VMware™ ThinApp is the latest version of what was previously known as Thinstall. Thinapp is another form of application virtualization. ThinApp allows you to package applications into a single executable or msi package, so the client can have the benefit of the application without it being installed on their machine.

Process Overview

In very simplistic terms ThinApp has a four step process to package an application.

1. Pre-Scan the system
2. Install the Application
3. Post Scan the system
4. Build the package

When packaging applications you need a clean operating system. A virtual machine is very good for this. You can take a snapshot before you start and then revert to the snapshot once you have finished packaging. A clean workstation is one without any applications installed, and in the default state. This workstation will need to be similar to the workstations that will use the applications.

The process is a little more involved when packaging .Net Applications. You can package plugins during the application build by installing them before the post capture or use application linking.

Application Linking lets you dynamically combine ThinApp packages at runtime.

Package Office 2007

I decided to test ThinApp by installing Office 2007. Before you start you need to install the ThinApp packaging tools.

The Office Enterprise 2007 installation I used was a SP1 with customizations running from the local hard drive.

To package Office 2007:

• From Start, Program Files -> VMware-> ThinApp run Capture
• Click Advanced to select the drive and registry hives to scan. I left these as default.
• Wait for this process to finish
• Once finished you are prompted to install the application. Leave the ThinApp capture utility minimized.
• Install Office Enterprise 2007
• Once completed open the ThinApp capture tool and run a post scan
• You have the option to allow on specific Active directory groups
• Specify the Sandbox area. A sandbox is a workspace the application can use to write any information that is not part of the base package.

• Save the project
• Select compression
• Select the isolation mode you want
• Build the project

This process can take a while so grab a coffee. Make sure you have a lot of disk space when building. If there is not enough free space the build will fail.

In your build location you will have several small executable files and a large dat file. The dat file stores all the files and registry settings.

When you launch the application a little popup will now appear in the notifications area of the task bar.

The applications load fast, approximately 5 - 10 seconds. Not too bad.

Downside to ThinApp.

ThinApp cannot capture applications that require kernel-mode device drivers, printer drivers etc. It does not support 64-bit applications.

One thing I didn’t like about the way the package is built was the fact that the application was actually installed on the building workstation. Some other similiar products simply capture all the information and save it elsewhere.

Complicated application packages could involve a lot of work.

Cost may also be an issue as the base package costs $5000 USD. This gives you 50 user licenses. Additional licenses will cost $39 USD each. In reality the pricing is in line with similar products such as Citrix and Microsoft.

Verdict

In a simple application environment where applications do not rely on others VMware ™ ThinApp would be well suited.