VMware THINAPP 4.6 - Deploying Thinapp on Network Shares; Deploying Thinapp Using Executable Files; Establishing File Type Associations with the Thinreg.exe Utility; Application Sync Effect on the Thinreg.exe Utility

ThinApp User’s Guide
40 VMware, Inc.
 Creatingaloginscriptthatqueriesapplicationsentitledtotheuserandrunsthethinreg.exeutilitywith
theoptionthatregisterstheapplicationsonthelocalmachine.Loginscriptsareusefulfornonpersistent
desktops.See“EstablishingFileTypeAssociationswiththethinreg.exeUtility”onpage 40.
 Controllinguseraccesstofileshares.ITadministratorsmightcontrolaccessbyorganizingnetworkshares
basedonfunctionandassociatingpermissionswithnetworksharesbasedonthosefunctional
boundaries.
Deploying ThinApp on Network Shares
Smallandmediumenterprisestendtouseanetworkshare.Youcancreateexecutablefilesforthecaptured
applicationandstorethemonanetworkshare.Eachtimeyoudeployanewapplicationoranupdatetoan
existingpackage,youcannotifyclientuserstorunthethinreg.exeutilitywith
anappropriateoption.
ITadministratorscancontroluseraccesstofilesharesbyorganizingnetworksharesbasedonfunctionand
associatingpermissionswithnetworksharesbasedonthosefunctionalboundaries.
ThedifferencesbetweenthenetworkshareoptionandtheVMwareViewoptionarethatthenetworkshare
optionassumesamixof
physicalandvirtual(persistent)desktopsandinvolv esusersrunningthe
thinreg.exeutilitydirectlyinsteadofrelyingonloginscripts.
Deploying ThinApp Using Executable Files
Youcanuseabasicdeploymentoptionwithexecutablefileswhendiskuseislimited.
Youcancreateexecutablefilesforthecapturedapplications,copythemfromacentralrepository,andrunthe
thinreg.exeutilitymanuallytoregisterfiletypeassociations,desktopshortcuts,andtheapplication
packageonthesystem.
Establishing File Type Associations with the thinreg.exe Utility
IfyoucreateexecutablefilesinsteadofMSIfilesduringthecaptureprocess,youmustrunthethinreg.exe
utilitytoopenfiles,suchasa.docdocumentoran.htmlpage.Forexample,ifyouclickaURLinanemail
message,ThinAppmustbesettostartFirefox.Youdo
nothavetorunthethinreg.exeutilityforMSIfiles
becauseMSIfilesstarttheutilityduringtheapplicationinstallation.
Thethinreg.exeutilitycreatestheStartmenuanddesktopshortcuts,setsupfiletypeassociations,adds
deinstallationinformationtothesystemcontrolpanel,andunregisterspreviouslyregisteredpackages.The
utilityenables
youtoseethecontrolpanelextensionsforapplications,suchasQuicktimeorthemailcontrol
panelappletforMicrosoftOutlook2007.Whenyouright‐clickafile,suchasa.docfile,thethinreg.exe
utilityenablesyoutoseethesamemenuoptionsfora.docfileina
nativeenvironment.
IfanapplicationrunsSMTPorHTTPprotocols,suchasanemaillinkonaWebpagethatneedstoopen
MicrosoftOutlook2007,thethinreg.exeutilitystartsavailablevirtualapplicationsthatcanhandlethose
protocols.Ifvirtualapplicationsarenotavailable,thethinreg.exeutilitystartsnativeapplicationsthat
can
handlethoseprotocols.
ThedefaultlocationoftheutilityisC:\Program Files\VMware\VMware ThinApp.
Application Sync Effect on the thinreg.exe Utility
TheApplicationSyncutilityaffectsthethinreg.exeutilityduringtheupdateprocess.
Ifyouadd,modify,orremoveexecutablefiles,thethinreg.exeutilityreregistersthefiletypeassociations,
shortcuts,andicons.
Ifyouinstallprotocols,MIMEtypes,controlpanelapplets,andtemplatesotherthanexecutablefiles,the
thinreg.exeutilityreregisterstheseelements.