Important Note for App-V 4.6 Users Upgrading to Windows 8.1

If you have not already heard, today MDOP (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack) 2013 R2 became generally available for download to our MDOP customers. More information can be found here:

https://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/business/archive/2013/12/02/mdop-2013-r2-now-available.aspx

and

https://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2013/12/02/announcing-mdop-2013-r2.aspx

This latest incarnation of MDOP includes the release of:

  • Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 SP2 and the virtualization of Office 2013
  • Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6 SP3
  • User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) 2.0
  • Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) 2.0 SP1, which also offers multi-language support.
  • Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) 8.1
  • Advanced Policy Group Management (APGM) 4.0 SP2

Primary release pillars for MDOP 2013 R2 revolve around support for Windows 8.1.

If you are still using App-V 4.6 on Windows 7 (either 4.6 SP1 or SP2) or Windows 8 (4.6 SP2) you may also be aware that the installation of Windows 8.1 will be blocked if it detects the presence of any version of App-V 4.x. This will also include 4.6 SP3 if you decide to go ahead and pre-install SP3 prior to the upgrade to 8.1. This relates to the
operating-specific drivers that are used by App-V 4.6. If you are planning to use Windows 8.1 with App-V 4.6 SP3, you will need to first remove any installations of App-V 4.6. Then you can upgrade/install Windows 8.1. Once Windows 8.1 is installed, you can install App-V 4.6 SP3. Please note this approach only applies to App-V 4.6 and not App-V 5.0.

While the App-V Client settings and user application settings will be retained with the uninstallation/reinstallation approach, the App-V 4.6 cache will be reset so applications will have to be re-delivered (re-streamed, pre-cached, re-advertised, etc.) Normally to avoid having to do this in the past, administrators would simply do in-place upgrades. This one-time exception does not allow for this and will require likely adjustments if you have users currently using virtual applications with 4.6 and will be upgrading to Windows 8.1 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.