Tools and Utilities

One big App-V Tools page
http://www.app-v.info/app-v_tools.html

App-V

Useful App-V on Windows 10 page
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/application-management/app-v/appv-for-windows

The Windows 10 sequencer is obtained from the Windows 10 ADK
Windows 10 Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK)
Online:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install
Offline:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-offline-install

App-V Manifest Explorer (AVME)
http://www.tmurgent.com/appv/en/89-tools/app-v-5-tools/348-avme

App-V Configuration Editor (ACE)
http://virtualengine.co.uk/vet/ace/

App-V_Manage
http://www.tmurgent.com/AppV/en/resources/AppV_Manage/221-appv-manage-introduction

MSI

Insted It
MSI editor
http://www.instedit.com/

MSI creation tool
http://www.advancedinstaller.com

Other Tools and Utilities

Powershell editor

https://code.visualstudio.com/

PortQry v2

Network port checker for UDP and TCP

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17148
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/310099/description-of-the-portqry-exe-command-line-utility

Virtual Clone Drive
Virtual CD\DVD drives from disc images ISO CCD IMG UDF DVD supported.
http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

Rufus creates bootable USB keys
https://rufus.ie/

Procmon
Windows Process Monitor
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645

SpyStudio
http://www.nektra.com/products/

7Zip Free Zip Software
http://www.7-zip.org/

CPU Memory and Disk Load Stress
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vijaysk/2012/10/26/tools-to-simulate-cpu-memory-disk-load/

SCCM PolicySpy and other tools
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29265

SCCM Client Center
This is Roger Zander's SCCM Client Center for Configuration Manager tool.  There is also a link to a ClickOnce version of this application here.
https://github.com/rzander/sccmclictr

.NET Framework Version Checker
http://www.asoft.be/prod_netver.html

Windows 7 SDK .NET 3.5 .iso   -   orca  windiff  etc
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=18950

Windows 7 SDK .NET 4
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8279

WMIExplorer
https://github.com/vinaypamnani/wmie2/releases/tag/v2.0.0.2

Microsoft WMI Code Creator
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8572

Hardware

Monitor hardware operating parameters such as voltage, power consumption, temperature

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Disable Machine Password Changing

To prevent VMs with non-persistnant disks from "falling off" the domain set the following key

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters

DisablePasswordChange <REG_DWORD> = 1

However it is still possible that domain policies may force it back to zero.

OrgPlus 9

Integrates with Office so questionable whether it is appropriate for App-V.  Can be packaged for silent SCCM deployment but user must unlock interactively.  Unlocking could not be included in the package.

http://www.orgplus.com/forum/orgplus-9-0/orgplus-silent-install-for-sccm/msg1808/#msg1808


The app has an option setting called "Automatically check for OrgPlus news and special offers"  This is on by default and prompts the user at launch with "news".  It is a user registry setting which gets created by the application at some point during first launch.  To turn it off you can set the shortcut to advertised and add the HKCU\Software\Insperity\OrgPlus 9\Options         ImpressionPanel    No

Shrinking Volumes

To shrink a volume on Windows 7 the Disk Defragmenting Service needs to be running.  If it is set to disabled a dialog box will appear:







Virtual Disk Manager
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

App-V 4.6 Sequencing error due to trustedinstaller service running

An error can appear in the early part of a monitoring attempt if the trustedinstaller service is running.

"The Sequencer could not stop the "TrustedInstaller" service. Error 1052: The requested control is not valid for this service."

The trustedinstaller service is listed in the services applet as Windows Modules Installer.  It is recommended that this service be disabled on machines intended for sequencing.

You will be entertained to know that stopping the TrustedInstaller process will also BREAK certain installations such as Crystal Reports for DotNet 2008.  The words rocks and hard place come to mind.

Keywords: trusted

Sequencer 4.6SP1 substs Q: by default

4.6SP1 sequencer uses a subst approach to generate a Q: by default.  There have been concerns about this approach and it seems to be prefereable to create a proper Q:

http://kirxblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/defective-component-registration-with-4-6-sp1-sequencer/

Check these settings if you are unable to enable "Show Hidden Files and Folders"

Check these settings if you are unable to enable "Show Hidden Files and Folders"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL]

"RegPath"="Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced"

"Text"="@shell32.dll,-30500"

"Type"="radio"

"CheckedValue"=dword:00000001

"ValueName"="Hidden"

"DefaultValue"=dword:00000002

"HKeyRoot"=dword:80000001

"HelpID"="shell.hlp#51105"

These keys control the state of relevant Windows Explorer settings.

