Release date: April 14th 2020
Welcome to my VMware Dynamic Environment Manager series. In this session I will describe how I captured an application, Audacity, using VMware DEM Application Profiler. Before I begin, I will mention that it is quite possible to download config templates from VMware Marketplace, directly from inside DEM Console.
The approach above is quite suitable for many generic applications, but far from all application have a template on VMware Marketplace. Sometimes we have to create our own config file using the Application Profiling utility. To do this, I first start up my Profiler-VM which I created earlier in this session: VMware DEM – Setup Application Profiler VM. Next, I either install the application in question, or even better, use the Application I created in App Volumes earlier. In this session I will use the Audacity Application I packaged with App Volumes earlier. So, I make sure to assign the Audacity application to the user I will be using in this session. This user will also need write permission to the config share on my Dynamic Environment server. This is where I will put my config file when I have created it. Prior to capturing the new application, I have the following Applications defined.
When my Profiler VM is started, I launch Vmware Remote Console and log in. (When making this session I only had a Norwegian Windows 10 and Audacity installation, but we all get the gist of what will get done). As we can see below, the pre-installed App Volumes Agent has attached the Audacity Application inside Windows and the hostname for this VM is W10DEMCAPT
If I launch Audacity, it starts nicely as it should for all users, I then close the application before I continue.
To capture the Audacity template, I launch DEM Application Profiler and click Start Session…
I can now either browse to my applications folder, or choose it from the start menu. I simply select Audacity from the Start Menu, OK…
VMware DEM starts to analyze the application and launches Audacity.
For this session, I will pre-define the sample rate from default 44100 Hz to 48000 Hz
After I have done my change, I close Audacity. With the analysis done, my Flex Config file is created.
Next, I will save my Config File with predefined settings
I will save this directly to my Config Share
Finally I revert the Profiler VM to my snapshot in order to have a clean VM for the next capture.
Back in the VMware DEM Console, I refresh and verify that Audacity is now present.
To test this, I log into a Horizon Desktop with a user that has this Application assigned from App Volumes. I start up Audacity and make a change to a setting. As we can see I have my predefined sample rate setting of 48000 Hz, this I will change back to the default value 44100 Hz.
As I log off my Horizon Desktop, I can now verify that the settings are exported to my test user’s profile archive
If I open the Audacity zip-file I can now verify the setting I changed has been exported
I open the audacity.cfg file using Notepad and see DefaultProjectSampleRate is set to 44100 as I changed it to inside the Horizon Desktop
And, with that, my users settings in Audacity are now roaming between sessions.
Official VMware Dynamic Environment Manager Documentation
Disclaimer: Every tips/tricks/posting I have published here, is tried and tested in different it-solutions. It is not guaranteed to work everywhere, but is meant as a tip for other users out there. Remember, Google is your friend and don’t be afraid to steal with pride! Feel free to comment below as needed.
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