Applications Virtualization Resource Blogs

Some great resources around virtualizing applications:

The App-V Blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/default.aspx

Application Virtualization Operations Guide
http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2007/11/13/softgrid-operations-guide-part-1.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2007/11/14/softgrid-operations-guide-part-2.aspx

List of applications that can be virtualized
http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2007/09/27/list-of-applications-that-can-be-virtualized.aspx

Virtualworld Blog
http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld

Windows: Enable MSI Service in Safe Mode

I have run into scenerios where I needed access to the Windows Installer service while in Safe Mode. You may be suprised to know that this service is not enabled by default. The following info will get it back for you:

To start Windows Installer in Safe Mode:
1. Restart your computer and press F8 before the Boot Menu or splash screen.

2. Open a CMD.EXE window.

3. Type the following commands and press Enter:

REG ADD “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer” /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D “Service”
net start msiserver

NOTE: You can use this technique to uninstall an application in Safe Mode.

Windows PE 2.0 AD Scripting requirements

 From the Vista install.wim or from a Vista machine retrieve the following files (located in the System32 directory):

adsldp.dll
adsnt.dll
mscoree.dll
mscorier.dll
mscories.dll

Mount your Windows PE boot image using imagex.
Example:
imagex /mountrw c:\PathToPEWim\WinPE.wim 1 c:\Mounted_Images

Copy the dll files above to c:\Mounted_Images\Windows\System32

Using regedit, load the SOFTWARE hive from your PE 2.0 Boot WIM and call it PE_Software.
(Location of the Software hive:
c:\Mounted_Images\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE)

Save the text below as a reg file. With the PE_Software hive loaded, import the registry key. UNLOAD the hive when finished to save the changes.
Unmount and commit changes to your PE wim image.

SCCM: Interactive Software install during Task Sequence

When building my base OS for capturing there always seems to something that cant be automated or is a royal pain to automate. Using the SCCM TS “Software Install” it has to be completely non interactive. This present a challenge for something you may want to install by hand. Here’s a trick to get around that:

Turn on the command shell capability in the Boot Image and when your in your “State Restore” phase press F8 to open a command window. Viola! you can now map a drive to a network share and execute (interactively) anything you like.