VMWare User Environment Manager

Before performing the procedures detailed on this page, make sure you’ve created the GPOs as detailed at http://www.carlstalhood.com/horizon-group-policy-and-profiles/#creategpos and configured the GPOs for User Environment Manager as detailed at http://www.carlstalhood.com/horizon-group-policy-and-profiles/#uempolicy.

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Mandatory Profile

If you want to use User Environment Manager with a Mandatory Profile then follow these instructions to create the mandatory profile:

The mandatory profile is stored in a sub-folder of a file share. Either identify an existing file share (e.g. UEMConfig) or create a new file share.
Login to the Horizon 6 Agent machine as a template account. Do any desired customizations. Logoff.
Make sure you are viewing hidden files and system files.
Copy C:\Users\%username% to your fileshare and rename the folder to mandatory.v2 or something similar. It is important that .v2 (or .v3 or .v4 or .v5 depending on the operating system version) is on the end of the path. (e.g. \\fs01\UEMConfig\mandatory.v5).
- Windows 7 and 2008 R2 = .v2
- Windows 8.1 and 2012 R2 = .v2 or .v4, depending on if you configured https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2887239 or not.
- Windows 10 = .v5
Note: the mandatory profile must be a subfolder of the file share. You cannot share the mandatory profile directly.
You can copy C:\Users\Default instead of copying a template user. If so, remove the hidden attribute. If you use Default as your mandatory, be aware that Active Setup will run every time a user logs in.
Rename \\fs01\UEMConfig\mandatory.v5\ntuser.dat to ntuser.man.
Delete the NTUSER.DAT log files.
Open the AppData folder and delete the Local and LocalLow folders.
Java settings are stored in LocalLow so you might want to leave them in the mandatory profile. The only Java files you need are the deployment.properties file, the exception.sites file and the security/trusted.certs file. Delete the Java cache, tmp and logs.
Open regedit.exe.
Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to highlight it.
Open the File menu and click Load Hive.
Browse to the mandatory profile and open NTUSER.MAN in the Mandatory profile folder.
Name it a or similar.
Go to HKLM\a, right-click it and click Permissions.
Add Authenticated Users and give it Full Control. Click OK.
With the hive still loaded, you can do some cleanup in the registry keys. See http://www.robinhobo.com/how-to-create-a-mandatory-profile-with-folder-redirections/ for some suggestions.
Also see How to create a Windows Server 2012 / Windows 8 Mandatory Profile for more profile cleanup.
Highlight HKLM\a.
Open the File menu and click Unload Hive.
Create/Edit a GPO that applies to the Horizon 6 Agents and configure the following GPO settings:
- Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | System | User Profiles
  - Do not check for user ownership of Roaming Profile Folders = enabled
  - Set roaming profile path for all users logging onto this computer = \\fs01\UEMConfig\mandatory (Do not include the .v5 in this path)
- Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Remote Desktop Services | Remote Desktop Session Host | Profiles
  - Use mandatory profiles on the RD Session Host server = enabled
  - Set path for Remote Desktop Services Roaming User Profile = \\fs01\UEMConfig\mandatory (Do not include the .v5 in this path)

UEM Console Installation

Browse to the extracted User Environment Manager files and run VMware User Environment Manager 8.7 x64.msi.
In the Welcome to the VMware User Environment Manager Setup Wizard page, click Next.
In the End-User License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms and click Next.
In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
In the Choose Setup Type page, click Custom.
In the Custom Setup page, change the selections so that only the console is selected and click Next.
In the Ready to install VMware User Environment Manager page, click Install.
In the Completed the VMware User Environment Manager Setup Wizard page, click Finish.

Configure User Environment Manager

Here is a summary of the major User Environment Manager functionality:

Personalization (aka import/export) – saves application and Windows settings to a file share. This is the roaming profiles functionality of User Environment Manager. You configure folders and registry keys that need to be saved. The import/export can happen at logon/logoff or during application launch/exit.
- Pre-configure application settings – configures files and registry keys for specific applications so users don’t have to do it themselves. Some examples: disable splash screen, default folder save location, database server name, etc.
- Self–support tool – users can use this tool to restore their application settings.
User Environment – configures Windows settings like drive mappings, Explorer settings, printer mappings, etc. This is similar to group policy but offers significantly more options for conditional filtering. User Environment Manager can configure any registry setting defined in an ADMX file.
- User Environment Manager only supports user settings. Computer settings should be configured using group policy.
- Best practice is to not mix User Environment Manager and user group policy. Pick one tool. If the same setting is configured in both locations then group policy will win.

