The app-V launcher tool is a self contained executable which lists your installed App-V packages and allows you to launch an executable in that virtual applications environment. This is particularly useful if you or your admins / users are not PowerShell friendly or you would prefer to not publish PowerShell scripts as programs.

You can get a copy of the latest version and/or it’s source code over here.

As an added benefit I’ve included source code for running PowerShell commands in .Net, so if you are interested in trying to do so grab the source code!

Note: This post has been updated to include an executable for AppV 5 along with the source code if you wish to see how to interact with powershell from .Net.

So here’s your scenario, you’re knee deep in an App-V roll out and a user reports a bizarre issue with a virtual application. You need to get into the bubble to have a look around and the process normally goes something like this:

• “what’s that command again?”
• open up a browse and search for it… oh yes, its “sfttray.exe /exe cmd.exe ” and the application name at the end…
• what’s the application name? oh yes, its a combination of the original application name and the particular version number… “theres no way I can remember that!”
• launch the sftcmc.msc, and try to find the correct application out of a potentially very long list.
• copy the name into the command line and pray you don’t close that cmd window soon.

This process always slows me down, so I wrote the following little program to get over this issue, enter App-V Launcher:

This application enumerates cached Microsoft App-V applications and presents you with a list to choose from. Once you select the application you want to work with, you can simply type the executable you need to use inside of the bubble and you can troubleshoot to your hearts content.

Below you’ll find the pre req’s, supported platforms and download. I’ve also included the source code should you need to tweak it to suit your implementation.

I have tested this on:

• Windows server 2008 r2 with App-V 4.6 sp1
• Windows server 2003 r2 (x86) with App-V 4.5

Prerequisites:

• Microsoft .Net framework 3.5 (.Net 4.0 for appv 5 launcher)