VMware ThinApp™ lets you package an application into a single file that runs in a virtualized application sandbox. This strategy results in flexible, conflict-free application provisioning.

VMware ThinApp provides application virtualization by decoupling an application from the underlying operating system and its libraries and framework and bundling the application into a single executable file called an application package. You can use Horizon Administrator to distribute VMware ThinApp applications to desktops and pools.

Important: If, instead of distributing ThinApps by assigning them to desktops and pools, you would rather assign ThinApps to Active Directory users and groups, you can use VMware Identity Manager.

After you create a virtualized application with VMware ThinApp, you can choose to either stream the application from a shared file server or install the application on the virtual desktops. If you configure the virtualized application for streaming, you must address the following architectural considerations:

  • Access for specific user groups to specific application repositories, where the application package is stored
  • Storage configuration for the application repository
  • Network traffic generated by streaming, which depends largely on the type of application

For streamed applications, users launch the applications by using a desktop shortcut.

If you assign a ThinApp package so that it is installed on a virtual desktop, the architectural considerations are similar to those that you address when you use traditional MSI-based software provisioning. Storage configuration for the application repository is a consideration both for streamed applications and for ThinApp packages installed in remote desktops.