App-V Troubleshooting, Known Issues and General Resources
When you’re troubleshooting a problem with SoftGrid or Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), chances are pretty good that you’re not the first person to encounter your particular issue. With that in mind, the first thing you’ll want to do is a quick search of our Knowledge Base, our blog sites and the forums to see if anyone has already posted the resolution. There's a lot of good information at these resources and I've listed a few of my favorites below:
- Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for SoftGrid KB articles
- Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for App-V KB articles
- Search the App-V Team blog.
- Search our SoftGrid/App-V Newsgroups or ask a question of your own
The four resources above probably hold the answer for 90% of the questions and issues we get on App-V. And if they don't, let me know so I can work on getting it added. I promise that I read every email I get even if I may not have the bandwidth to respond to them all.
If you’re getting an error message, include parts of the exact error text in your search. Also note that the UI error code contains both the Application ID and Error Code (The actual error code is the last 10 characters). The exact error message and code can be incredibly important so don’t summarize it when searching or asking for help. Including the exact error can mean the difference between quickly finding your answer and searching in vain.
Common Questions
I'd have to say that the two most common questions we get about both SoftGrid and App-V include:
1. Do you have a list of applications that can be virtualized? The answer can be found here.
2. How can I sequence Microsoft Office? This is super easy if you use our recipe. We have a couple KBs you can reference depending on which version of Office you'd like to virtualize:
- KB939796 - Prescriptive guidance for sequencing 2007 Office programs in Microsoft SoftGrid
- KB983462 - Prescriptive guidance for sequencing Office 2010 in Microsoft App-V
How-Tos
- How can I deploy and manage virtual applications for remote users who never connect to my network (or VPN in)?
- How to migrate the SoftGrid Server and the associated accounts to a new domain/forest
- How to sequence applications that require a reboot
- Methods for Upgrading or Updating Virtualized Applications
- Scripting within an OSD file
- Virtualizing a Web Based Application
Other Things You Should Know
!IMPORTANT! Microsoft Application Virtualization (SoftGrid) Post Installation Tasks
- Introduction to SoftGrid and App-V networking
- SoftGrid Upgrade: General guidance and recommended practices
- MCS Sequencing Guidelines
- Sequencing and anti-virus software
- Recommendations for taking a snapshot of your virtual machine during the sequencing process
- SoftGrid Operations Guide - Part 1
- SoftGrid Operations Guide - Part 2
- The Top Three Rookie Mistakes - Part 1
- The Top Three Rookie Mistakes - Part 2
- The Top Three Rookie Mistakes - Part 3
- The App-V Best Practices Analyzer
Other Online Resources
- The App-V Sequencing Recipe Sharing Forum
- Need to open a support incident? Click here.
- The App-V Team blog
- The App-v TechCenter
- The Application Virtualization technical library on TechNet
- Webcasts, Virtual Labs, Certification opportunities, TechNet events and other learning opportunities
- The latest App-V downloads
- App-V community links
- The MDOP blog
Common Issues
While App-V is pretty simple and straight forward to deploy and use, below are a couple of the more common issues we sometimes see here in support:
Issue:
When installing the App-V Management Service, ‘Error 25120 unable to create the required IIS virtual directory’ You may also see something like this in the SoftGrid-Server-setup log file:
Root cause: IIS or ‘IIS Scripts and Management Tools’ is not installed
Resolution: Install IIS and role service ‘IIS Scripts and Management Tools’
Issue:
Error 25122 when installing the App-V Management Service.:
Root Cause: Attempted to install Management Service on a machine where ‘Default web site’ (in IIS) was renamed:
Resolution: Re-name to ‘Default Web Site’ in IIS Manager
Issue:
Error connecting to the Management Service in the management console – Error code: 0000C824:
Root Cause: Management service is uninstalled – check for an error message in the install log. It may indicate that server.conf and sftMgmt.udl do not exist
Resolution: Re-install Management Service
Issue:
Apps successfully imported on server and publishing refresh successful on client, but no apps appear in client console. If you review the sftlog.txt (client log) file you may find something similar to the following:
Root cause(s): The content folder is not shared, there is an OS Tag mismatch or the user is not added to correct group entitlement.
Resolution(s): Share content folder, add the proper OS to the OSD file or add the user to the correct group.
Issue:
Error 2A-80090322 when performing a publishing refresh or launching a virtual application. You may also see “The target principal name is incorrect. “
Root Cause: The App-V Management Server service is configured to logon as a domain user instead of the default Network Service Account and the Service Principal Name (SPN) has not been registered.
Resolution: Set the SPN on the Management Server. For example:
setspn -A SoftGrid/<FQDN of your machine> <YourDOMAIN>\<YourServiceAccountName>
setspn –A SoftGrid/<NetBIOS name of your machine> <YourDOMAIN>\<YourServiceAccountName>
Issue:
The Management Server service stops and gives an error on restart:
When reviewing the log file sft-server.txt you see something similar to the following:
Root cause: The SQL Server service is stopped.
Resolution: Restart the SQL Server service and then restart the Management Server service.
Issue:
Virtual applications’ usage data is not accurate.
Root cause: Publishing refresh is disabled on the client or set to ‘Refresh publishing on user login’
Resolution: Set a 1 day refresh policy on the client by setting ‘Refresh publishing occurs every’. Best Practice is to deploy the refresh policy setting on server (overwrites the policy set on client) versus client.
Issue:
Error 25010. A prerequisite for installation is missing. Installation cannot continue.
Root cause: You may be installing using setup.msi, which does not install pre-requisites.
Resolution: Install using setup.exe or manually install the pre-reqs prior to running setup.msi,
Issue:
Publishing refresh fails with error code 0A-10000004:
Investigation: Verify that the server is accessible (ping it). Next try to Telnet to the server. If still no issue is found, RDP to the server and verify that the Management
Server service is running. You may find that is is stopped.
Resolution: Restart the service and do publishing refresh again
Issue:
App launch fails with error 4604EE8-19D07F2A-0000274D:
Root Cause: Cannot contact the server because the Management Server service is stopped.
Resolution: Restart the Management Server service.
Issue:
Application launch fails with error 4604EE8-1690140A-20000194:
Root Cause(s): The .sft file path or the .sft file name is invalid, the App no longer exists but a shortcut is still present, or the Provider Policy does not exist.
Resolution: Set the correct path to the SFT file, delete the shortcut, or set the correct Provider Policy in the .osd.
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