Monday, June 24, 2013

ProfileUnity Configuration

Local Execution

As I discussed in my last post, I don't like to rely on a solid network connection with Active Directory for script execution, this is something learned early in my career when I supported my organizations corporate login scripts. Instead, I prefer to copy the login script folder from the netlogon share down to the client.

In order to take advantage of this with ProfileUnity, you need to make some changes to the ProfileUnity GPO settings. First, let's open Group Policy Manager by selecting Start - All Programs - Administrative Tools - Group Policy Management.



From there, edit your ProfileUnity GPO.


Select Computer Configuration - Policies - Windows Settings - Scripts (Startup/Shutdown). Change the Script Parameters to C:\ProfileUnity\Startup.vbs //b.


Next navigate to User Configuration - Policies - Windows Settings - Scripts (Logon/Logoff). Modify the Script Parameters to C:\ProfileUnity\Logoff.vbs //b.


Last, expand User Configuration - Policies - Administrative Templates - Classic Administrative Templates - Liquidware Labs - ProfileUnity, and then change the INI File Path - UNC Path to C:\ProfileUnity.

Now that our GPO has been configured, we need to copy the \\domaincontroller\netlogon\ProfileUnity folder local to our Parent Image.


Now, if you want to do it "Ol' School Style", then you can use your corporate login script to copy down the local files.


ProfileUnity 5.5 Configuration Management

After the installation, you can access the ProfileUnity 5.5 Management interface through a web browser. The address with be https://hostname:8000 or https://ipadress:8000.

When you log on to the ProfileUnity 5.5 Management interface, click the Edit icon to enter the Configuration screen.


When you first open up your configuration, you will see the screen below with 30 different configuration modules. The modules with the numbers in the bottom right corner are options that are enabled in your configuration. You can click on any of the items to view the respective configuration screen and edit the items.


The FlexApp UIA module is used to control the storage and retrieval of user installed applications. You will notice in this example, we are mapping to drive letter B: with the UNC path of \\192.168.253.129\home\%username%\FlexApp. I chose to use the IP address of the storage server to ensure I didn’t have any names resolution problems.


The Portabilty Settings module is used to control the storage and retrieval of personal user preference during logoff and logon. This module works in conjunction with the rulesets defined through the Portability Management interface.


You will want to check the Save and Restore options on the ruleset you are editing. This will save settings during logoff and restore them back when the user logs back on to their stateless virtual desktop.


In the Folder Redirection Module, you may observe some rulesets that start with %username% as the Redirect to Folder path. This can cause problems, most notably it can show white icons on the desktop that aren’t associated with any application, to resolve this issue change the Redirect to Folder path to the drive letter. In the below example, we changed it from %username%\AppData\Roaming to B:\ AppData\Roaming.


Another thing to note, FlexApp only works on Windows 7 and Windows 8 non-persistent desktops. You will see that we have applied a Windows 7 or Windows 8 filter on these two items to ensure they don’t execute on legacy Windows operating systems. This allows you to have portability of your profile on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, 7, 2012, and 8.

Last, it is good practice to check Hide Previous Location After Redirect.


Filter Management


Now, lets create a Filter Management ruleset that we can apply to our Folder Redirection.


We have given our new filter the name of  Windows 7 or Windows 8. We will apply this filter to rulesets that only work on those two operating systems. Uncheck all the items under Operating System expect 7 and 8. When you are finished, click Save.


Saving Configuration Changes

Since we have made updates to our configuration, we need to copy the updated configuration file out to our netlogon share so that the desktops in the OU execute the new configuration. On the far right hand side of the Configuration item you will notice a little icon with a blue bar. If you hover over the icon it will show a Download annotation. Click this icon and it will ask you to save a configuration .ini file.



Next you want to copy this new configuration file to your Active Directory netlogon share. Additionally, if you decided to copy the ProfileUnity folder local to the Parent Image, then you will need to copy the configuration file to your Parent Image, take a new snapshot, and then Recompose the pool.
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