Automatically provision your sequencing environment using Microsoft Application Virtualization Sequencer (App-V Sequencer)

Article
10/26/2022

Applies to:

Windows 10
Windows 11

Previous versions of the App-V Sequencer have required you to manually create your sequencing environment. Starting with Windows 10 version 1703, the New-AppVSequencerVM and Connect-AppvSequencerVM Windows PowerShell cmdlets are available, which automatically create your sequencing environment for you, including provisioning your virtual machine.

Automatic VM provisioning of the sequencing environment

You have two options for provisioning a VM for auto-sequencing:

Using a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)
Updating an existing VM

You can only choose one option.

Note

We have reduced the number of environmental checks performed by the App-V Sequencer, narrowing down the list of apps that need to be disabled or turned off for a clean sequencing experience. We've also suppressed antivirus and other similar app warnings.

Provision a new VM with a VHD file

Provisioning your new VM includes creating a VHD file, setting up a user account, turning on remote PowerShell scripting, and installing the App-V Sequencer.

Create a VHD file

For this process to work, you must have a base operating system available as a VHD image file, we recommend using the Convert-WindowsImage.ps1 command-line tool.

Create a VHD file with the Convert-WindowsImage command-line tool

Open PowerShell as an admin and run the Convert-WindowsImage tool, using the following commands:
```
Convert-WindowsImage -SourcePath "<path_to_iso_image>" -VHDFormat "VHD" -VHDPartitionStyle "MBR"
```
Where <path_to_iso_image> is the full path to your ISO image.

Important

You must specify the VHDPartitionStyle as MBR. If you use the default value, GPT, will cause a boot failure in your VHD image.

Provision your VM with your VHD file

After you have a VHD file, you must provision your VM for auto-sequencing.

On the Host device, install the Windows client and the Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) Auto Sequencer component from the matching version of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). For more info on how to install the App-V Sequencer, see Install the App-V Sequencer.
Make sure that Hyper-V is turned on. For more info about turning on and using Hyper-V, see Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016.
Open PowerShell as an admin and run the New-AppVSequencerVM cmdlet, using the following parameters:
```
New-AppVSequencerVM -VMName "<name_of_new_vm>" -ADKPath "<path_to_adk_install_folder>" -VHDPath "<path_to_vhd_file>" -VMMemory "<vm_memory_size>" -VMSwitch "<name_of_network_switch>"
```
This command creates a new Hyper-V VM file using the provided VHD file and also creates a "clean" checkpoint, from where all sequencing and updating will start.

Provision an existing VM for auto-sequencing

If your apps require custom prerequisites, such as Microsoft SQL Server, we recommend that you preinstall the prerequisites on your VM and then use that VM for auto-sequencing. Using these steps will establish a connection to your existing VM.

Connect to your existing VM

Open PowerShell as an admin and run the following commands on your existing VM:
- Set the network category of your connection profile on the VM to Private:
```
Get-netconnectionprofile | set-netconnectionprofile -NetworkCategory Private
```
- Enable firewall rules for Remote Desktop and Windows Remote Management:
```
Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup “Remote Desktop”
Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup “Windows Remote Management”
```
- Set the VM to receive remote commands without a confirmation prompt:
```
Enable-PSRemoting –Force
```

Provision an existing VM

On the Host device, install the Windows client and the Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) Auto Sequencer component from the matching version of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). For more info on how to install the App-V Sequencer, see Install the App-V Sequencer.
Open PowerShell as an admin and run the Connect-AppvSequencerVM cmdlet, using the following parameters:
```
Connect-AppvSequencerVM -VMName "<name_of_vm>"
```
Where <name_of_vm> is the name of the VM as shown in the Hyper-V Manager tool.

This command connects to an existing Hyper-V VM using the provided VM name for auto-sequencing.

Review the provisioning log files

The two types of provisioning log files, located at %temp%\AutoSequencer\Logs, are:

New-AppVSequencerVM-<time_stamp>.txt. Includes info about the provisioning activities, such as "Waiting for VM session", "Copying installer for Sequencer", and so on.
Connect-AppvSequencerVM-report-<time_stamp>.txt. Includes info about the connections made to the VM, showing whether there were any failures.

Next steps

After provisioning your sequencing environment, you must sequence your apps, either as a group or individually. For more info about sequencing your apps, see the following articles

After you sequence your packages, you can automatically clean up any unpublished packages on the App-V client. To learn more, see Automatically clean up unpublished packages on the App-V client.