App-V: Client immediately enters Disconnected Operation mode on startup

In certain SoftGrid/App-V environments, clients may startup and immediately go into Disconnected Operations (DO) mode instead of refreshing from the server or streaming applications.  This can happen if there's a delay in contacting the server when the client attempts to launch a virtualized app. 

On the first launch of any application, the App-V transport does a fast connect to the Virtual Application Server (VAS).  If the client cannot reach the VAS in one second it will go into DO mode.  Heavy network activity can cause contact from the Desktop Client to the VAS take longer than one second, so even though connections and infrastructure may all be correct and functioning, the client believes the VAS is not available and enters DO mode due to the delay.

So how do you prevent the client from going into DO mode in this kind of scenario?  That's easy - Change the FastConnectTimeout value in the registry.  Well, actually you'll need to create the key but here's how it's done:

The FastConnectTimeout can be changed by creating a new key in the registry and setting it to 5 seconds to allow for more time to connect to the VAS.  The only caveat for this method is that for users who actually are in DO mode there will be a 5 second delay when starting virtualized applications.

To change the FastConnectTimeout setting:

1.    Click on START>RUN and run REGEDIT.
2.    Browse to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Softricity\SoftGrid Client\CurrentVersion\Network
3.    Right-click on NETWORK, and select NEW and then DWORD Value
4.    Enter "FastConnectTimeOut" for the Name field
5.    Right click on the name "FastConnectTimeOut" and select MODIFY
6.    Change the Value Data field to "5" and click OK
7.    Close the Registry
8.    Restart the listener (or the machine) for this to take effect.

This new setting will be applied on the next subsequent connect.

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer