1. Confidential 1
EM 8.5 / AMC 8.6 Beta
Confidential 1
Dave Allen
Product Manager
David.Allen@appsense.com

2. Benefits from Environment Manager 8.5
• Faster Deployments
• Easier to install and configure
• Deploy without workarounds and scripts
• Reduced hardware costs
• Improved server performance
• Reduced database size
• Improved user experience
• Faster logons and app launches
• Seamless roaming between environments
• Enable hosted service providers
• Multiple instance support
• Service Provider Licensing program

3. Common problems fixed in EM 8.5
• Changing the client configuration mid-session
• No way to personalize non-exportable certificates
• Lack of support for personalizing user mapped network drives
• No support for capturing individual files or registry values
• Personalizing Windows Explorer views and navigation settings
• Capturing Windows and App Credentials inside EM Personalization
• Desktop Settings problems across Windows versions and architectures (x86/x64)
• Having to rollback all Desktop Settings, not just the those that may have become corrupted
• Not being able to use environment and session variables in conditions and actions
• Desktop, Task Bar and Start Menu links to non-existent applications
• Using SQL scripts to clean out ‘stale’ EM personalization data
• No built-in templates for Office 2013 and Office 365
• Writing scripting loops to wait for network connection
• Scripting Robocopy (instead of using Copy function)
• Find and Replace didn’t allow in-place editing
… and many more!

4. Environment Manager 8.5 highlights
• Biggest overhaul of the Console since 8.1
• Desktop Settings receives the biggest changes
• Removed or simplified overly complex functionality
• 250+ bugs fixed that have not previously been
addressed in previous versions

5. Console usability improvements
• Console settings, sizes, views, controls, etc. all persisted between sessions
• Dialog and dialog control size changes persisted , tabs, grids, columns, sort order, etc.
• Personalization server connection persisted in connection dialog
• Personalization Analysis view preferences persisted
• Console can now be personalized 
• Ribbon menus cleaned-up and reorganized to reflect user workflow
• Expand and Collapse All button for expandable controls
• Modeless Find and Replace dialog with more usable options
• Default button on delete confirmation boxes changed to cancel

6. Ribbon Menus

7. Console find and replace
• Find: the text you are searching for
• In: the objects you want to search
• Where: the scope of the search
• Configuration
• Library
• LibraryReusable Nodes
• UserLogonPre-Desktop
• UserProcess Started
• Etc.
• Replace: the text to replace

8. Policy configuration
• Logon and Logoff handling improvements
• Logon and Logoff more deterministic and more granular
• Logon split into 3 sub-triggers
• Pre-Session – new trigger that fires once the user profile has been created
but before the user session is started, replaces the Environment tab
• Pre-Desktop – replacement for the Logon trigger in previous versions and
fires slightly earlier during the logon process
• Desktop Created – new trigger that fires once the desktop shell has been
created
• Logoff handling changed no longer reliant on local policy

9. Policy configuration continued
Upgrades – will default to legacy
mode (current model 8.4) until
selected

10. Policy configuration cont.
• Network Available trigger to compliment Computer Startup
• Regular Expressions support for the Process Start action
extended to include process parameters (control, rundll32,
etc.)
• Environment and Session variable expansion available inside
conditions, actions and custom scripts, $(sessionVar)
• Folder copy action improvements:
• Copy, Mirror and Sync use the same dialog
• Mirroring a folder only copies files that have changed
• Folder synchronization includes renamed and deleted files and folders

11. Folder copy action improvements
• Specify number of sub
folders
• Exclude junction points
• Copy file attributes
• Copy security attributes
• Copy owner information

12. Policy configuration other
• Mid-session config change gets 3 settings:
• Immediately
• At User Logon
• At Computer Startup

13. EM 8.5 – Policy
Demo

14. Personalization highlights
• Manage All Processes – removed
• Personalization Group blacklists – simplified, reduced to a
single global list for child processes
• Desktop Settings + Session Data = Windows Personalization
• No longer hidden inside Personalization Groups
• Works across Windows architectures (x86 and x64)
• No longer uses confusing inherit, shared and separate model
• Stores Windows settings in user configurable collections
• Provides full customization and policy conditions

15. Windows Personalization
• A first class citizen inside the Personalization Console
• User Personalization
• Application Personalization
• Windows Personalization – uses the same paradigm as Applications
• Collections of windows settings set granularity level
• Controls what can be rolled back at the same time
• User configurable – create your own collection name
• User configurable – choose Windows settings for each collection
• Default out-of-the-box ‘it just works template’ for majority use case

16. Windows Personalization cont.

17. Windows Personalization Conditions
• Windows Personalization Conditions = Targeting
• Uses policy conditions engine (Computer Name, OS version, Is VDI, Has
Battery, etc.)
• No server-side performance impact, conditions evaluated on client
• Conditions are applied to Windows Settings collections
• Create your own Windows Settings collection, add Windows settings to
it and then add Windows Personalization conditions
• Personalization Group Membership Rules still valid for membership of
Personalization Groups

18. Windows Personalization Conditions cont.

19. Windows Personalization cont.

20. Windows Personalization cont.
• New built-in Windows Personalization settings include:
• System Tray Notification Area
• Windows Explorer Layout (Details, Navigation and Preview panes)
• Folder Views (Details, List, Content, Tiles, Icons)
• Start Menu (Recently launched applications)
• Windows Libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos)
• Network Location Shortcuts
• Action Center
• Windows certificates and credentials become built-in
Windows Personalization settings

21. Windows Personalization – user configurable settings
• Custom Windows Setting = Session Data
• Has it’s own editor to create a Custom Windows Setting
• Specify Files/Folders and Registry Keys/Values
• Select which Windows versions it applies to
• Add the custom settings to a Windows Settings collection
• Import, Export and Share

22. Windows Personalization cont.
• Synchronization extended to cover:
• Session Locked
• Session Disconnect
• Extra caching options
• Pre-caching allows user cache to be pre-populated
• Save cache on failed sync updates user cache when disconnected

23. Windows Personalization cont.
• Profile clean-up
• Specify the clean-up delay
• Zero = Immediately
• -1 = Don’t clean-up
• N = # days to delay

24. Windows Personalization
Demo

25. Application Personalization
• Personalize files
• Personalize registry values
• Wildcard support for registry keys (Office 2013)
• Internet Explorer 10 and 11 support
• New Office 2013 / 365 personalization template
• Default inclusions and exclusions improvements

26. Installation
• More intuitive DesktopNow Installer
• Standalone and Enterprise being replaced with three options
• One option will pre-configure the SCU for an initial trial or PoC
• Feature picker style installer for more advanced options
• Multi-instance installer, not just via PowerShell

27. Installation continued

28. Configuration
• EM and EMBI SCU’s merged
• EM SCU includes AMC PowerShell cmdlets
• SSL support added to Web browser UI
• Personalization Server Site ordering to enable retry order to be
changed
• Load balancing improvements – retries for virtual hosts and site
ordering

29. Platform and Infrastructure
• Non-Persistent VDI support
• Configs deployed from the AMC without being wrapped in an MSI
• Configurable config location (can be stored in a persistent location)
• CCA can pause computer startup until a configuration is available
• Image preparation – removes persistent settings from prior to being
sealed

30. EM 8.5 Beta
• We need your feedback!
• Tell us about what we have built, have we missed anything?
• Tell us about bugs and environmental issues
• Available later today or tomorrow
• Release Candidate available end of May

31. Any Questions?
EM 8.5 Beta feedback to
embeta@appsense.com