When you use the Personalization Server feature to save Registry and file settings into Application Groups, each group maintains a separate copy of the Personalization data and cannot communicate using it. For applications like rundll32.exe, which require access to the same Registry keys but cannot be added to Application Groups, you add the keys to Session Data. These keys are automatically excluded from managed applications and use the “real”, rather than virtualized, versions as saved and restored by Session Data.
What would happen, then, if a key that needed to be added to Session Data was mistakenly added to an application group instead, and the settings for this key were saved into all your user’s Personalization data – just in the wrong place? For instance, a common key to be added to Session Data is this one, related to Microsoft Outlook
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem
If you added this to a Microsoft Office application group instead of Session Data, you’d notice some inconsistencies. For example, if you tried to use the right-click context menu action to Send To | Mail Recipient, you’d find that the mail profile couldn’t be located, and the action would fail.
Imagine that a whole load of users have this setting in an Application Group instead of Session Data. How do you switch them back? Do it manually? Use a registry export and/or a bit of scripting? If it’s more than a few users affected, then these options are rapidly becoming unappetizing.
Luckily, tucked away within the AppSense Environment Manager Administrative Tools is a little program called Extract Session Data Utility. It searches for and extracts Registry keys which should be Session Data from existing application settings in the personalization database. The AppSense Environment Manager Administrative Tools Guide discusses in detail how to use this tool, but the main usage points are covered below also.
Installing the Extract Session Data Utility
The Administrative Tools installer is included with the Environment Manager installation media. 32 and 64-bit versions are available. Run either
EnvironmentManagerTools32 or EnvironmentManagerTools64
Once installed to the default location, the tools are available from the Start | All Programs | AppSense | Environment Manager | Tools menu.
Using the Extract Session Data Utility
1. Select Start | All Programs | AppSense | Environment Manager | Tools | Extract
Session Data Utility.
2. Enter the following for the target database to receive data:
SQL Server Name\Instance
SQL Database Name
User ID and Password (or select Use Windows Authentication to use the current Windows identity)
3. Click OK to connect and display the console.
4. In the Key to extract field, use the ellipsis to browse HKEY_CURRENT_USER on the current machine or enter the name of the key directly into the field.
5. From the Source drop-down menu, select the application from which key data is required or select one of the following options:
Search each user’s data – For each user, the utility searches all their profiles for the key. If the key is found in more that one profile, it is not moved.
Report only – All applications are searched, but no changes are made to the database. Running a report allows those users with multiple instances of a key to be identified without affecting the database.
6. Select the users to examine using the following buttons:
Add Users – Opens a dialog box enabling a search for a particular user to be performed. To narrow the search, the domain and/or user group can be specified.
Add Groups – Opens a dialog listing all available user groups.
Add All Users – Interrogates all available users in the database.
Users and groups can be removed from the list by highlighting and clicking the Remove button.
7. Use the check boxes to define the behavior of the utility:
8. Click the Start Extract button.
The run starts with the progress displayed. The results and any errors are written to two log files in the Documents folder of the user running the tool. Hopefully, should you find that you ever end up in this situation, this utility will save you a lot of time and frustration.
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