Run once flag files are not created in FlexRepository

[Jasper_Glasberg]

We are running VMWare Horizon 7 with UEM 9.1 on Windows 10 desktops. Several Desktop icons are created for the user, but we let it run once so if they don't want them on the desktop they can remove them. Somehow the icons keep getting created during logon. Also when deleting the icons and then running the UEM Refresh, the icons are back again. When looking inside the \Users\UEM-Profiles\%user%\Archives\FlexRepository\Shortcuts\* [R.1] files are not created for every shortcut we offer. When I manually create such a file, the icon stays deleted.. When looking in the logfile there is a debug message:

[DEBUG] UEM setting configured to run only once, but flag file '\\%fileserver%\Users\UEM-Profiles\%user%\Archives\FlexRepository\Shortcut\Word 2016.xml.[R.1]' not found ('Word 2016.xml')

When looking in my own FlexRepository I see only two [R.1] files, while other users can have up to 25 of those files...

What can be causing this issue?

Update 20-2-2017:

I renamed my current EUM-Profile and logged in into VDI again. A new UEM-Profile directory got created, including a FlexRepository\Shortcuts, and only one [R.1] xml file got created... even after logging off and on several times and deleting desktop icons, nothing changes. After every logon and UEM Refresh all (but one) icons are recreated.

Any help is much appreciated!

Message was edited by: Jasper Glasbergen

21-2-2017 Another update in investigating this issue

According to the Administrator Guide of version 9.0 Appendix E the RunOnce files are created when the action is performed for the first time AND it is successful. When I look in the logfile with debug enabled I see the following:

2017-02-21 08:59:26.762 [DEBUG] UEM setting configured to run only once, but flag file '\\<fileserver>\dfs\Users\UEM-Profiles\<username>\Archives\FlexRepository\Shortcut\Google Chrome.xml.[R.1]' not found ('Google Chrome.xml')

2017-02-21 08:59:26.762 [DEBUG] Conditions: Check for path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe' = true

2017-02-21 08:59:26.793 [INFO ] Skipping creating UEM shortcut on desktop as shortcut already exists ('Google Chrome.xml')

2017-02-21 08:59:26.808 [INFO ] Skipping creating UEM shortcut in programs menu as shortcut already exists ('Google Chrome.xml')

The way I see it, is that the action is not successful because it says "Skipping creating UEM shortcut on desktop as shortcut already exists"

Where can I see if this is the case, check its presence and/or remove the XML file so the runonce can run successful for a change?

[Pim_van_de_Vis]

What kind of user profile are you using? Roaming, Mandatory or Local?

Also have you seen this: Run Once option behave differently in combination with a Local User Profile (2146336) | VMware KB

[Jasper_Glasberg]

Thank you for your reply Pim,

we are using roaming profiles.

[Jasper_Glasberg]

Is there a way to have some kind of extend logging? I already enabled Debug mode by placing a FlexDebug.txt file in the UEM-Profiles folder of the user. But what I like to see is at what time the icons are being created and when a [R.1] (run once file) has been created or not, and if not then why not. Event viewer logging is not enabled at this time.

[Pim_van_de_Vis]

If the shortcuts are created asynchronously, you need to check the FlexEngine-async.log file for the details. You should be able to find the info there.

By the way, why are you using Roaming profiles if you are also using UEM? The good thing about UEM is that you no longer need those bloated roaming profiles that are corrupted so easily.

[Jasper_Glasberg]

At this time we are not creating the shortcuts asynchronously. I did try changing this, but it doesn't change the behaviour.

We currently don't have a reason not to use roaming profiles . We migrated our users from the old (Windows 7) VDI to a newly build Windows 10 VDI on a Hyperflex platform. We kept the roaming profiles in place while adding UEM to the environment.

[Pim_van_de_Vis]

Can you find the information about the flag files being created?

If you have UEM config files in place for all your applications, I would recommend to disable the roaming profile.

Should give you a lot faster logon times!

[Jasper_Glasberg]

I cannot find any information in logfiles of flag files not being created, only that they don't exist. I would expect an error message about this, with a direction where to look for a solution, like 'no access' or something like that...

today we are going to experiment with 2 scenarios, being, 1) dropping UEM entirely and just run the desktop with GPO, and 2) using UEM with local profiles. We need to deliver a working VDI on next Monday, so time is of the essence.

[Pim_van_de_Vis]

Feel free to reach out to me directly and share me a UEM logfile in debug mode. That should give me better troubleshooting options.

[Jasper_Glasberg]

Hello Pim, how can I contact you directly?

we tried all three profile options and we have issues with all of them.

We went from Roaming profile to Local and are now experimenting with Mandatory profiles. Strangely enough, when using Local profiles about 95% of the L.1 files where created under FlexRepository, but now when using Mandatory profiles only 2 of the 22 shortcuts the M.1 files are created...