is not created on an SMB file share. This issue occurs only when the Cloud Cache feature is enabled. [2791414]
Workaround: Disable the Cloud Cache feature of FSLogix Office Container.
When a remote printer is defined on a UIA+Profile Writable Volume and the printer is attached to its print server through a USB interface, the printer definition on the Writable Volume might get deleted on the next non-persistent logon. [2845852]
Workaround:
On the system volume, add the following two scripts to %SVAgent%\Config\Custom\uia_plus_profile:
OnPreLoadApp.bat: sc config spooler start= disabled net stop spooler OnPostEnableApp.bat: sc config spooler start= auto net start spooler
If you already have the same script names on the Writable Volume, add the spooler commands to the scripts.
When a script is present on a Writable Volume and in the system volume at %SVAgent%\Config\Custom\uia_plus_profile, App Volumes agent runs the script present on the Writable Volume and ignores the script on the system volume. To ensure that the App Volumes agent runs both scripts, you can add the following to the script on the Writable Volume:
if exist "%SVAgent%\Config\Custom\uia_plus_profile\%~nx0" ( "%SVAgent%\Config\Custom\uia_plus_profile\%~nx0" )
When many users are logging into their desktops simultaneously, Writable Volumes might not get created for a few users and they might not be able to log into a desktop. This issue does not occur if the users already have an existing Writable Volume. [2115623]
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 might fail when bulk operations are performed on many volumes. [2115593]
Workaround: Retry the move or copy operation.
Invalid session cookie issue occurs intermittently at end user login or logoff and can be seen in the ACTIVITY -> System Messages tab of the App Volumes Manager UI. When the issue occurs during login, volume attachments might fail and the following error message is displayed on the agent computer: Volumes were not mounted due to an error on the server. [2646276]
Workaround: When the error occurs and login fails, the end user can log into the agent computer again. To disable the "Agent Session Cookie" settings, you can toggle the advanced setting in the App Volumes Manager UI. For more information about this issue, see the knowledge base article: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/59666.
App-V packages do not load when App Volumes agent is used either with a UIA+profile or Profile-only Writable Volume. [2434176]
Sometimes, the applications that are packaged using App Volumes versions older than 2.18.2 have many redundant firewall rules. These rules can impact the end-user login time on agent computers where the application package is deployed.
This issue is fixed in App Volumes 2.18.2 and later. [2624048]Workaround: If you are migrating an application package created in an App Volumes version earlier than 2.18.2 with such an issue, repackage the application after migrating to the target version.