Changes only apply once the explorer process has been restarted.  Explorer is also capable of reverting the settings in the meantime.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

"HideFileExt"=dword:00000000                                        1 is default
"HideDrivesWithNoMedia"=dword:00000000                   1 is default
"Hidden"=dword:00000001                                               2 is default on this key - Don't show.
"ShowSuperHidden"=dword:00000001                             0 is default

AutoCad LT 2011

AutoCad LT 2011

Creating a package for deployment over the network is significantly different from running the setup for a single user.  As a packager you'll probably get instructions on how to install the software but these will only be a guide to the requirements of the installation.  In reality you need to create a "deployment point" (DP) which you do be creating a sort of administrative installation and then arranging a call to the installation from there.

Chances are you've been given no license or a single user license for 1 installation, not much use if you're package maybe needed on unknown numbers of machines in the future.  The way to tackle this is to obtain at least 1 set of licensing numbers of the form: serial number 555-55555555 and product key XXXXX
Enter these details during the deployment point creation.  You HAVE to enter something, blanks are not possible.

Once the DP is created you'll be able to locate these values in the property table and remove the entire property.  This causes the installation from the DP to query the user at launch for their Autocad login (which has a license relationship) to validated the install OR enter a 30 day evaluation period.

The DP has a name that you set during the DP creation routine.  This becomes the name of a shortcut that can initiate the AutoCAD LT installation to a client.  If you look at the command of this shortcut you'll see that it references an ini file with a similar name that is also created with the DP.  This is the setup.exe configuration file and contains many setting that you may wish to modify including the DP share location.

Note that there may be problems with applying service packs (SPs) to the DP.  During the DP creation you can choose to download SPs and "merge" or "append" it to the DP.  Merging worked fine with an English DP, however only appending was possible when creating a German language DP.  Although the German Language DP was created with a merge selection, subsequent client installation attempts from it, failed.

http://docs.autodesk.com/ACDLT/2011/ENU/pdfs/acadlt_install.pdf

Note there is an earlier version of the above document with SCCM specific sections.

VMWare vSphere Citrix Display issues

Set the following key to resolve a display issue that can occur with vsphere where citrix is in use.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\wow6432Node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Multiple Monitor Hook

"Exclude"="VPXClient.exe"

Server Administration Tools for Windows 7

The adminpak.msi installation to provide AD tools is not compatible with Windows 7.  Instead you must install this Windows 7 update.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=7887

Once installed, additional Windows 7 features are available in the Windows 7 features area of the Programs and Features, Control Panel applet.  Select the ones you require.


Windows 10 RSAT tools download
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45520

RSAT tools are optional features in Windows 10 Pro after 1809

keyword RSAT

HOSTS file entries don't apply in bubbles

Applications do not use the hosts file directly.  The hosts file is read by the TCP/IP subsystem which is running OUTSIDE the bubble.

Putting HOSTS files in the bubble and setting to override in an attempt to set name resolution will NOT work.

Formatted Text

When using formatted text strings to reference other items within an MSI install table be aware of case.  A reference to [#filename.txt] is not the same as [#Filename.txt]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368609(v=VS.85).aspx

This page refers to the correct method to write an environmental variable into a registry key.

e.g. [%environmentvariable]

Certificate Installation

The following command installs a certificate to the specified store on the local machine.  In this case the .cer file and certmgr.exe were in the same folder.

certmgr.exe -add -c certificatefilename.cer -s TrustedPublisher -r localMachine

I tried lots of variations but was unable to get certmgr.exe to delete a certifcate from a store using various parameters after the -del switch

Certutil.exe is a server utility but it does work on clients as well.  Example usage adding and removing certificates from stores is:
Adding:
certutil -addstore Root certificatefilename.cer
or
certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher certificatefilename.cer
Removing - first find the certificate serial number by viewing it withing the certificate management gui. Provide the serial number to the command line
certutil -delstore Root SerialNumber
certutil -delstore TrustedPublisher SerialNumber