User Environment Manager documentation can be found at pubs.vmware.com.

VMware has posted several User Environment Manager videos at YouTube.

To perform an initial configuration of User Environment Manager, do the following:

Launch the User Environment Manager Management Console from the Start Menu.
Enter the path to the UEMConfig share and click OK.
These Settings checkboxes define what is displayed in the management console. Leave it set to the defaults and click OK.
In the Personalization ribbon, on the far right, click Easy Start.
Select your version of Office and click OK.
Click OK when prompted that configuration items have been successfully installed.
Review the pre-configured settings to make sure they are acceptable. For example, User Environment Manager might create a Wordpad shortcut (User Environment > Shortcuts) that says (created by VMware UEM).
Go to User Environment > Policy Settings. If there is a setting to Remove Common Program Groups, then click Edit.
Consider adding a condition so it doesn’t apply to administrators.

User Environment Manager 8.7 has a new UEMResult feature that lets you see what settings were applied to the user. The .xml file is only updated at logoff. To enable for a particular user, go to the user’s Logs folder and create a folder named UEMResult. At logoff, UEM will put an .xml file in this folder. More information in Appendix G of the User Environment Manager Administrator Guide.

Desktop Redirection

If the Desktop folder is redirected then VMware recommends configuring User Environment Manager to preserve the folder redirection location. Otherwise there could be a timing issue.

On the Personalization tab, click Create Config File.
Select Create a custom config file and click Next.
Give the Config file a name and click Finish.
On the Import/Export tab, configure the registry key as shown below. You can also copy the text from VMware 2118056 Migrate VMware Persona Management to VMware User Environment Manager.

UEM Application Profiler

This tool cannot be installed on a machine that has FlexEngine installed:

.NET Framework 3.5 is required.
In the User Environment Manager files, in the Optional Components folder, run VMware UEM Application Profiler 8.7 x64.msi.
In the Welcome to the VMware User Environment Manager Application Profiler Setup Wizard page, click Next.
In the End-User License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms and click Next.
In the Custom Setup page, click Next.
In the Ready to install VMware User Environment Manager Application Profiler page, click Install.
In the Completed the VMware User Environment Manager Application Profiler Setup Wizard page, click Finish.

You may now use the tool to determine where applications store their settings and export a default application configuration that can be pushed out using User Environment Manager.

See the documentation for details.
vDelboy VMware User Environment Manager Application Profiler has an overview of the process.
VMware Blog Post VMware User Environment Manager and Application Profile Settings details how to use Application Profiler to determine where Chrome settings are stored and upload that configuration to User Environment Manager.

UEM Support Tool

vDelboy – VMware UEM Helpdesk Support Tool

Do the following to configure the environment for the support tool:

In the User Environment Manager Console, click the star icon on the top left and click Configure Helpdesk Support Tool.
Click Add.
In the Profile archive path field, enter the user folder share (the same one configured in User Environment Manager GPO). At the end of the path, enter \[UserFolder]\Archives.
Check the other two boxes. The paths should be filled in automatically. Make sure they match what you configured in the User Environment Manager GPO. Click OK.
Click Save.
VMware recommends creating a new GPO for the Support Tool. This GPO should apply only to the support personnel.
On the Scope tab, change the filtering so it applies to UEM Support and UEM Admins. If this applies to machines with loopback processing enabled then also add Domain Computers.
Edit the GPO.
Go to User Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | VMware UEM | Helpdesk Support Tool.
Double-click the setting UEM configuration share.
Enable the setting and enter the path to the UEMConfig share. Click OK.
Consider enabling the remaining GPO settings. Read the Explain text or refer to the documentation.

Do the following to install the support tool.

.NET Framework 3.5 is required.
Some support tool functions require the FlexEngine to be installed on the help desk machine.
In the extracted User Environment Manager files is an Optional Components folder. From inside that folder run VMware UEM Helpdesk Support Tool 8.7 x64.msi.
In the Welcome to the VMware UEM Helpdesk Support Tool Setup Wizard page, click Next.
In the End-User License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms and click Next.
In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
In the Ready to install VMware UEM Helpdesk Support Tool page, click Install.
In the Completed the VMware UEM Helpdesk Support Tool Setup Wizard page, click Finish.