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    Hi all

    I run a few computer labs at a university and am having some trouble publishing App-V shortcuts to their intended destination in the Start Menu.  This is with App-V 5.0.

    The image (Windows 7) has a few locally installed applications, whose shortcuts are all put into %programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Departments\.  However, the Start Menu option in the App-V management console (or the [{Common Start Menu}] token) publishes them to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Departments\, effectively creating a second 'Departments' entry.

    Is there any way to force App-V to also publish its shortcuts to %programdata%?  As far as I can see, shortcuts that aren't published using those built-in tokens just aren't published at all.  I've tried manually specifying the relevant local path to no avail.

    Thanks in advance.

    Ed

    Friday, July 5, 2013 12:14 PM

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    Applications published to users will alway go into the user's Start Menu location. Publish the applications globally to place the shortcuts into the all users Start Menu.

    If you need to control access to applications, publish the applications globally and control access with AppLocker.


    Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" or "Vote as Helpful" on the post that answers your question (or click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question). This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.


    This forum post is my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion or view of my employer, Microsoft, its employees, or other MVPs.

    Twitter: @stealthpuppy | Blog: stealthpuppy.com | The Definitive Guide to Delivering Microsoft Office with App-V

    Friday, July 5, 2013 12:18 PM
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    Ok, I solved my own problem.

    To have App-V 5.0 deploy shortcuts system-wide, meaning not under the user's profile and not using the management console's built-in tokens (which don't accept filesystem paths), you have to:

    • Enable Global Publishing Refresh
    • Enable Global Publishing on Refresh
    • Create a security group containing the computer accounts to which the packages have to be deployed
    • Add that group to the package's AD Access box
    • Edit the shortcut, use the Custom option, then enter a path like C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (meaning that the normal built-in tokens always publish to the user context)

    Doing this to an existing package and then refreshing the client doesn't always work.  I had the best results by doing the shortcut setups prior to installing the App-V client on my test machine.

    Thanks again, Aaron - wouldn't have been able to get this going without you pointing me in the correct direction!

    Ed

    Thursday, July 11, 2013 11:41 AM

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    Applications published to users will alway go into the user's Start Menu location. Publish the applications globally to place the shortcuts into the all users Start Menu.

    If you need to control access to applications, publish the applications globally and control access with AppLocker.


    Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" or "Vote as Helpful" on the post that answers your question (or click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question). This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.


    This forum post is my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion or view of my employer, Microsoft, its employees, or other MVPs.

    Twitter: @stealthpuppy | Blog: stealthpuppy.com | The Definitive Guide to Delivering Microsoft Office with App-V

    Friday, July 5, 2013 12:18 PM
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    Thanks a bunch, I'll go read up on that.
    Wednesday, July 10, 2013 7:07 AM
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    Hi Aaron

    I've been reading up on publishing applications globally, but I'm still struggling.

    So far, I've done the following:

    • Enabled GlobalRefresh and GlobalRefreshOnLogon via GPO
    • These show up correctly when running Get-AppvPublishingServer on the client
    • Created an AD Group with the relevant computer accounts
    • Given abovementioned group access to the App-V share
    • Added this group to two packages in the App-V web management console
    • Removed all user group targets
    • Checked that a 1_global Scheduled Task exists on the client computer
    • 1_user also exists; both show successful executions
    • Ran SyncAppvPublishingServer.vbs 1 -Global -NetworkCostAware from the App-V Client installation directory 
    • Refreshed via the App-V GUI client
    • Rebooted the client computer (and the App-V server, and the DFS server)

    After all of this, the only applications showing up on the client computer are those directed at user groups; the computer targeted ones don't appear at all.  In fact, when running Get-AppvClientPackage *name*, the relevant packages aren't displayed at all.

    Is there anything else you can think of that I can check?  I'm all out of ideas.

    Thanks again.


    Ed

    EDIT:  Here is the result of running Add-AppvClientPackage:

    PS C:\Users\eaburger> $Package = Add-AppvClientPackage "\\path to package.appv"
Add-AppvClientPackage : The global registry settings for a package are missing or corrupt.
Operation attempted: Configure AppV Package.
AppV Error Code: 060000000B.
Please consult AppV Client Event Log for more details.
At line:1 char:12
+ $Package = Add-AppvClientPackage "\\path to package.appv ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidResult: (:) [Add-AppvClientPackage], ClientException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ConfigurePackageError,Microsoft.AppV.AppvClientPowerShell.AddAppvPackage


    EDIT:  Reverting to a previous version of the image I'm working on fixed the error mentioned above (a version without App-V, so I just reinstalled it).  Also, the package that was deployed using the machine account security group did in fact publish, however it is still listed under the user profile Start Menu.

    All those options in the management console throw the link in C:\Users\%username%\wherever.  Is there no way of publishing to the computer-wide Start Menu?

    • Edited by Eduard Burger Thursday, July 11, 2013 10:28 AM Extra information
    Wednesday, July 10, 2013 9:56 AM
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    Ok, I solved my own problem.

    To have App-V 5.0 deploy shortcuts system-wide, meaning not under the user's profile and not using the management console's built-in tokens (which don't accept filesystem paths), you have to:

    • Enable Global Publishing Refresh
    • Enable Global Publishing on Refresh
    • Create a security group containing the computer accounts to which the packages have to be deployed
    • Add that group to the package's AD Access box
    • Edit the shortcut, use the Custom option, then enter a path like C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (meaning that the normal built-in tokens always publish to the user context)

    Doing this to an existing package and then refreshing the client doesn't always work.  I had the best results by doing the shortcut setups prior to installing the App-V client on my test machine.

    Thanks again, Aaron - wouldn't have been able to get this going without you pointing me in the correct direction!

    Ed

    Thursday, July 11, 2013 11:41 AM