Certutil.msc for user certs

certlm.msc for machine certs

Simfund Client - MSI Package

A main installation executable creates a temp folder containing the installation resources including an MSI.  An Installshield engine is also installed at this time.  Within the temp folder is an si_install.txt file which gives hints on how this can be installed silently.  Attempting to create a direct transform of the MSI file for installation was not possible which seemed to be due to the interoperation of the simfundclient.exe (setup.exe) and the vendors MSI custom actions.  Certain choices during the installation can be set to copy (possibly large amounts of) data from a network location to the client.  This can cause the installation to take a long time.

MSCI Barra Aegis - App-V error

MSCI Barra Aegis 4.2 is a vendor application that has an MSI installation.  It is not well designed software though, and among other things writes settings into the win.ini file.

We attempted to create an App-V package for this software as initially it appeared to be a good sequencing candidate.  Problems occured however, during runtime and the operation of its graphics generation.  When installed normally certain operations would generate graphical representations of data within the application.  A "graphics engine" called GSW32.exe gets installed to C:\Windows\Syswow64 (W7 64-bit) and is called upon to generate graphics.  It launches as a process in the background and the process closes again afterwards.  When running within the bubble the application failed to launch the GSW32.exe and caused the error shown: "Graph Control" "Failed to open Graphics Server".  It was possible to workaround the problem  by prelaunching the GSW32.exe process however this was not a viable solution because the GSW32.exe did not shut itself down when the application was closed.  This meant that the bubble persisted in perpetuity.  Post run scripts were unable to manage the shutdown of the GSW32.exe process.  Other options were attempted such as providing GSW32.exe in the application folder and ensuring paths were correct but no solution was found.

Genesys ActiveX Interface for Desktop Tookit 7.2.000.00 on Windows 7 64bit

Sounds straighforward but the install can easily break.  The quality of the MSI is debatable.

The media was composed of
setup.exe
setup.msi
setup.cab
read_me.html
ip_description.xml

Copy the media to a folder on the C:
Set the setup.exe for Windows XP SP3 compatibility.
Run the setup.exe
Choose both installation feature options (documentation and libraries)
Change the Destination Folder to C:\Program Files (x86)\GCTI\ActiveX Interface for Desktop Tookit, in this step it is important to add the (x86) piece in otherwise a failure occurs.

Lotus Notes 8.51 Eclipse Fixpack5

The fixpack5 setup.exe is a common Installshield type exe that calls a fix.msi.  The command line for the exe can be constucted as follows to pass the required MSI parameters properly

setup.exe /s /v"/qb-! /l*v %temp%\fixpack5.log"

note the quotes enclosing the parameters after the /v.

Alternatively calling msi directly can also work with the following

msiexec /i fix.msi /qb-! SETUPEXEDIR=<folder containing setup.exe> /l*v %temp%\fixpack5.log

Problem Steps Recorder (PSR)

In Windows 7 the Problem Steps Recorder (psr.exe) can be used to generate a MHTML file containing detailed screen shots, mouse and keyboard actions.  Although designed to capture problem actions to reproduce problems, it can be used to detail the installation process for applications.

PSR.EXE will save out to a compressed zip format which contains an MHTML .mht file readable in Internet Explorer.  Be aware the MHTML file can rapidly become very large due to the screen shot images stored during captured operations.

Short File Name (SFN) to Long File Name (LFN) Conversion

The text below is an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.3_filename


Although there is no compulsory algorithm for creating the 8.3 name from an LFN, Windows uses the following convention:^[4]

