ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.0.1 Readme

July 18, 2012

The information in this Readme pertains to Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization, which lets you convert applications that run on Microsoft Windows into self-contained virtual applications.

The following information is included in this Readme:

1.0 What’s New in Version 9.0.1

This section describes new features, enhancements, and bug fixes that are part of the ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.0.1 release.

  • Administration Automation: When you enter the Product Name, Product Version, and Company Name in the Setup section, these values are copied automatically to the Installation Parameters section, which reduces the effort to manually enter the values again.

  • Protocol registration via MSI: ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.0.1 supports MAILTO: protocol registration using MSI installers. Previously, this was only possible by using the SpoonReg command-line tool. An MSI installer can now be used to deliver GroupWise 2012, create desktop shortcuts, and set the default mail client for the Windows shell.

  • Customizing applications when using Desktop Scan: When one or more applications are built using the desktop scan feature, the ZAV Studio configuration and the accompanying files can be saved. This allows for the application to be customized using ZAV Studio.

  • Publishing Juke-boxed applications to ZENworks: Virtual Applications with multiple triggers can now be published to ZENworks Configuration Management in one step. When publishing virtual applications to ZENworks, a launcher bundle is created for each trigger that has been defined in the application. This feature is particularly useful when publishing suite applications such as Microsoft Office that offer multiple launchers.

  • Support for New Templates: The ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.0.1 Configuration Wizard template/recipe now supports: Groupwise 2012, Google Chrome through version 19, Mozilla Firefox through version 12, Opera 11, and additional Adobe applications.

  • Naming Conventions: The following changes have been applied to certain file and folder names in this release:

    Previous Name

    Revised Name

    Spoon plug-in

    ZAV plug-in

    Spoon Sandbox Manager

    ZENworks Application Virtualization Sandbox Manager

    StandaloneTemplate folder

    StandaloneTemplate_Novell folder

2.0 Product Documentation

The following sources provide information about Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.0.1:

3.0 Understanding the Upgrade Requirements

  • All application configuration documents and application certificates created with ZENworks Application Virtualization 8.x must be re-created for application streams to work with the ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.0.1 standalone components.

    To generate a new certificate and regenerate the configuration files:

    1. In the Advanced section of the ZENworks Application Virtualization Studio, click the App Config button to regenerate the application stream configuration files.

    2. To generate a new site license certificate, click Advanced.

    3. In the Application Certificates dialog box, click Request Certificate.

    4. Specify the following information in the fields:

      • Organization: The organization name.

      • Unit: The user or unit name.

      • Allowed Portal Hosts: The allowed host names of the servers from which the application will stream.

    5. Click Request to request the site license certificate, then save the certificate to a desired location.

    6. Click the App Config button to regenerate the application stream configuration files again.

  • ZENworks Application Virtualization versions 8.x and 9.x always run side-by-side on a device. The ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.x installation does not change the ZENworks Application Virtualization 8.x installations in any way. However, if you open a virtual application and save it in version 9.x, it should not be subsequently used with version 8.x.

4.0 Known Issues

This section contains information about issues that might occur in ZENworks Application Virtualization:

4.1 Running a 32-bit Microsoft Office Virtualized Application on the Windows 64-bit Platform Is Not Supported

Running a virtualized 32-bit Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Enterprise application is not supported on the following 64-bit platforms:

  • Windows Server 2008 64-bit

  • Windows 7 64-bit

  • Windows Vista 64-bit

The application has been removed from the default application creation template on machines running the 64-bit platform.

Running a virtualized 32-bit Microsoft Office 2007 application on a 64-bit platform also fails.

4.2 Virtual Applications Built with the Require ZCM Agent Option Might Not Launch

A virtual application might fail if you build it by using the Require ZENworks Configuration Management Agent to be installed on workstation executing the virtual application option on the ZENworks panel of the control console, then copy the application to a machine where the ZENworks Configuration Management Agent is installed. You see the following error when you launch the virtual application:

This application can only be run on devices registered with a ZENworks zone.

Workaround: To avoid this issue, make sure that you save the ZENworks configuration settings (that is, the changes made to the ZENworks panel of the console and stored in the *.xappl file) before you build the application. To save changes, click > Save Configuration.

4.3 Virtual Email Clients Do Not Work Together on a Single Machine

If you are running virtual email client applications such as Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Outlook Express together on a single machine, they might not work properly.

Workaround: None

4.4 Virtualizing an iFolder through a Snapshot

When you are virtualizing the iFolder 3.8 through the snapshot method, make sure to include the Visual C (v9.0.21022.8) and .Net 2.0. For information on taking snapshots of virtual applications, see Section 2.7 - Snapshotting Applications in the ZENworks Application Virtualization User Guide.

After taking the snapshot and before building the application, make the following modifications in the Settings tab of the ZENworks Application Virtualization application.

  • Enable Always launch child processes as current user.

    Child processes launched by the virtual machine have reduced privileges by default. Enabling the Always launch child processes as current user option provides child processes with the same level of privileges as the virtual machine’s root process.

  • Turn off Autostart for any Services (.NET).

    For information on Run-Time Virtualization arguments, see Section 8.7 - Modifying Virtualization Behavior at Run-Time in the ZENworks Application Virtualization User Guide.

You might see the following error: 

Unable to start xsp webservice, iFolder not able to work, restart the application.

Workaround: If you see this error:

  1. Delete the following folders from the virtual file system:

    • In Windows, delete pss.

    • In Programs, delete Internet Explorer and iFolder3.

    • In Local Application Data, delete simias.

    • In Application Data, delete Downloaded Installations, Microsoft, and simias.

    • In Application Data > iFolder, delete simias10, and set the iFolder to FullIso.

  2. Save the configuration file.

  3. Rebuild and then launch the virtual application.

    For more information on the snapshot process and building an application, see Section 6 - Walkthroughs in the ZENworks Application Virtualization User Guide.

4.5 Issues Related to Web Browsers

The following issues in ZENworks Application Virtualization 9.0.1 relate to its use with various Web browsers.

4.5.1 Internet Explorer 9 might fail to launch on platforms other than Windows Vista and Windows 7

Although you can build the Virtual Internet Explorer 9 on all versions of Windows, you might encounter errors while launching the application because it is supported only on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

4.5.2 Harvesting Internet Explorer 7 Is not supported on 64-bit Windows managed devices

If you are using a virtual Internet Explorer 7 browser, it can only be harvested from x86 platforms. Currently, harvesting Internet Explorer 7 is not supported on x64 platforms.

Workaround: None

4.6 Integration Issues with Microsoft Office and Novell GroupWise

There are some known issues with the integration of Microsoft Office and the Novell GroupWise mail client. These behaviors are in accordance with the design specifications for these applications.

  • On a Windows XP x64 device, when you right-click SendTo, the installer attempts to load Microsoft Outlook Express instead of GroupWise.

  • On a Windows Vista/7 (x86, x64) device an existing user will have GroupWise as the default mail client. All additional users need to go through the Default Programs Menu if they choose to make GroupWise the default mail client.

  • Virtualized Microsoft Outlook 2010 x64 crashes on startup when GroupWise is the default mail client, because the Microsoft Office x64 virtual application tries to load the x86 MAPI dll file to which GroupWise is already registered.

  • Microsoft Outlook 2003 displays the following error message on startup when GroupWise is the default mail client: unable to resolve recipient. You can ignore this error message and proceed.

  • GroupWise freezes on rare occasions during the MailTo process. GroupWise is launched in the task list, but the mail dialog box never appears. This issue is observed on Windows XP x64 devices.

4.7 Coexistence Issues with Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 and Office 2007 cannot be registered in the same sandbox because they cannot share the registry.