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Verifying isolation mode usage in ThinApp
Symptoms
The virtualized application does not see changes made on the hosting file system by other applications
Files on the hosting file system are not available to the virtualized application
The virtualized application generates an error about a missing file, or files, when the file is present on the deployment computer
The virtual application is using the settings of the natively installed application instead of the settings from the package
virtual-application virtual-application-isolation
Purpose
This article describes which isolation mode to use depending on the results you want to achieve with the virtualized applications.
Resolution
ThinApp virtualization can provide separation of host file system and registry data from the virtualized application using sandbox folders.
The isolation mode setting controls the degree and behavior of separation. Using the wrong isolation mode can cause application or file changes to not be visible to other applications on the host.
System elements at this location are visible to the application. If a system element and virtual element exist at the same location, the application sees the virtual element.
Modifications to virtual elements go to the sandbox.
Modifications to system elements go to the system.
New elements are created on the system.
WriteCopy
System elements at this location are visible to the application. If a system element and virtual element exist at the same location, the application sees the virtual element.
Modifications to virtual elements go to the sandbox.
Modifications to system elements go to the sandbox.
New elements are created in the sandbox.
Full
System elements at this location are not visible to the application.
Modifications to virtual elements go to the sandbox.
System elements cannot be read or modified.
New elements are created in the sandbox.
To change the isolation mode for a specific folder, edit the ##Attibutes.ini file in your package to set the mode for that folder, otherwise the setting in package.ini is used as the default for all the objects in the package. Edit the corresponding HKEY_XXXXXX.txt file to change the isolation mode for a registry branch. More details on these files are available in the VMware ThinApp User's Manual, version 4.0.1.
Note: ThinApp caches the isolation modes at runtime in the sandbox location. If the isolation mode is modified for your project and the executable file is rebuilt, it might be necessary to delete the sandbox for the changes to take effect.
