Plain Virtualization

Recently, got a call from a colleague, Calvin Nguyen based in US. This customer encounter the same error that I have posted here previously. And apparently after testing, it requires the two DLL files mentioned the KB in my article. He was using the VMware Thinapp 5.2.5 on Windows XP. But the latest 5.2.7 cannot be installed. A quick check on the release notes shows that VMware Thinapp 5.2.7 has support for Windows 10 build 1909. If you have read, I did the IE 8 Thinapp packing in Windows XP. However, VMware Thinapp 5.2.7 is no longer supported to run on Windows XP. So how are we going to update the Thinapp packages that runs only in Windows XP if we need to update the build to the latest? A quick workaround would be as below, we will use IE8 as an example: Package your IE8 using a VMware Thinapp (in this case 5.2.5) that is supported on Windows XP and place the two DLLs from KB just in case. Follow this KB to use native view (thanks to Calvin) Install VMware Thinapp 5....

Recently I was tasked to do a demo on Thinapp.  I have a Windows XP SP3 32bit running with Thinapp version 4.x. I did some thinapp on Internet Explore 7, 8 and 9.  Everything was working fine. Next I spin off a Windows 10 64bit VM and try to run these Internet Explorer thinapp'ed and I got the error below: Did a Google search and came across information that Windows 10 can only support Internet Explorer 8 and above which I find that weird since Thinapp should be able to support to run as it's a packaged container. Eventually, I chanced upon Thinapp release notes to discover it only support Windows 10 in version 5.2.0 and 5.2.2 recently support Windows 10 Anniversary Update.  How silly of me not checking out my Thinapp version. Upon updating my Thinapp on my Windows XP VM and using relink to update my Thinapp Package in the bin, it is now able to run in Windows 10.  Yes, I do not have to run through the prescan and post scan all over with ...

Today release of Thinapp 5.2 which will support Windows 10.  This comes as a good news especially where users are migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 10 with little on Windows 8 or 8.1. This also resolved most but not all bugs.  But this is little problem. You can download it here .

Finally upgrade my home lab with vSphere 6.0 and Horizon 6.1.  Have to perform a demonstration to my customer how to assign Thinapp easily via the Horizon View Admin portal.  Guess what, luck never on my side and hit with lots of issues. This issue comes with lots of testing.  The error I encounter after assignment was HRESULT hr = 0×80070005. Access is denied .  Doing a few Google didn't bring me nowhere.  Assignment installation failed. Let me just walk through what I have done: Package a few Thinapp packages with editing of Package.ini mainly the MSI settings since I am doing a assignment from Horizon View Admin Portal.  Read more here . Place them in a file share with permission to VDI users (yes make sure the VDI users can access those folders) In Horizon View Admin portal, scan the repository for the Thinapp, make sure the .msi and .exe and .dat (if you are streaming and app is too big to build into .exe file) in the same folder in the reposi...

As of 1st June 2013, VMware Horizon Suite adds a new licensing type for Concurrent user. With the launch of VMware Horizon Suite , arises many questions on licensing.  Here I have summarize some of the scenarios of licensing which will help you understand better. First we need to understand what is in the Suite.  VMware Horizon Suite comprises of Horizon Workspace, Horizon View and Horizon Mirage.  Each has its own licensing if purchase ala cart. Horizon Workspace - Named User Horizon View - Concurrent User Horizon Mirage - Named User From VMware Product Guide: Named User - Means your employee or Third Party Agent who has been authorized by You to use the Software in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. Named User - Specified user that is licensed to used the software.  No sharing licenses among users. License can be transfer to a new user if previous leave the company. From VMware Product Guide: Concurrent User -  Means t...

References Quick-start guide for deploying Office 2010 using ThinApp 4.6.1 Issues with ThinApp and Microsoft Office 2010 Office 2010 Tips 2010 I wanted to do Thinapp on Microsoft Office 2010 and realize the above information and details are pretty useful.  However its not in order and its difficult to piece up.  So here I have order them up for easy reference.  I will not go into details what each steps is all about as its already mentioned in the above references. Requirements One clean Windows XP SP3 (Thinapp does not support capture in a 64bits OS) Thinapp 4.6.1 and above Microsoft 2010 32bits setup files (MAK/KMS/Retail license) dotNet Framework 3.5 (full download here ) Procedures Run Thinapp prescan capture of the OS Install dotNet Framework 3.5 In Command Prompt, run "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\ngen.exe executequeueditems" Edit Office 2010 installation Config.xml file to enter your MAK key: By default, the Config.xm...

I was testing out and playing around with ThinApp on my View 5.0.  The great thing about View is you are able to assign ThinApp in their MSI package to the various desktop or pools. However I was curious how can I perform and upgrade when a new version is out e.g. Firefox 7.0.1 to Firefox 8.0? I decide to search around and came across this post in VMware Blog.  It not only allow me to understand how to perform an upgrade over the old MSI, it also help explained the MSIProductCode, MSIUpgradeCode and the MSIProductVersion. The upgrade code is very important especially in my example above.  It will have different MSIProductCode due to the version change however, the MSIUpgradeCode has to be the same in order for View to detect this is an upgrade and to uninstall the previous away when you place a higher version of MSIProductVersion. As the post in the blog mentioned, you can put MSIProductVersion from 1.0 to 2.0.  You can also do incremental from 1.0 to 1.1 as ...

I came across this blog posting on using the variable optimizeFor to be place in which place holder in package.ini.  Is it in [Compression] or is it in [BuildOptions]. From ThinApp 4.6.1 Manual , page 85, as refer to the comments, it clearly stated it can be placed in either place holders.  However the VMware blog itself is stating otherwise that it was an error made and it must be place in [Compression] place holder.  There was no one commenting further. On the launch of ThinApp 4.7, I refer to the ThinApp 4.7 Package.ini Parameters Package guide , on Page 48, the scenario given this time was place it in [BuildOptions] place holder. This got me very curious.  Is this a mistake brought over from 4.6.1 to 4.6.2 and to 4.7 on the document or did the this blog make a mistake? So I decide to run this on thinapp 4.7 and try it out.  The results: OptimizedFor=Memory for both [Compression] and [BuildOptions] as from the windows path I saved in. OptimizeFor...