Managed Deployment of AppsAnywhere Clients

Overview

AppsAnywhere recommend that clients are updated to the latest available versions in Latest Releases.

Further information is available on Deploying AppsAnywhere Client.

Pre-Deployment Checklist [Important]

1. Deploy the AppsAnywhere Policy Template from latest releases and apply the recommended settings.

2. If you are using AppsAnywhere Client in your managed environment, you should deploy Cloudpaging Player first, and disable pre-deploy using the AppsAnywhere Policy Template before deploying the AppsAnywhere Client.

3. Numecent installers set the minimum level of system access for Cloudpaging Player. You will need to (re)apply extended permissions following any installation or upgrade. The AppsAnywhere Policy Template is recommended for this.

4. By default the Cloudpaging Player cache will automatically expand as needed until the local disk becomes full. In your managed environment we recommend to set a fixed shared cache size, depending on the available disk space. A 32GB cache is more than enough for most use cases.

5. A reboot is required after all Cloudpaging Player upgrades, otherwise the user will be unable to virtualize or launch any virtual applications.
   
   
6. The AppsAnywhere clients must be deployed and managed on Parallels RAS RDSH Servers. See Configuring Parallels RAS RDSH Servers for use with AppsAnywhere and Cloudpaging.
   
   
7. Set the current and minimum versions for all clients in use under Client Settings

See Latest Releases for links to download the latest AppsAnywhere Clients along with release notes, documentation and compatibility information.

Deploy the AppsAnywhere Policy Template

AppsAnywhere provide a combined policy template including both AppsAnywhere and Cloudpaging configuration settings.

The recommended settings should be deployed and are available in AppsAnywhere documentation.

Details of the corresponding Registry keys and Settings for AppsAnywhere Clients are also available for reference.

Additionally, the following should also be set.

Institution ID

<dict>
       <key>institution-id</key>
       <string>12ab3456cd</string>
 </dict>

Base URL

<dict>
       <key>BaseURL</key>
       <string>https://appsanywhere.uni.edu</string>
 </dict>

Client Deployment

Group Policy

Full details on deploying clients are available via

• Deploying AppsAnywhere Client
• Cloudpaging Player Deployment Guide for Admins
• Deploying Parallels Client using MSIEXEC

AppsAnywhere Client

For deployment the following command line can be used for silent installation:

msiexec /qn /i "apps-anywhere-installer-x64.msi"

Cloudpaging Player

For deployment the following command line can be used for silent installation with a starting cache size of 32GB.

msiexec /qn /i "cloudpaging-player-setup-x64.msi" ET_CACHE_SIZE="32000" 

To prevent the cache from auto growing, deploy and set the following reg key, then restart the StreamingCore service

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Endeavors Technologies\StreamingCore\Settings\Cache" /v CacheAutoGrow /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
net stop "Streaming Core Service"
net stop "Streaming Core Service"

Parallels RAS Client

See Deploying Parallels Client using MSIEXEC e.g.

msiexec /i RASclient.msi DEFSETTINGS="2XSettings.2xc" /qn

AppsAnywhere Client

1. Set the Current Version for all Clients to the latest release in AppsAnywhere Admin >Client Settings.
2. Upgrade managed devices by following the steps below
3. Once managed devices have been upgraded, set the Minimum Version for relevant clients to the latest release.

Please note that currently the AppsAnywhere MSI does not work as an in-place upgrade. The previous version must be uninstalled first e.g.

Replace the GUID with the one from HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall of the version to be removed

@echo off
REM Uninstall AppsAnywhere Client 1.3.x
msiexec /x {21A970DD-0097-4394-8C58-487A97D43E7F} /qn
REM Install AppsAnywhere Client
msiexec.exe /i apps-anywhere-installer-x64.msi /qn

Cloudpaging Player

For silent upgrade of an existing Cloudpaging Player installation, followed by a reboot, we recommend the following command line.

• The use of vamus ensures that all files are replaced.
• Depending on the timing of deployment, it may be necessary to stop the Cloudpaging Player and Streaming Core Service from running before an upgrade can commence.
• This script also ensures that extended permissions are in place following the installation of Cloudpaging Player.

@echo off
REM Stop Cloudpaging Player
taskkill /f /im "JukeboxPlayer.exe" /t
net stop "Streaming Core Service"
REM Upgrade Cloudpaging Player and Reboot (Required)
msiexec.exe /qn /i "cloudpaging-player-setup-x64.msi" REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vamus /forcerestart
REM Reapply extended permissions (Required)
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Endeavors Technologies\StreamingCore\Settings\AppEvent" /v AllowLocalSystem /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Endeavors Technologies\StreamingCore\Settings\Driver" /v PhysicalLayerMode /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

NOTE: Clients can be upgraded in sequence by combining the sets of commands.

A number of customers have also shared their approach to managed deployment of Cloudpaging Player via our community forum.

In the context of an upgrade, the public properties of INSTALLDIR and ET_CACHE_SIZE have no effect on the upgrade installation as the previous installation location and cache size are used, regardless of installer type (MSI or EXE).

Downgrades

AppsAnywhere Client

Replace the GUID with the one from HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall of the version to be removed

@echo off
REM Uninstall AppsAnywhere Client 1.6.0
msiexec /x {A574AE0D-A44B-414D-94F4-9BEF88F715D8} /qn
REM Install AppsAnywhere Client
msiexec.exe /i apps-anywhere-installer-x64.msi /qn

Cloudpaging Player

Replace the GUID with the one from HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall of the version to be removed

@echo off
REM uninstall Player 9.3.3. Users will lose apps in the Player and its cache.
taskkill /f /im "JukeboxPlayer.exe" /t
net stop "Streaming Core Service"
msiexec.exe /X {23F6FB7C-C1E2-491B-91A1-0441D5191BC7} /qn /forcerestart

• Install the Player on managed devices by following Managed Deployment of AppsAnywhere Clients
• If removed for end users, the Player will install from AppsAnywhere Portal by launching a Cloudpaging Delivery Method

Parallels RAS Client

Follow Deploying Parallels Client using MSIEXEC e.g.

msiexec /i RASclient.msi /qn 

msiexec /f RASclient.msi /qn

Removal

AppsAnywhere Client

To uninstall AppsAnywhere Client from machines you can use the following script. This includes the product GUIDs for all previous versions from v1.1.0 onwards:

@echo off
REM Uninstall AppsAnywhere Client 1.1.0
msiexec /x {19BB2ED9-56F5-4217-966F-3334F840C7C3} /qn
REM Uninstall AppsAnywhere Client 1.2.0
msiexec /x {21A970DD-0097-4394-8C58-487A97D43E7F} /qn
REM Uninstall AppsAnywhere Client 1.3.0
msiexec /x {A7390D63-EC32-43E6-9E6F-B3345923A4D6} /qn
REM Uninstall AppsAnywhere Client 1.3.x
msiexec /x {21A970DD-0097-4394-8C58-487A97D43E7F} /qn

Cloudpaging Player

To uninstall Cloudpaging Player from machines you may first need to stop the Player and Steaming Core Service as follows:

@echo off
taskkill /f /im "jukeboxplayer.exe" /t
net stop "streaming core service"
msiexec /x {23F6FB7C-C1E2-491B-91A1-0441D5191BC7} /qn

Further Reading

• User Manuals
• Deploying AppsAnywhere Client
• Cloudpaging Player Upgrade: Windows Error 1316