MAV 4.5 - Things to know

Here are some small issues that I ran into while testing Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5:

• An important change is that the MCVAS service is now launched under NETWORK SERVICE credentials instead of the LOCAL SYSTEM credentials that were used in the 4.1/4.2 server. This means that the NETWORK SERVICE should have read & list rights on all files and folders of your content directory and on the content directory itself. If this is not the case, the MCVAS server cannot access the package files and this will result in "Launch Failed" errors at your clients.
  
  
• The 4.5 beta sequencer has the same bug as the older 4.2/4.1 sequencers: when creating a new package and defining the server URL, do not select "RTSP" or "RTSPS" (or "FILE") in the package configuration wizard. This will write an URL with capital "RTSP" or "RTSPS" in the OSD file that is created with the package.
  
  The server does not handle application requests from clients that use capital protocols well and will log an error "Unsupported method" and the client will give you a "Launch Failed" error message. Manually changing the URL inside the OSD file to have a lowercase "rtsp" or "rtsps" in it will fix the problem as was already mentioned in a previous post on this blog. (Ironically, all other XML tags should be in uppercase for them to work properly in an OSD file, the protocol should apparently be in lowercase).
  
  
• The 4.5 beta sequencer still has the same bug as older 4.2/4.1 sequencers: when upgrading a package, changes made to the package are not shown in the "Files" tab of the sequencer until either you run the Application wizard again (to determine FB1) or until you save the package --- all changes are included but not just immediately shown.
  
  
• The usage of BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) is not supported or possible with a stand-alone installation of MAV 4.5. Probably the SCCM integration allows to download virtualized applications (MSI files) in the background using BITS, but this remains to be verified & tested.
  

(to be continued with more issues as they come up)