One of the best practices when packaging with ThinApp includes verifying no processes are left running that lock the Sandbox when you shuts down the application. You can simply verify this by trying to delete the package’s Sandbox. If it is locked and you cannot delete it, some process is still running.
To determine wich process locks the sandbox i use Process Explorer.

In my case the child process ‘svchost.exe’ kept the sandbox locked.
Because it was running outside of the thinapp the ‘OnLastProcessExit function’ is never called.

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For a customer I placed a  SQL server, which has a disk size of about 900 MB, on “cheap” iSCSI SAN with a dual 10 GB link. This was not the only Virtual Machine on the iSCSI hardware there where about 13 LUN defined with each about 6 virtual machines. I “doubted” if”  this machine was a candidate for this particular iSCSI solution but measurements of the environment showed me that it was possible.

It seems to went well but after a few days I got complaining users and i saw this graph (see below) ! It seems that something has changed on January the 17th. From that day the SQL server is bean heavily loaded with import jobs that will run every night. Because the customer want to have the latest production data for testing and training the virtual machine characteristic changed dramatically du to this adjustment!

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When VMware Workstation 8 is installed on a MS Windows 7 x64 machine, and you’ll update de software to the latest version, the installation can fail with error 25028 in vmwarevmcisocket64.msi.

The installation first uninstalls the old version, then reboots the machine and after you’re loggedin, the installation of the new version continues. When anwsered a couple of questions, the installation exits with error 25028. Continue reading »

For the intergration of VMware ThinApp applications into RES Workspace Manager, a custom VBS is required in the root of the Setup Capture files folder.
The following code must be present in the script:

Function OnFirstParentStart
WaitForProcess ExecuteVirtualProcess(GetEnvironmentVariable(“pwrgrids”)),0
End Function

But some ThinApp applications failed to start after that, or any vbs script was added to the build.

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This blog is part three of three on how you can make a back-up and more importantly how you can recover items from a mailbox. In part one I described which setting to set for a exchange 2010 back-up job. In part two I explain how to configure the virtual lab and application group that are necessary for restoring exchange items from a specific mailbox. So finally we have come to the most important part recovery of items from your exchange 2010 mailbox.
While performing a recovery for the first time you will see that the recovery process was made for  enterprise environment where task are divided. Recovery in Veeam Backup exists out of three steps. Step one asking for a recovery to take place. Step two control and approve of the recovery wish. And step three is the actual recovery . For the new back-up version I have heard that this process has been adjust but i did not find the time to play with the new product version. 

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I thought this was a very known issue but assumptions are the mother of all …. So here some (old news). When deploying a virtual machine from a template within vCenter while using customization specification and within the customization specification it indicates that the system should be placed in a particular domain. Sysprep will try but is not able to do this.

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A couple of days ago, the PepperCrew had his monthly meeting. There was a little discussion about the new vSphere 5 release from VMWare. In the release notes there is mentioned that it will support OSX installations. I’m not convinced that that would work. There is a big community in the world who wants to install OSX in a sandboxed environment or even native on not Apple hardware. (Hackintosh or OSx86 etc etc). So, lets try some different scenario’s.

Apple supports only virtualized OSX Server installations on Apple hardware. Normal OSX installations aren’t supported or possible.

First Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard (10.6) in VMWare Fusion (On an iMac)

This is not allowed. The installer stops with the following error:


Second Test: Install OSX Snow Leopard Server (10.6) in VMWare Fusion (On an iMac)

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Author : Ingmar Verheij

When Microsoft Windows systems are virtualized with VMware ESX or Workstation, WMware Tools is installed. When the VMware tools are installed with the Complete option, the shared folders option is enabled. This feature is not enabled when you install VMware tools with the Typical option.

The shared folder feature is not supported by ESX or GSX server and causes problems on Terminal Servers. The file hgfs.dat is opened by the VMware Tools with exclusive acces, which prevents the profile from getting deleted.

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I am running a virtualized Mac OS X machine in my VMWare Workstation but I noticed that after a period of inactivity the virtual machine would sometimes freeze.

Because this only happens after inactivity I assumed it had something to do with Power Saving so I changed the Energy Saver settings and that fixed it!

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