Install Capture

Aug 14, 2017

You use Install Capture to import Windows applications for which an MSI, SFT, or APPV file is not available. Install Capture installs the application within a virtual machine and creates an MSI file that is then imported into AppDNA. Generally the MSI that is created simply captures the application’s DNA for import into AppDNA and is not suitable for actually installing the application. If you have the necessary additional software, the capture process can create usable MSIs and App-V sequences.

Install Capture requires the use of a virtual machine based on one of the following desktop virtualization technologies:

Hyper-V – When using this technology, Install Capture requires a virtual machine for its exclusive use and a Hyper-V user account that provides administrative permissions. The guest operating system must be configured to allow remote desktop connections. Under some configurations, the virtual machine needs the Hyper-V Integration Services to be installed (these are supported on Windows XP SP2 and later). When using Windows 8 Hyper-V Client, the AppDNA client must be installed on the same machine as the Hyper-V Client.
VMware vSphere – When using this technology, you need access to a fully licensed installation of vSphere, a virtual machine for the exclusive use of Install Capture, and a vSphere user account that provides permissions for advanced virtual machine operations through web services (including powering the virtual machine on and off, resetting and suspending the virtual machine, and creating and reverting a snapshot). The virtual machine must be configured to allow remote desktop connections and must have the VMware Tools installed. The vSphere host server must have web services enabled.
Citrix XenServer – When using this technology, you need access to a XenServer host server, a virtual machine for the exclusive use of Install Capture, and XenServer permissions that allow you to create and revert virtual machine snapshots.
VMware Workstation – You can download this from https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=vmware-workstation&lp=1.

The virtualization technology must be installed and configured in such a way that AppDNA can communicate with the machine that hosts the virtual machine (called the host machine). Depending on the technology and how it has been configured, this may be the same machine that AppDNA is installed on. For example, for VMware Workstation, AppDNA must be installed on the host machine yet XenServer and vSphere are invariably installed on a different machine from AppDNA.

AppDNA must be able to communicate with the virtual machine’s operating system (called the guest operating system). This means that the guest operating system must be connected to the network. If you choose to copy the results (rather than stream them) both AppDNA and the guest operating system must be able to read and write to a designated output folder, either on the host machine or a network share.

The AppDNA client that is running the Install Capture must have exclusive use of the virtual machine.

Within AppDNA you use the Virtual Machine Configuration wizard to create a configuration for the virtual machine that you want to use for the Install Capture. The configuration stores all of the information that Install Capture needs to be able to manage the virtual machine.

This section starts with a general overview of the setup requirements that need to be implemented before running the wizard. The requirements are broken down into a number of generic steps. There are various ways that these steps can be implemented. The generic requirements are followed by details of one possible approach for each of the virtualization technologies plus step-by-step instructions for using the wizard.

Install Capture does not support restarts of the VM.

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