Solution: How to launch two App-V 5.x sequenced different versions of firefox side by side

Recently I came across an issue in TechNet which was quite interesting.

Issue:

I was able to publish two Mozilla Firefox (41.0, 49.0) to a client machine. I've added Desktop Icons with the respective version on it to differentiate one from the other.
If I open them individually, not keeping both opened, I can confirm the version of the browser checking the Help otpion, however if I open one browser say 41.0, keep it opened, then open the second browser version 49.0 , the first browser version 41.0 will take precedensce on the second instance too.This can be checked by opening up help and checking the version. The second window showed 41.0 version even though it was 49.0 version firefox shortcut.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/c364b975-a2e4-425f-8d4c-88fdc7550599/having-two-mozilla-firefox-versions-from-appv-published-to-a-computer-if-i-open-both-versions-one?forum=mdopappv&prof=required

Solution:

Edit the dynamic config file and add the below -no-remote in the <Arguments> tag. -no-remote will tell the FireFox to use a new instance of it while opening, if we don't pass the argument then it will open a new window but it will be the same instance of previously opened FireFox.

<Shortcuts Enabled="true">
        <Extensions>
          <Extension Category="AppV.Shortcut">
            <Shortcut>
              <File>[{Programs}]\Mozilla Firefox.lnk</File>
              <Target>[{ProgramFilesX86}]\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe</Target>
              <Icon>[{Windows}]\Installer\{xxxxxxxxx-0B398xxxxxxF}\Icon_firefox1.exe.0.ico</Icon>
              <Arguments> -no-remote  </Arguments>
              <WorkingDirectory>[{ProgramFilesX86}]\Mozilla Firefox\</WorkingDirectory>
              <ShowCommand>1</ShowCommand>
              <ApplicationId>[{ProgramFilesX86}]\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe</ApplicationId>
            </Shortcut>
          </Extension>
        </Extensions>
      </Shortcuts>


Save the deploymentconfig/user config file and add it while publishing.

Reference - http://kb.mozillazine.org/Opening_a_new_instance_of_Firefox_with_another_profile

Solution - Virtual applications packaged into MSI format doesn’t install on inbox App-V client in Windows 10 Anniversary update 1607

We see that the solution provided in the link from Microsoft for the msi (sequenced with App-V 5.1 or earlier) failure in windows 10 v1607 doesn't seem to fix the issue.


https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/appv-release-notes-for-appv-for-windows

We see the below Msidb.exe not found error running the command as said in the link.





When checked for Msidb.exe, it was found in c:\program files(x86)\windows kits\10\bin. Changed the -msidbpath to c:\program files(x86)\windows kits\10\bin and tested. It fails too. Changed it to c:\program files(x86)\windows kits\10\bin\msidb.exe. It fails too.




The update-AppvMsiPackage.ps1 from C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Microsoft Application Virtualization\Sequencer seems to look for the location c:\program files(x86)\windows kits\10\bin\msidb.exe which is not located after installing the windows 10 sdk. The actual path where the msidb.exe is located after installing windows 10 sdk is c:\program files(x86)\windows kits\10\bin\x86\msidb.exe



 


The above highlighted code needs to be changed to $msidbExe = Join-Path -Path $msSdkPath -ChildPath "Bin\x86\MsiDb.exe"

Save the modified code and run the command. Now the solution works fine and the MSI gets updated.

App-V 5.1 sequencer and earlier doesn't work on windows 10 version 1607

When trying to install App-V 5.1 and earlier version of sequencer in windows 10 version 1607, it fails with the below error.

Solution: You would need to download the latest SDK for windows 10 version 1607 which has sequencer along with it. Using this sequencer you can proceed virtualizing apps.


https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/windows-assessment-deployment-kit

Exploring App-V & Ue-V in Windows 10 Anniversary update 1607

As all would have heard about the inbuilt App-V and Ue-V available with Windows 10 Anniversary update 1607 which has been released on August 2nd 2016.It is available only with the Windows Enterprise and Education editions. They will also be included in-box in Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter. If you are using Windows 10 Professional or earlier and plan to upgrade to the Windows 10 Anniversary release, you will need to deploy the Enterprise edition to use App-V and UE-V on those devices.


I have already blogged about this in my previous post when I tested App-V and Ue-V in windows 10 build 14316 and some common issues found. You can have a look here in the below link.


http://app2pack.blogspot.com/2016/04/app-v-ue-v-available-by-default-in-new.html
http://app2pack.blogspot.com/2016/04/windows-10-build-14327-enabling-or.html

By default App-V and Ue-V are disabled in the OS. You need to enable it to use them. It can be done by enabling in services,GPO or using Powershell commands.


Open services.msc from run command and enable the App-V client service.

GPO-  go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > App-V
Run Enables App-V Client and then select Enabled. Restart the machine.

To know list of available commands for App-V in powershell, follow the below step.

To enable App-V ,Open elevated powershell x86 or x64 and type Enable-Appv.This will enable the App-V client and show the output as successfully enabled.

To know the status of App-V, type in the below command.This will show the status of App-V client enabled or not and whether there is any reboot required.

To test bulk App-V 5.0 or App-V 5.1 packages use the below powershell command.


http://app2pack.blogspot.com/2015/08/powershell-to-automate-publishing-of.html
http://app2pack.blogspot.com/2015/08/powershell-to-automate-publishing-of_26.html


To disable App-V, type in Disable-AppV. This will require a reboot.

Also when checked for App-V version we can see that it is 5.2.

Tested by installing the .MSI file generated by the sequencer and it seems to fail which also earlier failed in build 14316.

For now removing the Launch condition from the MSI worked. To know more check here.Hope Microsoft will rectify this issue soon.


UPDATE (10/08/2016) - Microsoft has provided a official workaround for this issue. Check here for information.


https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/appv-release-notes-for-appv-for-windows


UPDATE (19/10/2016) - When following the above solution provided by Microsoft, there was still an issue stating that the Msidb.exe could not be located.To resolve this issue kindly look into the below useful links.


http://app2pack.blogspot.com/2016/10/solution-virtual-applications-packaged.html


http://packageology.com/2016/08/fix-app-v-sequencer-generated-msi-packages/


https://garytown.com/appv-for-windows-10-1607-update-packages-enable-in-windows


Update (26/10/2016) - Microsoft has provided a new working solution


https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/appv-release-notes-for-appv-for-windows


Ue-V:

To know list of available commands for Ue-V, follow the below step.

Open elevated powershell and type Enable-Uev.This will require a reboot.This can also be enabled via enabling in services.msc.

You can also use GPO to enable UEV.Goto Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > MicrosoftUser Experience Virtualization.Run Enable UEV. Restart is needed.

To know the status of Ue-V, type in the below command.This will show the status of Ue-V enabled or not and whether any reboot required.

To disable Ue-V, type the below command.