virtual filesystem, registry, and many other system resources that sit on top of the
operating system resource. These virtual layers contain the resources specific to the
application. This allows the application to run on the operating system without having
any footprint on the local resource, such as writing to the filesystem or changing the
registry. A single cache on each machine holds the virtualized streams for each App-V
application along with application icons and file type associates. The experience to the
end user is completely seamless. App-V also streams applications to machines on first
use where required; however, for session virtualization and VDI, that is typically not
used, and instead a central cache can be shared that is prepopulated with all of the
virtualized applications.
Figure 11.6 shows a Microsoft technology-complete solution with session
virtualization or VDI providing the operating system and other technologies providing
the data, profile, and applications. This is not the only possible solution; rather, it’s an
example of how different technologies work together to create the complete end-user
experience. The key point is that these technologies can all be used on physical
desktops and also enable a single set of technologies to provide a consistent and
manageable experience for all the types of desktops in your organization.
Figure 11.6 Providing the complete user experience
Another RDS-specific solution for the user profile and parts of the data is called user
profile disks. The option to use a user profile disk is available when creating the VDI
or session-based pools, also known as collections. This solution creates a VHDX file
for each user that uses the pooled virtual desktops. The first time a user connects to
the pool, a new VHDX file is created and attached to the virtual machine (if VDI) or
the RD Session Host that is hosting the user’s session (if session-based). The entire
user’s profile is stored on the attached user profile disk by default. All of the user’s