Application Virtualization

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) delivers applications on demand over the network and runs them in an isolated environment on a PC. The technology requires interaction between the App-V client, App-V servers, and Active Directory as follows:

(1) A user logs on to a Windows desktop using credentials from Active Directory.

(2) The client sends the user’s credentials to the App-V Management Server, which checks with Active Directory to determine which applications may be supplied to the user. The management server and the client update the application information on the user’s desktop, including the application’s icons and file associations, so that when the user launches an application, the server and client will launch the virtualized version. If the master image of the application on the management server has been updated, the old copy in the local cache is disabled.

(3) The user starts an application by clicking on the application’s icon or a file associated with the application.