1. If the LFN is 8.3 uppercase, no LFN will be stored on disk at all.
   • Example: "TEXTFILE.TXT"
2. If the LFN is 8.3 mixed case, the LFN will store the mixed-case name, while the 8.3 name will be an uppercased version of it.
   • Example: "TextFile.Txt" becomes "TEXTFILE.TXT".
3. If the filename contains characters not allowed in an 8.3 name (including space which was disallowed by convention though not by the APIs) or either part is too long, the name is stripped of invalid characters such as spaces and extra periods. Other characters such as "+" are changed to the underscore "_", and uppercased. The stripped name is then truncated to the first 6 letters of its basename, followed by a tilde, followed by a single digit, followed by a period ".", followed by the first 3 characters of the extension.
   • Example: "TextFile1.Mine.txt" becomes "TEXTFI~1.TXT" (or "TEXTFI~2.TXT", should "TEXTFI~1.TXT" already exist). "ver +1.2.text" becomes "VER_12~1.TEX".
4. Beginning with Windows 2000, if at least 4 files or folders already exist with the same initial 6 characters in their short names, the stripped LFN is instead truncated to the first 2 letters of the basename (or 1 if the basename has only 1 letter), followed by 4 hexadecimal digits derived from an undocumented hash of the filename, followed by a tilde, followed by a single digit, followed by a period ".", followed by the first 3 characters of the extension.
   • Example: "TextFile.Mine.txt" becomes "TE021F~1.TXT".

Hide User Accounts on the Welcome Screen

Use this where you need an account on a machine to support network connections but do not want it displayed as an interactive logon option on the Welcome Screen

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

<UserName>  REG_DWORD    0

For information regarding automatic logon look here

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc939702.aspx


This section applies to Windows 10 and how to have a separate local admin and local user accounts and elevate using the admin account when required.  At the same time the login screen does not advertise the presence of the potential accounts to login with.

Prevent accounts appearing at the logon screen:

secpol.msc
Security Settings_Local Polices_Security Options

When using local accounts on Windows 10 you may want to set
Interactive logon:Don't Display last signed-in Enabled

If the SpecialAccounts setting above is set for the Local Admin account, this causes a limitation that you will not be able to Switch User, and nor will you be able to  use RunAs Administrator to run things elevated.

There is a work around though.

Search for Notepad
Open file location
Shift Right click and select Run as a different user
Enter
.\LocalAdminAccount
password
In notepad, file open and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
right click RunAs Administrator
The cmd window is now running elevated as the admin.



I can't have my cake and eat it here :(

What I want is to have local user accounts selectable but not the local admin account.  However I also want the option to login interactively with the local admin account if necessary.

If the Don't Display last signed-in is enabled, then the user is inconvenienced by having to enter their account name at every login.

If the Don't Display last signed-in is disabled (default), then use can select but LocalAdmin will display unless it has the SpecialAccount key, but then there is no way to choose to login with the LocalAdmin.

I will settle for Selectable with LocalAdmin set with a SpecialAccounts entry.  If interactive admin logon is needed, it will need to be enabled by removing the SpecialAccounts key first.

Sequencing 32bit Registry Keys on 64bit Windows 7

During sequencing 32 bit processes writing to HKLM\Software will, as usual, end up being redirected to HKLM\Software\Wow6432node.  This will be reflected in the virtual registry tab and the keys will be shown under the HKLM\Software\Wow6432node.  Obvious perhaps but important to remember to avoid confusion hence this post !

Windows 7 WMP 12 database with network media

Windows Media Player (WMP) 12 on Windows 7 is supposed to build a database from the files it finds at locations specified in the Music "Library".  If the music library has an entry which points to a network location, then WMP 12 fails to add the items in that location to the library.  You can work around this creating a local link to the the network location and then adding the local link to the library.

Add a non-indexed UNC as a library
===========================
1. Create a folder on your hard drive for shares. i.e. c:\share
2. Create another folder in the above share. i.e. c:\share\music
2. Link the Library to this folder.
3. Delete the folder.
4. Use the mklink in an elevated command prompt to make a symbolic link. Name the link the same as the folder you created above.
i.e - mklink /d c:\share\music \\server\music
5. Done. Now you have non-indexed UNC path as a library.

---

MSI Package SAP GUI 7.20

Do not attempt to capture the SAP GUI 7.20 installation with Wise Smartmonitor turned on.  It causes the SAP GUI installation program to hang and you will get nowhere.  Capturing can be completed with Wise Smartmonitor off.

Rather than trying to capture the raw install with the GUI and patch runs, it may be easier to utilise the SAP installation server software.  This gives you the ability to create a package which can install silently, with the selected features and patch levels you require. This is a much easier propect to capture and if it all goes wrong and you need to start again you won't have to face a protracted install process during capture.

