AppStacks and the Startup folder

[Joe1393]

We have a few apps that users are used to having startup for them.  Email, messenger, CIT, Citrix Receiver, etc..  The AppStacks have these shortcuts in the startup folder however they don't always startup.  Sometimes the apps are there fast enough that by the time the startup folder is processed the shortcuts are there but sometimes it takes just a little bit longer for the appstacks to apply and then they are not in the startup folder when it's processed.  The shortcuts do get created once appvolumes is done applying the appstacks but too late.  Is there a way to force the system to wait until AppVolumes is done applying the appstacks before the user is fully logged in?

[Jason_Marshall · Accepted solution]

Yes. on the agent machine run the below command to add a registry key and value. this will hold the logon process until all volumes have finished attaching. Once complete the logon process will be allowed to continue. this will obviously cause an increase in overall login time but should solve this issue. Also please note we do start all programs in the run key as part of the virtualization on each volume. So it might be better to include those apps in that key as part of the provisioning process.

reg.exe add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\svservice\Parameters /v WaitForFirstVolumeOnly /t REG_DWORD /d 0

[Joe1393]

That registry entry worked perfect!  I'll add a registry key in \HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\ for some appstacks to see if that works as well.  My only concern with that is there will be some users that want to create their own startup items and if the apps are not there those items will not work.  I think overall the wait is probably the best option for our situation but I'll compare functionality and login times between the two just to see.

Right now I have 11 AppStacks, ~43 applications (including Office, Firefox, even Wireshark) using "WaitForFirstVolumeOnly = 0" and my login times are between 70 and 90 seconds.  Not too bad.

It may take me a little while to put these tests together and collect the data but I will post back when I am done.

[Joe1393]

Here are some basic tests I did.  Looks like placing startup items in the Run registry key, at least for the apps I use, is too inconsistent.  Using the Wait doesn't seem to take any longer in my environment and gave me more consistent results.

Little info on my Env.

EMC XtremIO SSD SAN

Cisco UCS B200M3 blades

Desktop VM:

     1 Cpu (2.8GHz)

     2 GB Memory

     32 GB HD

     VMXNet3 ethernet adapter

All times are in Seconds

Control Logins (No Appstacks, or writable volumes)

login 1 = 25

login 2 = 25

login 3 = 24

login 4 = 20

login 5 = 22

Control Logins (Writable Volume only, no appstacks)

login 1 = 35

login 2 = 31

login 3 = 30

login 4 = 31

login 5 = 33

Control Logins (Single AppStack, no writable volumes)

login 1 = 36

login 2 = 36

login 3 = 50

login 4 = 33

login 5 = 32

With WAIT Enabled:

11 appstacks and a writable volume:

(Citrix Receiver, Email, and a watchdog process are my startup apps)

login 1 = 78 (All startup apps launched)

login 2 = 80 (All startup apps launched)

login 3 = 78 (All startup apps launched)

login 4 = 71 (All startup apps launched)

login 5 = 76 (All startup apps launched)

11 appstacks

(Citrix Receiver, Email, and a watchdog process are my startup apps)

login 1 = 80 (All startup apps launched)

login 2 = 70 (All startup apps launched)

login 3 = 61 (All startup apps launched)

login 4 = 72 (All startup apps launched)

login 5 = 71 (All startup apps launched)

Without WAIT Enabled: (Startup added to the RUN registry key)

11 appstacks and a writable volume:

(Citrix Receiver, Email, and a watchdog process are my startup apps)

login 1 = 78 (only email started)

login 2 = 68 (nothing started)

login 3 = 82 (only email and Citrix started)

11 appstacks

(Citrix Receiver, Email, and a watchdog process are my startup apps)

login 1 = 71 (only email started)

login 2 = 70 (nothing started)

login 3 = 81 (only email started)

Registry checked after each test and "HKLM\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" had all 3 items

**Disclaimer**

This testing only reflects my environment.  It's just meant as an example.  Timing was taken using a stopwatch app on my phone.