Capture an App Volumes Application

A standard capture workflow constitutes of starting a command line capture program session, installing the application, and completing the capture session. To start and end the capture, appcapture.exe start and appcapture.exe finalize commands are used respectively. Different arguments such as /manualresume, /author, /format, and so on can be used with these commands.

After the capture is done, by default, the program creates a .vhd application package format and .json file. This file has the metadata for the generated package. Additional parameters such as /output, /format, and so on can also be used during the capture.

About the App Volumes Application Package Report

When finalizing the capture for a new package, App Volumes generates a .json file from which a read-only, HTML report is generated. The view-friendly, HTML report lists package content such as registry entries and files and folders detected during packaging. This information helps in maintaining, updating, and troubleshooting packages.

To generate the report for existing packages, the appcapture.exe packagereport command must be used.

The .json file that contains the same information as the HTML report can be used to generate reports in formats other than HTML. Because the package report is read-only, neither registry entries nor files and folders can be edited. This report displays content which is part of the package, but not visible to the administrator. In the report, such content is struck out followed by a (deleted) tag. The report also has a search capability which allows you to search for specific registry entries or files and folders.

Note: Package report capability is also present when App Volumes Manager is used for packaging new applications. For existing application packages in App Volumes Manager, the appcapture.exe packagereport command must be used.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that the command line capture program utility is installed at C:\Program Files\Omnissa\AppVolumes\Agent.
  For more information about how to install this program, see the Install App Volumes Application Capture Command-Line Program section in the Omnissa App Volumes Install Guide at Omnissa Product Documentation.

• Ensure that you start a new capture every time on a clean virtual machine.

• Ensure that the automatic Windows Updates are always turned off in the packaging machine.

• Ensure that the User Account Control (UAC) in Windows is deactivated.
  To deactivate UAC, see Microsoft Windows documentation.

• You must run the command line capture program as an administrator.

• Ensure that you have downloaded the installer of the application that must be captured.

• At the time of packaging, ensure that you turn off the auto updates for the application which is getting captured.

• If the application you intend to capture already has a product version, ensure that the product version is in the following format: x.x, x.x.x, or x.x.x.x. If the existing format is not compatible with the expected format, then the capture process fails. To prevent failure, use the /productversion parameter at the time of capture (appcapture.exe start). For more information about the parameter, see Windows Command-Line Arguments for the App Volumes Application Capture Command-Line Program.

• Ensure that you are aware of the command line arguments that can be used with the appcapture.exe command.

  For more information about the appcapture.exe command line arguments, see Windows Command-Line Arguments for the App Volumes Application Capture Command-Line Program.

Procedure

1. Take a snapshot of your virtual machine.

   You can revert to the snapshot after the capture session.

2. Open a command line window.

3. Start a new capture session from the location where the command line capture program is installed by using the following command:

   appcapture.exe start /name package_name /format [VHD, VMDK, MSI] /output location_of_output_files /upgradecode custom_GUID | native_MSI_application_installer_path

   package_name - name of the application package that is captured

   location_of_output_files - location at which the application package and metadata files are generated

   /nameand /upgradecode are mandatory parameters and other parameters are optional.

   • By default, the output files are located at C:\ProgramData\Omnissa\AppVolumes\Packages. However, the location of these files can be customized using the /output parameter.

   • By default, the generated package is in the .vhd format. Using the /format parameter and its values, the application package can be generated in the format that you want.

   • Using the /noreboot parameter is optional. When used, the agent machine does not reboot at the time of finalizing the capture.

   Important: If automatic Windows Updates are enabled, then you are prompted to either cancel the capture session or continue with the application capture. It is recommended that capture must not be done with automatic Windows Updates enabled. If you cancel capture, you must revert the snapshot of the virtual machine, turn off the automatic Windows Updates, take a new snapshot, and then restart the capture session. If you have automated the capture session (for example: using scripts) and automatic Windows Updates are turned on, then the capture session might not complete because of the prompt. You must turn off automatic updates and then resume the capture.

4. Install the application that you want to capture.

   Note: Any customization for the application must be done before finalizing the capture session.
   For example: When installing Zoom, the application might need customization such as room details, booking parameters, and so on. This customization must be done before finalizing the capture.

5. If your application install requires a virtual machine reboot, perform the reboot or wait for the reboot to finish.

   The command line capture program session automatically restarts.

6. Finish the capture session using the following command: appcapture.exe finalize.

   Machine reboots and the command line capture program session automatically restarts. If the /noreboot parameter is used, then the machine does not reboot, and the capture process completes.

   The capture process is complete. If /output parameter is not specified, then package_name.vhd and package_name.json are generated at C:\ProgramData\Omnissa\AppVolumes\Packages by default. The report files, package_name.report.html and package_name.report.json, are generated at the same location as the captured package.

7. Revert to the virtual machine's snapshot taken before you started the capture session.

What To Do Next

Depending on the infrastructure, you can deliver the captured application packages as follows:

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

• If you have generated the VMDK format, to import the *_workstation.vmdk package to App Volumes Manager, place the .vmdk and .json files on the App Volumes Manager server at <installation_directory>\CloudVolumes\Manager\ppv\packages, upload these files to the datastore that you want from the Storage page in the admin UI by using Upload Templates, and follow the Import an Application to App Volumes procedure.

• To import the .vhd application package to App Volumes Manager, copy the package (including the .json file) to a file share and follow the Import an Application to App Volumes procedure.

After the package is successfully imported to App Volumes Manager, you can assign the application and deliver the package to the end users.

Windows Endpoints

See Deliver App Volumes Applications to Windows Endpoints.