Other Notes
The capture needs a fair amout of cleaning up.  A lot a COM registration infomation is not exclusively associated with the appropriate components and duplicated in large generic registry components.

A couple of ini files contained non-standard entries (don't they all?) so these were tranferred to file installs rather than inifile table contructs.

Even though office is a prerequisite capturing on a clean machine is probably preferrable here rather than one with office installed.

Set Registry Keys in the App-V 4.6 environment during launch

This is particularly useful if you need to have keys set in areas of the registry that are supplied primarily by a secondary, application in a Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC).  A primary application is unable to apply keys via the virtual registry in this case and adding the keys at launch can solve this.  An example would be an Oracle application requiring certain keys applied to Oracle Client registry locations.

These fields go between the VIRTUALENV tags.

<  REGISTRY  >
<  REGKEY HIVE="HKLM" KEY="SOFTWARE\Test"      NOREDIR="FALSE"   >

<  REGVALUE   REGTYPE="REG_SZ"   NAME="a_name"  > a_string value <  /REGVALUE  >

<  REGVALUE   REGTYPE="REG_DWORD"   NAME="a_32bit_valuename"  > 64123 <  /REGVALUE  >

<  REGVALUE   REGTYPE="REG_BINARY"   NAME="a_binary_as_hex_pairs_valuename"  > 50,51,52 <  /REGVALUE  >

<  REGVALUE   REGTYPE="REG_SZ"  > some_string_that_becomes_value_of_the_default_of_the_key <  /REGVALUE  >

<  REGVALUE   REGTYPE="REG_SZ" >< /REGVALUE  >

< /REGKEY >

< REGISTRY >

Good idea to use a tool to edit the OSD so that the XML formating is correct.

An OSD editor and other tools can be obtained from http://www.loginconsultants.com

Spawn a prelaunch command window for troubleshooting App-Vs

Open the OSD as described earlier.

In the <DEPENDENCY> section below the <IMPLEMENTATION> section enter the following:

WAIT can be true or false depending on whether you want to launch to continue or wait for this item to complete.

<SCRIPT TIMING="PRE" EVENT="LAUNCH" WAIT="TRUE" PROTECT="TRUE">
<HREF>cmd.exe (or path to any other application)</HREF>
</SCRIPT>

< SCRIPT EVENT="SHUTDOWN" TIMING="POST" WAIT="FALSE" PROTECT="FALSE" EXTERN="TRUE" >
< SCRIPTBODY>
net use s:\\\\sgserver\\SoftGrid /DELETE
< /SCRIPTBODY >
< /SCRIPT >

TIMING can be PRE or POST of the EVENT
WAIT
PROTECT can be TRUE (inside the bubble) FALSE (outside the bubble)

http://www.tmurgent.com/OSD_Illustrated.aspx

Good scripting primer.....
http://blog.gridmetric.com/2011/10/05/osd-scripting-primer/

Also
sfttray /exe cmd.exe "<appname>"

Editing OSDs on the fly during launch testing.

You'll often want to adjust some aspect of the OSD during testing if a prelaunch script needs tweeking for example.

To get directly to the "active" OSD for editing carry out the following:

Launch the App-V Client and locate the item in the Applications Folder.
Right click and select properties and copy the Local OSD File string value to the clipboard.
Open Notepad with admin rights.
File_Open paste in the OSD location you copied earlier.

You can now make your edits and save before testing the effects during launch by activating the shortcut.

App-V Blogs for reference

http://www.tmurgent.com/OSD_Illustrated.aspx

http://www.tmurgent.com/
http://blog.stealthpuppy.com
http://softwaredeployment.wordpress.com/
http://blogs.technet.com/b/appv/
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/appvirtualization

Installation Command Line Paramaters for 4.6 App-V Client

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc843737.aspx

Nice blog on App-V 5 services

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/gladiatormsft/2013/11/12/app-v-on-virtual-services-in-app-v-5-0/

App-V Client Sequencer Compatibility grid / matrix

http://blogs.technet.com/b/appv/archive/2010/01/21/app-v-4-6-and-applications-sequenced-using-earlier-versions.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/appv/archive/2009/08/06/understanding-the-different-mixes-of-32-bit-and-64-bit-applications-and-platform-supported.aspx

MAD blog
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sgern/

Why Doesn't Windows 7 Search work properly?

