AppV Client Logging

The App-V client logs information to both the Windows Event log and to a local log file.   Both of these logging options can be adjusted to change the type of information that is captured.   The local file based log can only be accessed by a local administrator of the machine or the SYSTEM account on the machine.

File Log

The local cache is located in profiles \All Users(Public on Vista)\Application Data\Microsoft\Application Virtualization Client\sftlog.txt.  The settings for this file can be modified using the registry at the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Configuration

Value	Default	Description
LogFileName	CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA\Microsoft\Application Virtualization Client\	Client log file. Can be modified to change the log file location. You must restart the sftlist service after changing this value.
LogMinSeverity	4, Informational	Controls which messages are written to the log.  The value indicates a threshold of what is logged – everything at and below that value is logged. For example, a value of 0x3 (Warning) indicates that Warnings (0x3), Errors (0x2), and Critical Errors (0x1) are logged. Value Range: 0x0 == None, 0x1 == Critical, 0x2 == Error, 0x3 == Warning, 0x4 == Information (Default), 0x5 == Verbose
LogRolloverCount	4	Defines the number of backup copies that are kept of the log file, sftlog.txt when it is reset.  The valid range is 0-9999.  The default is 4.  A value of 0 means no copies will be kept.
LogMaxSize	256	Defines the size in megabytes that the log file can reach before being reset.  The default size is 256 MB.  When this size is reached, a log reset will be forced on the next write attempt.

System Event Log Level

The system event logging level can be configured using the App-V Client Management Console by right clicking the root node and going to properties.

Managing the event logging that will be recorded can also be modified by using the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\Client\CurrentVersion\Configuration\

This registry value indicates the logging level at which App-V log messages will get written to the NT event log. The value indicates a threshold of what is logged – everything at and below that value is logged. For example, a value of 0x3 (Warning) indicates that Warnings (0x3), Errors (0x2), and Critical Errors (0x1) are logged.

Value	Default	Recommend Management Server Configuration
SystemEventLogLevel	4 (Information)	·         0 == None ·         1 == Critical ·         2 == Error ·         3 == Warning ·         4 == Information ·         5 == Verbose

AppV Per-Package File System Container Volumes

The per-package file system container volumes store changes that are made to packages made by users or system processes.  These changes allow for users and the machine to make setting and configuration changes to the base package, without affecting it.  These changes are stored in several PKG files that are described below.  The files are individual for each package and stored in unique directories that are created by combining the Package Root directory name where the package was installed on the sequencer and the first portion of the package GUID.  An example for Microsoft Office 2007 where the Package Root is OFF2K7.V1 and the package GUID for office is 5C99B562-F61F-4009-AB16-B38E16093AE4 the resulting directory would be OFF2K7.V1-5C99B562-F61F-4009.  Two directories for each package will be created, one for the user’s profile and one for the machine at the following locations:

Windows XP

·         Per-user at:  %USERPROFILE%\Application Data\SoftGrid Client

·         Per-machine at:  All Users\Documents\SoftGrid Client\AppFS Storage

Windows Vista

·         Per-user at: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\SoftGrid Client\ and %userprofile%\AppData\Local\SoftGrid Client\

·         Per-machine at:  Public\Documents\SoftGrid Client\AppFS Storage

NOTE:  Due to changes in profiles in Windows Vista a third directory is created for the temporary version of the PKG file while the application is in use.

The following description of the files describes how data is populated into these files and will be covered in further detail in a Package and Data Management section of this document.

User Location

The usrvol_sftfs_v1.pkg file contains user-specific files that are modified or new files that are created by any user process in the virtual environment.  This volume also contains the virtual environment configuration as modified by the user.

System Locations

UsrVol_sftfs_v1.pkg contains new or modified user-specific data from a system process that is not associated with a specific user context but is associated with a specific package.

GlblVol_sftfs_v1_<SID>.pkgcontains application-specific files that are modified by any user process in the virtual environment.  The SID of the user is appended to the volume name to uniquely identify it.

GlblVol_sftfs_v1_S-1-5-20.pkg contains any application-specific data that is modified by a system process.  The well-known SID for system is appended to the volume.  In SoftGrid 4.0 and 4.1, this volume was used for all modified application data; in 4.2 and 4.5 modifications are separated into those made by system processes such as the Listener, and those made by user application processes.  User modifications go instead to the Application Data Isolation Volume.  The global package volume also contains the virtual environment configuration for system processes.