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Internet Explorer 8 for Windows 7 Layer Definition File

Updated: 04 Jan 2012 | 10 comments
Ken Dudley's picture
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The Internet Explorer 8 for Windows 7 Layer Definition File (LDF) provides a mechanism for customers of Symantec Workspace Virtualization to create the Virtual Application Layer and package without the need to capture the installation.

Prerequisites

- Symantec Workspace Virtualization v6.1 SP1 or greater
- Symantec Workspace Virtualization Layer Definition Tool. Download.

Installation

The steps for creating the IE8 for Windows 7 are very straight-forward.

1. Extract the download that accompanies this article to your desktop (ie8-win7-x.x.x.x.zip - where -x.x.x.x is the LDF version).
2. Double-Click the .EXE file (ie8-win7-x.x.x.x.EXE). This will invoke swvldf.exe (Layer Definition Tool) with the proper parameters to create the IE8 on Windows 7 virtual application layer.
 

NOTE: As a security precaution, right click the extracted .exe file, select properties and check the "Digital Signatures" tab and ensure that "Symantec Corporation" appears in the Signature List. If the .EXE is not digitially signed with the Symantec Certificate do not run the executable on your system.

Important: The creation of the IE8 Layer on Windows 7 must be run on Windows 7 with IE8 installed to the base (i.e. installed natively and not virtualized). The LDF references local files installed on the system in order to create the virtualized IE8 layer.

Supported Side-By-Side Configurations

Internet Explorer 8 Virtualized will function "Side-By-Side" with any one of the following versions of IE installed to the base (i.e. installed natively and not virtualized).

Internet Explorer 8

    X
Internet Explorer 9     X

Note: Internet Explorer 8 includes an IE 7 compatibility mode that provides IE7 compatibility. See the Microsoft Knowledge Base article for more information.

Support

Information about the support status of the IE8 layer created by this tool can be found here .
Please note that the IE8 layer created by this tool is only supported if the LDF and the Virtual Application Layer are not altered in any way.

Documentation

Documentation on the SWV Layer Definition Tool can be found here .

How it works

The swvldf.exe tool is passed an Layer Definition File (LDF) that contains XML tags that define all the data required to create a Virtual Application Layer. The files required for the Virtual Application Layer are downloaded from public sites on the internet and may require considerable time to complete depending on the file requirements. It is also possible alter the LDF to point to existing files that you already have available on your system. Please see the documentation to learn how to change the <file-source> tags to point to local file repositories. By default the <file-source> tags that download files using http do not use a proxy server. In order to use a proxy server please see the documentation for the "conn-str" attribute of the <file-source> tag.

 

Change Log
Date Version Change Description
 01/04/2012  1.0.44.0  IE9 support and MS security updates.
     
     
     

Comments

Jason Gallas's picture
30
Apr
2010
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I get an error...

Crate layer from definition file failed with error code: 1040 when I try running this batch file.

karl_bunnell's picture
03
May
2010
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This error indicates that a

This error indicates that a registry error occurred while trying to create the registry entries. Does the log give any hints? Also, ensure you have SWV 6.1 SP1 (minimum) installed.

stevenbozas's picture
17
Mar
2011
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I have received the same

I have received the same error, and yes, I do have SWV 6.1 SP1 as a minimum installed. I am running other virtual layers succesfully.

jpopik's picture
24
Mar
2011
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Running with Native IE9

I built the layer on a vanila Windows 7 with IE8, but it doesn't seem to work on a Win 7 box with a IE9 native client.  The layer activates, but when the app is launched, nothing comes up.  I checked task manager, and saw the iexplorer.exe process starts when I run the virtualized IE8, but then closes within a second or 2.  Any ideas?

Thanks, Joe

Jason Gallas's picture
29
Mar
2011
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Has anyone gotten this to work?

I am trying to get this to run side by side with native IE9 on my Windows 7 system but keep getting the dreaded 1040 error.

ctxz's picture
08
Apr
2011
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It is not working for me at

It is not working for me at all:

Create layer from definition file failed with error code: 6012

jpopik's picture
13
Apr
2011
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From what I can tell, unlike

From what I can tell, unlike the layer definition files for IE 6 and IE 7, this one doesn't grab it's files from the Internet, but instead grabs them from the host machine.  For this reason, it can only be built on a PC running Win7 & IE8.  This works for me, and then running it on a Win7, IE8 PC works, though I'm not sure why you would need to virtualize the same IE that is already installed on the PC.  Running the layer I created with this LDF does not work on a Win7, IE9 PC, which is what I really need.  I need this, because I need IE9 on our VDI desktop due to it's enhanced memory allocation, and my Symantec Management Console (7.0) isn't fully compatable with IE9.

Jason Gallas's picture
18
Apr
2011
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Maybe for Isolation?

Maybe the purpose of it was to allow for the layers to be isolated from eachother?  I know.  I was also wanting to setup IE8 in a layer and run IE9 in the base but knowing that it does not work with IE9 I won't bother.

rajanskr's picture
05
Aug
2011
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How can we make this to work in 64 bit operating system

 

Hi All,

 

I tried this layer definition file "ie8-win7-1.0.21.0.exe" and it works perfectly in windows 7 32 bit operating system.

When I used the same virtual package(Internet Explorer 8.xpf)  in windows 7 64 bit operating system. the shortcut which was placed in the desktop after activating the layer is different, it’s not an IE shortcut.

The shortcut is in unknown format.

How do we replace/change this unknown shortcut to IE shortcut?

 

Also, I tried the same process from beginning in windows 7 64 bit operating system but, am receiving the following error:

Create layer from definition file failed with error code: 6012

Could you please help me out in this.

 

regards,

rajan

Wadders's picture
10
Apr
2012
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MS12-010

Hi Ken,

Can you confirm if the security patch MS12-010 (KB2647516) is included with this LDF.

Many Thanks

Wadders