
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFIGURING GROUP POLICY SETTINGS FOR VMWARE THINAPP PACKAGES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OVERVIEW:

  The Group Policy Administrative Template (ADMX/ADML) files accompanying this readme document, 
  allow you to configure Group Policy settings for applications packaged with VMware ThinApp. 
  These files work on domain controllers running Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and
  Windows Server 2012. You can control a select set of ThinApp Runtime features such as AppSync 
  and AppLink, on ThinApp packages that are already deployed and running on client machines.


FILES:

  ThinAppBase.admx/adml

    This file-pair provides a [base template] that sets up the base namespace and category structure
    for policy settings that target Thinapp applications. 

  ThinAppGeneric.admx/adml

    This file-pair provides a [generic template], which you can customize for a specific ThinApp 
    application. A copy of this file-pair must be created for each application you want to target.

  AppPolicy.exe

    This tool creates and customizes the [generic template] files, for a particular application.


TARGETED FEATURES:

  You can configure the following aspects of a deployed ThinApp package:

  - AppSync
  - AppLink
  - Entry-point shortcuts


CONFIGURATION INSTRUCTIONS:

 To configure a ThinApp'ed application, perform the following steps on the domain-controller:

 [A] Customize the [generic template] files for a specific application

   [1]  Note down the InventoryName of the ThinApp application. (For eg. 'Mozilla Fireox 19')
        If you do not know the InventoryName, you can find it out by running AppPolicy.exe, as shown:

        > AppPolicy.exe /s <path to the package pdc file>

   [2]  The [generic template] files - ThinAppGeneric.admx/adml - contain settings for a generic, unnamed 
        application. To customize these files for a specific application (eg. 'Mozilla Firefox 19'),
        run the AppPolicy.exe tool, as shown below:

        > AppPolicy.exe /c "Mozilla Firefox 19"

	The AppPolicy.exe tool looks for the [generic template] files in the current directory, and
        creates a new set of [app-specific template] files, customized for 'Mozilla Firefox 19'. 
        By default, these are named 'ThinApp_MozillaFirefox19.admx' and 'ThinApp_MozillaFirefox19.adml'.

   [3]  By default, all policy settings in the [app-specific] template files are targeted for the 'Machine'.

        This means, these settings will apply as computer-level settings, and in the Group Policy 
        Management editor, these settings will appear under 

           Computer Configuration/Policies/Administrative Templates

        To target these settings for the 'User', open the ADMX file and replace all occurrences of the
        line
	  class="Machine"
        with
          class="User"
 
 [B] Place the administrative template files on the domain controller
 
   [1]  Copy [the base template] files to the domain controller's policy-definition folder

         - copy ThinAppBase.admx to %WINDIR%\PolicyDefinitions
         - copy ThinAppBase.adml to %WINDIR%\PolicyDefinitions\en-US

        Note: You need to do the above just once.

   [2]  Move the [app-specific] template files to the policy-definition folder

         - move ThinApp_MozillaFirefox19.admx to %WINDIR%\PolicyDefinitions
         - move ThinApp_MozillaFirefox19.adml to %WINDIR%\PolicyDefinitions\en-US

        Note: You need to do the above for each ThinApp package.

 [C] Create and configure a Group Policy Object for this specific application

   [1]  Run gpmc.msc to open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)

        Expand [Group Policy Management -> Forest -> Domains].
        Under [your domain], right-click [Group Policy Objects], select New.
        Type in a name for this GPO object (eg. "GPO-ThinApp-MozillaFirefox19")

   [2]  A new, named GPO object is created under [Group Policy Objects].

        Right-click [GPO-ThinApp-MozillaFirefox19] and select Edit...
        The Group Policy Management Editor (GPME) opens.

        If you have targeted your GPO policy for the Machine, expand [Computer Configuration].
        If you have targeted your GPO policy at the User or Both, expand [User Configuration].

        Expand [Policies -> Administrative Templates -> VMware ThinApp Management].
        You should find the [Mozilla Firefox 19] node listed. Click the node to display the 
        feature-specific policy-settings on the right-pane.

   [3]  Open a policy-setting and read the Help box to understand how it is configured.
        After you have configured the policy-setting(s), close the GPME.

 [D] Link the Group Policy Object to a scope (such as domain, site, OU ...)

   For example, to apply the GPO to the domain, back in the GPMC, under Domains, right-click
   your domain and select [Link an Existing GPO...] . The [Select GPO] dialogbox opens. Under 
   [Group Policy objects], choose [GPO-ThinApp-MozillaFirefox19].

 [E] Update client machines

   On the client machine, run 'gpupdate /force' to update the policy immediately or wait till 
   the next policy update interval elapses.

-- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
