How To: Perform Basic App-V Troubleshooting

Perform Basic App-V Troubleshooting.

Perform Basic Microsoft Application Virtualization Troubleshooting.

App-V Troubleshooting Guide.

Last year, I was Tech Lead and Project Manager on a successful Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) infrastructure deployment to about 23 remote offices supporting ~10,000 users. This project was part of a larger team project to revamp and redesign application delivery to our end-users. As part of the application delivery project team, we worked together to conceive the overall design; then each of us individually took on child projects to bring the overall design to fruition.

After completing the App-V deployment, I wrote a basic troubleshooting guide for the remote offices’ on-site tech support. The on-site tech support uses this guide as a starting point and can report the results back to the main office for quicker problem resolution. This is no where near a comprehensive troubleshooting guide, but it has proven very useful as a starting point.

At the time of writing this, there wasn’t much on the Internet regarding App-V 4.5 / 4.6. You may find this very helpful in adapting it to your own environment and giving your Service Support a great start at understanding the infrastructure and helping them diagnose possible problems.

* note: text in green was not a part of the distributed document, but was added for the purposes of this post *

Environment

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 | Management Server
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 | Streaming Server
Microsoft System Center Application Virtualization (App-V 4.5) Management Server
Microsoft System Center Application Virtualization (App-V 4.5) Streaming Server
Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V 4.6) Client
Microsoft Windows 7

Microsoft App-V Infrastructure and Basic Troubleshooting Guide

Background

First, I’ll start with a little background on App-V and our deployment model.

Microsoft Application Virtualization (also known as App-V) is an application virtualization and application streaming solution from Microsoft. You will see quite a few references to SoftGrid (in registry keys and cached application data), which is what the application used to be known as. Microsoft acquired the product, when they bought a company named Softricity who originally produced SoftGrid. Microsoft App-V is bundled with and a part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.

Deployment Model

There are a few deployment models to choose from, but I will only be talking about our model; the Full Infrastructure Model. Below is a diagram of what the Full Infrastructure Model looks like (This diagram was pulled from the Microsoft deployment guide on App-V | I have one for our specific environment that I drew up, but for the purposes of this post I am using a standard diagram as it would be more useful than a diagram with blacked out server names).

Basically, we have a System Center Application Virtualization Management Server in our main data center, and we have System Center Application Virtualization Streaming Servers at each of our remote locations (including our corporate office).

The Management Server in our main datacenter is running on a dedicated virtual Windows Server 2008 R2 server. The Streaming Server bits at the remote locations are running on the local site virtual Windows Server 2008 Read-Only Domain Controllers / File Servers; not best practice and I would have preferred to not have this on RODCs, but due to limited resources a collective decision was made to do it this way. I will say that although this wasn’t the optimal way to set up the Streaming Servers, my previous testing, lack of documentation stating known issues, and a year into the production, there have been no problems with this setup. Obviously, a dedicated server for everything would be great, but in reality, the Streaming Server bits are quite light-weight; I prefer to never run anything else on a DC, but in a resource limited environment there is no problem running the Streaming Servers on physical/virtual servers that have another purpose.

There is an App-V client installed on each of your newly Windows 7 imaged machines. We manage the clients via Group Policy. We control what applications are distributed to the clients, via Active Directory Security Groups. The clients check-in with the Management Server in the data center to see if there are any new applications upon login. When you login, the client does the check silently, and will display the application icons on the PC. When you launch the application, the client will check-in with the server again to see if there are any updates to the application. If launching the application for the first time, the client will stream the application content from your local Streaming Server and cache it locally on the PC. After it is cached, the client will check-in for updates; if no updates, the application is launched locally from the PC. The application performs just as quickly as it does if it is locally installed.

That’s a pretty basic and over-simplified overview, but from a high level, that’s pretty much how it all works. There are a ton of benefits to delivering applications virtually, but I’m not going to get into those details in this document.

Basic Troubleshooting

If you have any trouble with App-V delivered applications, there are some initial steps you can take to help narrow down the problem.

Ensure Policies are Applied

As stated earlier, we control teh App-V cleints via Group Policy objects. There is a separate Group Policy object for each location so that we can point your clients to your local Streaming Server. These are computer based Group Policy objects, which means that your computers must be in the proper OU to get the correct policies. The policies are applied to the computer OU specific to your location, so you must make sure the computer is in that OU or App-V will not work properly.

Make sure the computer is in the proper OU

Run a Group Policy refresh on the computer from the CLI (Command Line Interface)

gpupdate /force

Make sure that your computer has picked up the correct App-V Group Policy; one way to do this is in the following steps.

Open your registry editor

Type regedit in the Run or in the Search field and hit Enter

Navigate to the following registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Client\Configuration

There are three settings here that should be checked to make sure they are configured correctly (by Group Policy) for your client to function properly. These settings tell your client to stream applications from your local Streaming Server, instead of trying to stream them from the Management Server in the datacenter. These will be different based on your location; make sure that <SERVER.FQDN> is the FQDN of your local RODC.

ApplicationSourceRoot

rtsp://<SERVER.FQDN>:554

IconSourceRoot

\\<SERVER.FQDN>\Content

OSDSourceRoot

\\<SERVER.FQDN>\Content

Example:

Ensure Basic Connectivity

If the settings are being applied to the client correctly, the next thing to test is basic connectivity to the App-V servers. You can test this by using Telnet. As you may know, Telnet is not enabled by default on Windows 7, so you will have to enable it first. This can be done through the CLI or through Control Panel -> Progams and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off. You will need elevated privileges to turn on Telnet so you can log in with an elevated account or use RunAs functionality to open an elevated CLI.

I prefer to use the CLI here.

Enable Telnet

Open an elevated Command Prompt (via RunAs or logged in with an administrator account)

Run the following command to install the Telnet Client

pkgmgr /iu:”TelnetClient”

Wait about 30 seconds for the Telnet Client to install; it installs silently

Telnet to the Management Server and the Local Streaming Server

You will do these steps two times; once for the Management Server and once for the Streaming Server.

Type the following command:

telnet <management server fqdn> 554

Hit Enter a few times

You should get a response from the App-V Management Server. It will probably say “Bad Request” but this is ok; this is just a connectivity test. The response should look something like this:

You will want to do the same test to oyur local Streaming Server. Follow the above two steps again, but instead of typing in the Management Server FQDN, you will type in hte FQDN of your local Streaming Server (RODC).

Ensure Client Functionality

* note: some basic functions in the App-V client will work with a normal domain user account, but some things will require you to have elevated privileges *

You can access the App-V client by going to:

Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Application Virtualization Client

Test Server Refresh (the server listed should be the Management Server)

Left-Click on Publishing Servers

Double-Click on the server name on the right

Click the Refresh tab

Take a look at the last successful refresh times, and Left-Click the Refresh button

The Next User Refresh value should change from On Login to Ongoing. Once it changes back to On Login, the refresh is complete. If all is good with this part, you will get no errors. Doing a simple refresh could clear up a problem you were having as well.

Check Applications

After doing a refresh, you can also check what applications are loaded virtually and also check to make sure that the applications pulled down their File Type Associations.

Left-Click on Applications in the main App-V client window to view the list of loaded applications

Left-Click on File Type Associations in the main App-V client window to view the list of file type associations

Problems with a Particular Application

If you are having problems with a particular application that you know was working properly before, it is possible that the user has messed up some of the settings in the application itself. As you know, sometimes end-users are clicking around in an application and accidentally do something that causes the application to not behave in the intended way. A nice thing about App-V is that the application is not installed locally; you don’t have to reinstall the application, run a system restore, spend time fixing the application/registry, or anything like that to repair the application. In App-V, you can return the application to its’ original state very easily. However, this will undo any customizations that the user may have made on the application.

Left-Click Applications in the main App-V client window

Right-Click the application that you wish to repair

Left-Click Repair

Clear the Client Cache

This should not be needed very often, but I wanted to include it in this document. If you have run through the above troubleshooting steps ok, you can see your applications, but they will not launch correctly; this may help out. If the application cached data is somehow corrupt, this will help you get back to a clean state.

Open an elevated Command Prompt

Run the following command to clear the client cache

sftmime.exe remove obj:app /global /complete

Once you run the command, you will notice inside the App-V client, the applications and file type associations are gone. At this point you could do a few things.

Reboot the computer and log back in | this will allow the client to pull the application icons and file type associations again
Manually refresh following the steps above in the Test Server Refresh section | this will force the client to check into the server without having to reboot
Manually cache all applications | follow the next steps, this will not only display the icons for the user, but will actually pre-cache the applications

Manually Cache Applications

* note: be careful of doing this on too many machines at one time as it will generate a lot of network traffic *