Windows 7 Search not working.
Really, why not?  Windows 7 is supposed to be better than that which has been before, yet anyone you mention it to agrees it's not as good as XP.

XP searching was great. Right click the folder select search set your parameters and a few moments later you got your results - and the thing you were looking for.  But Windows 7 Search in the explorer windows can't cut it and below are the reasons why. 

• There is no simple GUI for entering the parameters of the search. It's possible to a limited extent but you really need to go and learn how to use filters in the search window to get the results you want.  Learning how to use search filters is boring and crap.
• You can't search for the contents of files in a network drive location without doing TWO searches.  On the second search you need to click the file contents button which appears.
• The file contents button doesn't work as well as the XP search contents.

Say you have a text string in text file on a network drive.  The string is the alphabet from a to z.  If you use Windows 7 search TWICE! (if you're new to Windows 7 I bet you think I'm joking) and the SECOND TIME click file contents with a parameter of abc sure enough you file containing the alphabet will be presented in the search results.  Try xyz though, or any other string in the middle of the alphabet and, no can do.  Do the same search on your XP machine pointing to the same network drive location an it is perfectly happy returning your alphabet file in the search results for xyz or any string within the file.

So if you knew Windows 7 search was annoying but couldn't quite work out why, the above might be your explanation.

More info here
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Exploring-Windows-7s-New-Search-Features-Part1.html

Update required to use legacy help files on Windows 7 (KB917607)

KB917607 update required in order to use legacy help (.hlp) files.

WinHlp32.exe is required to display 32-bit Help files that have the ".hlp" file name extension. To view .hlp files on Windows 7, you need to install this application.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=258aa5ec-e3d9-4228-8844-008e02b32a2c&displaylang=en

Windows6.1-KB917607-x64.msu

702KB

Windows6.1-KB917607-x86.msu

688KB

Also see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262841

and

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934307

for installation command line parameters.

wusa.exe <filename>.msu /quiet /norestart

Registering comdlg32.ocx on Windows 7 64-bit

http://www.bioinformatics.org/snp-tools-excel/install_comdlg32.htm

In case this link stops working, you copy comdlg32.ocx to C:\windows\syswow64 and run regsvr32.exe in the normal way.  YOU MUST HOWEVER start the ActiveX Installer Service first.

32-bit programs calling 64-bit utilities may not work.

I recently saw a 32-bit program calling a 64-bit utility on the OS which was failing.

The 64-bit util worked perfectly if the user ran it but not if the user ran it via the call from the 32-bit program.

The 32-bit program was a compiled Wise script.  Making calls out to 32-bit equivalents of the 64-bit programs was fine.  The theory was that the 32-bit program was causing a problem by possibly trying to run the 64-bit program in 32-bit mode/process.

Blank Microsoft Visual Basic Error occurs during Excel launch

This error was encountered during an first time Excel launch where addins had been prewritten into the users registry.  Excel launched and carried out the first time launch items such as confirming the User Name but then stalled with this error.  Some other articles have also referred this type of event happening when addins that worked under 2003, are tried in Excel 2007.  Which was true in this case as well.  The cause, therefore, appears to be the contents of the addins rather than the mechanism for configuring them for the user (the packaging).  Addins in this case were Bloomberg and Bloomberg TSAPI.  The workaround is as simple has having any of the office applications launch before Excel or launching Excel before the applications are installed and configured for the user.
Also found on this subject
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officeprog/thread/562433ed-5365-4c2f-8a48-b68540821403
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-3513-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=333274

Windows Live Messenger in the system tray on W7

For some reason Windows Live Messenger on W7 does not operate from the system tray by default.  To make it do this set the C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\msnmsgr.exe to XPSP3 compatibility mode.

Reuters 3000 Xtra Installations

Reuters 3000 Xtra has a good installation configuration and management system called Reuters Desktop Management Consolde (RDMC).  rdmc.exe is the launchable program that can provide access to the interface.    The RDMC.exe can be used to export settings in an XML file.  This file can then be used with the MSI installation command line as a configuration input.  Refer to the RDMC help file and other documentaion for the options pertaining to silent installs and/or mass deployments.