MSI based virtual apps may only create Quick Launch icons for the account used to installed it

With Microsoft App-V 4.5, and with SoftGrid 4.2 along with the MSI utility, we now have the ability to create and distribute standalone virtual apps that require no server or streaming infrastructure whatsoever.  While this gives tremendous flexibility in how we deploy apps, when using it you'll want to keep this issue in mind:

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Issue: When a virtual application is operating without a virtualization server (i.e. distributed as an MSI) not all users may see “Quick Launch” icons for that application.

Cause: “Quick Launch” icons  are configured by the MSI installer for the current user account only. This is by design in Windows as there is no global “Quick Launch” menu that applies to all users.

Resolution: There are a couple workarounds we can use to address this:

Workaround #1: Install a Application Virtualization Management Server and configure the application virtualization client to do a Publishing Refresh (DC Refresh) from that server at logon and this will configure the desktop including Quick Launch icons.

Workaround #2: Configure the Quick Launch icons by some other means when a user logs on by copying the Quick Launch shortcuts to the Quick Launch folder.  For Windows Vista these icons are located in %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch.  For Windows XP the location is %UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch.

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Thanks to Paul Freitas and Steve Thomas for taking the time to write this up for me, and if you're not familiar with the new MSI functionality or the equivalent tool for SoftGrid then you can read more about it here:

https://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2008/01/03/the-msi-utility-for-microsoft-application-virtualization-and-hfru1-are-now-available.aspx

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer