Inside MDOP: MED-V and App-V

Inside the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, you’ll find MED-V and App-V. Both provide ways to deliver applications to your desktop, but they solve different problems.

MED-V is good for resolving incompatibilities between an application and Windows 7. By creating and distributing a full instance of Windows XP from which the application runs, users can access applications that would not run on Windows 7 otherwise. It’s also applicable for websites that must run in a browser like Internet Explorer 6. For example, an IE 6 instance can be launched from within the MED-V managed OS and be controlled with policies to limit the sites that are available from the less secure browser.

In general, a MED-V hosted application is isolated from the primary operating system, though the clipboard can be shared to allow for basic copy/paste functionality between applications and printer redirection can ensure users can print from the MED-V application. If your application is very task specific and does not require direct interactions with other applications on the primary operating system, MED-V can allow you to upgrade to Windows 7 before solving the application compatibility issue.

Application Virtualization (App-V) creates and delivers a single application in a package, instead of a full instance of an operating system like MED-V. The application package is cached on the local machine, but in not installed in the traditional sense. By not installing application files directly and keeping them isolated in their packages, App-V can eliminate conflicts between two applications that might otherwise cause failures when installed on the same machine. An example would be where Office 97 and later versions of Office share DLLs with similar names, but have functionality that doesn't work with both products.

App-V also eases application upgrades and maintenance by allowing IT to update single packages that are then streamed to users on demand, instead of having to managing multiple local installations of software. Because applications deployed with App-V execute locally on the desktop they utilize the CPU and memory resources of the local machine instead of those on the server. Inter-application communication with other App-V applications and applications installed locally are preserved, allowing for cut and paste, OLE, and all other standard operations. However applications that install their own device driver, like a print driver, may not be suitable for complete virtualization.

In a nutshell, App-V can help you develop a more robust and controlled application management lifecycle, while allowing support for some legacy applications that don’t play well with new versions. MED-V builds a “temporary” bridge between applications that only work on older operating systems, providing some wiggle room so you can potentially upgrade your desktops without having to wait until all your applications are supported.

Depending on the needs of your organization, MED-V or App-V might be just what you need to solve a lingering application compatibility issue.

To Map or Not To Map - There is a Checkbox!

At my office we've begun making several changes to how we manage the desktops and applications for our users and we are taking advantage of Group Policy preferences. We aren't ready to deploy Windows 7 quite yet, but Windows XP machines can take advantage of Group Policy preferences with the addition of the client side extensions.

The preference we opted to start with was mapping drive letters, which was done with several log on scripts in the past. Everything seemed to be working just fine until a user who accessed the system remotely through our Terminal Services RemoteApp reported that one of the drive letters was missing. Turns out that particular drive mapping was misbehaving for several people on various computers.

I compared the troublesome mapping to one that was working correctly and found the only difference was a single check box for "Reconnect".

The "update" action setting is supposed to create the mapping if it doesn't exist, however that doesn't seem to be working quite a expected. The reconnect check box saves the mapping in the user's settings and attempts to restore it at each subsequent log on. I didn't experiment further, but perhaps if I used the "replace" action setting for the mapping I wouldn't have the issue at all, as that deletes and recreates the mapping every time.

Either way, the reconnect check box saved the day.

24G2EENJ95VJ

Red Arrows on connected Terminal Services Users

Now that I've been actively working to move people from our aging Citrix setup to Server 2008 Terminal Services, I've been spending some more time in Terminal Services Manager. While there, I've noticed that outside of my adminstrator level account, all the connected users have an icon with a red down arrow next to them.

My first thought was that it was a licensing issue, so I checked the terminal services licensing server. We license by device and everything seemed to be in order. My next stop was a search on the internet, where I turned up this lone post on eggheadcafe.com. The reply about it being a "known issue" is not terribly outdated so I'm just going to let the red arrows be for a while and move on to other things.

Microsoft Resources on the Web

There’s more to Microsoft than www.microsoft.com. Most IT Professionals know about Microsoft TechNet, but there are many other great resources for professionals, consumers, students and businesses that provide access to great content about Microsoft products. Here are a few you might want to visit:

Talking About Windows – check out videos by IT Professionals and Microsoft Engineers as they talk about using and developing Windows. Submit your comments and feedback, or look for Windows related events in your location.

Microsoft Springboard Series – part of Microsoft TechNet, the Springboard Series focuses on the client OS. Find resources, blogs and forums for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP or connect with industry experts.

Microsoft Answers – real people from Microsoft and the tech community cover this forum for products like Microsoft Office, Security Essentials, Windows Live and the various client operating systems.

Microsoft Learning – the starting point for certifications, training materials and community resources for learning about Microsoft products and prepping for exams.

Because It’s Everybody’s Business – a portal site for businesses highlighting popular IT projects and the related software. Resources include production information, trial downloads and resources including case studies, news and blogs.

DreamSpark – a site dedicated to putting professional tools in the hands of students at low or no cost. Schools and students can register and start downloading Windows Server, SQL 2005 and a host of other development applications.

Working with Windows products, like any other software product that changes and evolves, can lead to frustration and confusion when trying to determine the right product for a project or business need. Knowing where to go to find answers and other valuable resources can be a key to success. It’s not always about what you know, it’s knowing where to look for what you need.

Control Outlook 2007 Junk Mail Settings via GPO

If you do a web search for setting up a Group Policy for controlling Outlook 2007 junk mail settings (specifically adding a global Safe Senders or Safe Recipients list) you'll find a ton of links, spanning several years and pointing to posts, KB articles and other blogs. This is how I got it to work for me. And yes, you still need on extra registry key that's not in the template settings.

Goal: Append a global list of "Safe Senders" to each users existing list in Outlook 2007.

Scenario: We have an Windows 2003 domain, Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2007 deployed on Windows XP.

1. Create a file called "safesenders.txt" in a shared location that is accessible to all users.


2. Access Group Policy Management Editor from a Vista or Windows 7 machine so Group Policy Preferences can be used.


3. Install the administration templates for Office 2007. (These were already in our system from when a co-worker deployed Office 2007.)


4. Create or edit a policy to control Microsoft Office or Outlook.


5. Go to "User Configuration - Policies - Administrative Templates - Classic Administrative Templates - Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 - Tools Options... - Preferences - Junk E-mail"


6. Disable "Overwrite or Append Junk Mail Import List". If you enable this policy, the users existing personal list will be overwritten with the common list. (You'd think there would be something that let's you select overwrite or append, but instead enable = overwrite, disable = append.)


7. Enable "Specify path to Safe Senders list" and include the path to your common file.
   
   


8. In the same GPO, go to "User Configuration - Preferences - Windows Settings - Registry". (You don't have to use the same GPO, but I did to keep things all together. Also, GPO processing happens faster if you have less of them overall.)


9. Create a key under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER" for "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\Mail" with the value of "JunkMailImportLists", dword=1

Once the policy is pushed out to your clients, you should see your additions to the safe senders in Outlook.