App Settings

Using the App Settings feature, Application Workspace administrators can choose application preferences that will automatically follow end users across sessions and devices. End users will get a consistent experience, without any interruption or the need to reconfigure settings that previously reverted to defaults.

As an administrator, you can:

• Define which application settings to capture and restore for end users
• Link a single App Settings entry to one or multiple packages
• Track which packages have App Settings applied on the Auditing and Packages pages

If the Application Workspace service runs under the Local System account, no additional permissions are required as these settings and files are always in the user’s own profile locations. 

If the service runs under any other account (domain user, local user, Group Managed Service Account  (gMSA), virtual account, LocalService/NetworkService, etc.), make sure both the Application Workspace service and the signed-in user have permission to modify the registry keys, files/folders, and the storage location you specify.  

The App Settings Restore function runs in the context of the Agent service. Also, the user session does not write directly to (blob) storage: the Agent uploads the captured data to the server, and the server then copies it to blob storage (if applicable).

For the App Settings feature, the administrator access policy includes the following privileges:

• Create app settings
• View app settings
• Modify app settings
• Remove app settings 

• Add app settings content
• View app settings content
• Modify app settings content
• Remove app settings content

By default, the user access policy has permission to upload app settings to the Application Workspace Server.

You can retain all App Settings data using one of two server-side storage types:

• Network Share - recommended for on-premises Application Workspace systems; offers complete control over the data.
• Azure Blob - recommended for fast/global performance; the Application Workspace Agent can have direct access to the content, reducing the load on servers. 

Network Share Storage

• Path – network directory where the content is stored; must be accessible by all Application Workspace servers.
• Credentials – used by Application Workspace to modify the shared content.

Credentials can be configured under Manage > Authentication > Credential Store. We recommend following Microsoft’s guidelines for configuring share and NTFS permissions. 

Azure Blob Storage

• Tier - The access tier your blob data has after uploading. Files are kept in hot storage because they are volatile resulting in a lower cost for storing your app settings.
• Authentication method - Used for accessing the Azure Blob service.
  • Shared Key (SK): A storage account wide access key.
• Connection string - Only available for the SK authentication method. The connection string can be found in the Azure portal under Storage accounts > your account name > Access keys.
• Container - The name of the Azure Blob container where all the files are stored.
• Direct Access authentication method - Available option:
  • Public access - No tokens are required to access the data.
• Direct Access CDN Endpoint - The URL of the Azure Content Delivery Network endpoint. Use a CDN that has been configured in front of the Azure Blob services. Content will be distributed globally using a CDN provider. This allows the web browser/agent to download content directly from a server that’s near the local device, which improves content distribution times.

For more information on enabling CDN, see Integrate an Azure Storage account with Azure Content Delivery Network | Microsoft Learn

The App Settings page displays all the end user application settings that are being captured and whether they are enabled.

screenshot

Toolbar options

• Create App Settings
• Edit
• Remove - Remove the app settings from Application Workspace.
• Export - 
• Views - Choose how the table displays. The default view contains all your app settings in alphabetic ascending order, and only two columns: Name, Enabled

NOTE: You can create your own personalized view of the table by filtering the connectors or adding/deleting columns and clicking Save as in the Views drop-down.

To view details for an App Setting, double-click on its entry in the table.

Overview tab

• App Setting Name
• whether the App Setting is Enabled

Contents tab

• App Settings Type
• Value entered
• whether the App Setting is Enabled
• Supported platforms - Windows only at the moment

Dependencies tab

Displays the packages where the App Setting applies, including the package Type and Snapshot.

Events tab

Displays in-depth details about the captured item, such as its Type, Status, Identity, and Device. This information tells you how many items were captured and restored.

Auditing tab

Displays App Settings-related changes, which also appear on the Auditing page.

To create new app settings:

1. On the App Settings page, click the Create button in the table toolbar.

2. In the Create app settings > Overview, give your new app settings a Name. By default, the app settings are Enabled. Click Next.

3. On the Summary tab, confirm the app settings name, as well as whether they are Enabled or whether you can Modify app settings after creation. Click Finish.

The App Settings details page will open automatically.

Include an Item in App Settings

To include a new item in the app settings captured for end users:

1. On the App settings details page, open the Contents tab and click Create included item in the table toolbar.

2. In the Create included item window that opens, choose the Type of information you want to capture and restore.

App Settings Types:

• Registry Tree - Syncs all the keys in an entire registry tree recursively.
  • Registry Key - Syncs all the keys in a registry key, but not those contained in subdirectories.
    • Registry Value - Syncs a defined registry value

• Folder Tree - Syncs the entire directory on the file system recursively
  • Folder - Syncs a defined directory but not its subdirectories
    • File - Syncs a defined file

3. Name the item and enter its Value.

By default, Application Workspace will Delete existing content before restore to create a clean slate for the app settings.

4. Click Confirm.

Exclude an Item from App Settings

This functionality is useful for leaving out an item such as a backup folder.

To exclude an item from the app settings captured for end users:

1. On the App settings details page's Contents tab and click Create excluded item in the table toolbar.

2. In the Create excluded item window that opens, choose the Type of information you do not want to capture and restore.

App Settings Types:

• Registry Tree - Syncs all the keys in an entire registry tree recursively.
  • Registry Key - Syncs all the keys in a registry key, but not those contained in subdirectories.
    • Registry Value - Syncs a defined registry value

• Folder Tree - Syncs the entire directory on the file system recursively
  • Folder - Syncs a defined directory but not its subdirectories
    • File - Syncs a defined file

3. Name the item and enter its Value. Click Confirm.

4. Save your changes.

App Settings are applied automatically when a package is deployed. Capture and restore functions run silently in the background, without interrupting users or showing pop-ups.

You can apply App Settings to all package types.

You can link a single App Settings entry to multiple packages and/or link multiple App Settings entries to a single package.

To link an App Settings entry to a package:

1. On the Packages page, double-click on an existing package.

2. In the Releases section, open the Actions tab.

3. Click Create action in the table toolbar.

4. In the Create action window that opens, under Type, select 'Initialize AppSettings'. 

5. Click Add app setting.

Each time the settings restoration function runs, it restores all the settings rather than only what differs from what is already on the device. The length of time it takes to restore app settings varies across environments. It depends on how much data needs to be restored and how fast the storage location is.

If something interrupts the settings restoration (for example, an OS crash, a lost network connection, or an AW service crash), the restore may be incomplete or the restored data may become corrupted.