A VDI solution deployed using the Application Virtualization 4.6 SP1 client appears slow to login

Article
10/12/2011

Here’s another new KB article we published today. This one talks about some of the causes and solutions to an issue where a VDI solution deployed using the App-V 4.6 SP1 client appears slow to login:

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Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

1. A VDI solution is deployed using the Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6 Service Pack 1 client with the latest updates.
2. The solution is using Read-only Cache and is part of a branch office scenario with a local Streaming server and a home office Virtual Management Server.
In this scenario, logins for users can take between 60 and 120 seconds depending on the branch office location of the VDI servers. If the App-V client is disabled you may notice that the client login time is reduced to as short as 20 seconds although times may vary depending on the unique environment.

Cause

This can occur due to one or both of the following:

1. AutoLoadTriggers and AutoLoadTarget are enabled (default).
2. The App-V package icons and OSD file assets are being copied over the network and depending on how the solution is engineered, these assets could be copied over a slow WAN connection from the home office.

Resolution

To work around this issue, complete the following steps:

1. Set AutoLoadTriggers and AutoLoadTarget registry values on the App-V client computer to a value of 0. AutoLoadTriggers and AutoLoadTarget are stored in the following registry locations:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\Client\CurrentVersion\Configuration\AutoLoadTriggers (REG_DWORD)
0 = Never
1 = OnLaunch
2 = OnRefresh
4 = OnLogin
5 = On Launch & Login (DEFAULT)

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\Client\CurrentVersion\Configuration\AutoLoadTarget (REG_DWORD)
0 = None
1 = PreviouslyUsed (Default)
2 = All

Note These can also be adjusted directly, however it will require a restart of the App-V client to take effect.

Should this issue continue to take place then proceed to step 2:

2. Create an OS start-up script to copy the icon and OSD files to a local folder on the VDI server and configure the OSDSourceRoot and IconSourceRoot App-V client registry values to point to this local folder. Please see the TechNet reference below for more information regarding these registry values. In the scenario above this reduced the login time to as little as 30 seconds although individual results may vary.

Example

1. Create a directory on the local drive called sr (c:\sr)
2. From an elevated command prompt execute the following commands:

Xcopy /S /Y \\server\content\*.ico c:\srXcopy /S /Y \\server\content\*.osd c:\sr

3. Change the IconSourceRoot and OSDSourceRoot values in the registry to c:\sr

App-V Client Registry Values : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd464849.aspx

More Information

If using DFS to replicate an App-V content share across remote sites, be sure not to disable the IPv6 protocol in the Network Properties of clients and servers involved. This breaks the DFS referral process. If the IPv6 protocol is disabled, remote clients could unintentionally access content on DFS shares across WAN connections.

For information on how the IPv6 protocol is used in the DFS referral process, see the blog article below:

https://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2009/10/28/dfs-referrals-and-ipv6-outta-site.aspx

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For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2626771: A VDI solution deployed using the Application Virtualization 4.6 SP1 client appears slow to login

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

A VDI solution deployed using the Application Virtualization 4.6 SP1 client appears slow to login

Symptoms

Cause

Resolution

More Information

Additional resources