VMware THINAPP 4.6 - System Requirements for Running Thinapp Converter; Preparing the Configuration File for Thinapp Converter

ThinApp User’s Guide
30 VMware, Inc.
Afterthesnapshotistaken,ThinAppConverterpushesasilentcaptureagenttovirtualmachines.Thesilent
captureagentrunstransparentlyonthevirtualmachines,capturingtheapplicationinstallationprocessina
similarwaytothatoftheSetupCapturewizardwhenasingleapplicationisbeingcaptured.Thesilentcapture

agentperformsthefollowingactions:
 RunsaThinAppprescan
 Installsanapplicationfromthenetworksharespecifiedintheconfigurationfile
 Runsapostscan
 GeneratesaThinAppprojectonthenetworksharespecifiedintheconfigurationfile
 Performsprojectpost‐processingtasks
 BuildstheThinAppprojectonthenetworkshareintoapackage
ThesilentcaptureagentthenreturnscontroltotheThinAppConverter,whichrevertsthevirtualmachinesto
theirprecapturestate,usingtheiroriginalsnapshot.
Theprocessisthenrepeatedforthenextapplicationinstallationprocessthatneedstobeconverted.
When
multiplevirtualmachinesarespecified,thecaptureagentrunsonthemachinessimultaneously.Asavirtual
machinebecomesavailable,itisonceagainusedforconvertingthenextapplication
ThinApp Converter Limitations
 Notallapplicationinstallationprocessessupportsilentinstallationmode.ThinAppConverterdoesnot
supportautomaticcaptureforaninstallationprocessthatdoesnotsupportsilentinstallation.
 Theinstallerdirectorynamemustnotcontaintheequalssymbol(=).
System Requirements for Running ThinApp Converter
ThinAppConverterrequiresoneofthefollowingvirtualmachineenvironments:
 VMwareESXServer4.0,orlater
 VMwarevCenterServer4.0,orlater
 VMwareWorkstation7.0,orlater
Thevirtualmachinesthatareusedintheconversionprocessmusthavethefollowingitemsinstalled:
 WindowsXPwithServicePack3,WindowsVista,orWindows7
 ThelatestversionofVMwareTools
ThinAppConverterincludesaprivatecopyoftheVMwareVIXAPIlibrary.Ifamorerecentversionofthe
libraryalreadyexistsonthehostmachine,ThinAppConvertertriestousethenewestversion.
VMwarerecommendsthatyouuseWindows2003orWindows2008asa
fileserverfornetworkshare.Thefile
serverneedstohavesufficientsystemresourcestohandlealargequantityoffileoperations.Donotusethe
hostmachinethatrunstheThinAppConverterexecutablefileasthefileserverforthenetworkshare.
WhenusingaVMwareWorkstationenvironment,ensurethat
thenetworksettingsareinbridgedmode.
Preparing the Configuration File for ThinApp Converter
Asampleconfigurationfile,ThinAppConverter.ini,isincludedintheThinAppinstallation.Thefileis
generallylocatedinC:\Program Files\VMware\VMware ThinApp.
Modifyorcreateacopyofthisfiletosuityourrequirements.UseUTF‐8encodingwhenyouspecifyparameter
values.
TheThinAppConverter.ini configurationfileincludesthefollowingsectionheadings:
 [HostEnvironment]containsvirtualmachinehostingparameters.
 [VirtualMachineN]containsvirtualmachine‐specificparameters.