SVS 2.1 is Out the Door!

The much anticipated release of Software Virtualization Solution version 2.1 has arrived. This release includes significant application virtualization enhancements, including Windows Vista support, and the addition of application streaming. Get download and purchasing information here.

Read the press release here.

More importantly, please read the Release Notes here.

New features in this release include:

• Global Excludes – A popular request, Global Excludes allows you to configure excludes once instead of separately on each VSP.
• Task Server Support – When installing SVS in Altiris Notification Server, Task Server support is now automatically set up.
• Control Panel Applet - The SVS Agent now includes an optional "Altiris SVS" Control Panel Applet. This allows an end user with Admin privileges to view a list of VSP's on their machine, to do basic layer functions and to change SVS Agent configuration options.
• Moveable Redirect Areas – In 2.0, using anything other than c:\fslrdr as the redirect area root was problematic and unsupported. Customers can now put their redirect areas on another local drive, or event put different layers in different places.
• Layer Data is Retained on Uninstall – To reduce risk of data loss, un-installing the SVS Agent no longer automatically deletes all layers on the computer. An MSIEXEC command line option may be used to force deletion of layers at uninstall time.
• A New WMI Provider – There is a new WMI provider with improved functionality. This is an additional provider and the legacy provider will still function with this release. (Note: The legacy provider will be deprecated in a future release.)
• Additional Language Support – The SVS Agent has added support for the following additional languages: Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, and Russian. The SVS Solution on Altiris Notification Server added support for the following additional languages: Italian and Portuguese.
• Runtime Mode – This allows software vendors to distribute their products in the Altiris VSP™ format, with SVS bundled, so that all customers can use the app virtualized, whether they own SVS or not. Software vendors will need to purchase a forthcoming release of Wise Installation Studio to create VSP’s with SVS runtime embedded.
• SVS Logon Hook - The SVS Logon Hook allows SVS events to be triggered based on WINLOGON events. The main purpose is to provide user-customized environments when SVS is used with VMware VDI and HP CCI, but for other users this could allow you to configure a different set of layers as active when different users log on to a PC. Editor's Note: The SVS Logon Hook is provided as a separate download here (click on the drop down arrow).

Installation Notes:

SVS 2.1 may be installed over an existing SVS 2.0 installation. If you do this, before you upgrade, create a backup of pre-existing layers by exporting them. SVS 2.1 uses a new layer format. Existing layers will automatically be converted to the new layer format. However, there is no facility to revert layers to the 2.0 format should you need to roll back. Therefore, backing up layers prior to upgrade is very strongly recommended.