App-V and UE-V to be included with Windows

  • Article

Software Assurance provides organizations with additional capabilities to enhance security, manageability, and flexibility.  Two key benefits of SA include access to Windows Enterprise, which provides capabilities including Device Guard and Credential Guard, as well as the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).

With the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update, we’re reducing the effort of deploying two of the most popular components of MDOP – Application Virtualization (App-V) and User Environment Virtualization (UE-V) -- by including them in the Windows Enterprise and Education editions instead of requiring a separate download and deployment.   They will also be included in-box in Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter.  If your organization is currently running App-V or UE-V on Windows 10 Professional or earlier and plan to upgrade to the Windows 10 Anniversary release , you will need to deploy the Enterprise edition to use App-V and UE-V on those devices.  

By including these components in the operating system itself, you will not have to take additional steps to deploy and maintain them outside the general Windows deployment and update process.   Future updates to App-V and UE-V will be delivered as part of general Windows updates and will not require any separate administrative steps.

What does this mean for you?

If you are using App-V or UE-V, you already have access to Windows Enterprise or Education.  Both Windows Enterprise and MDOP, which includes App-V and UE-V, are benefits you have through Software Assurance.  Most organizations who have Software Assurance are already using Windows Enterprise, so there are no extra steps or costs required.

If you are using Windows Professional, when you upgrade to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and your organization uses App-V and UE-V for management functionality, you will need to upgrade to the Enterprise or Education edition.  Direct upgrades to the Pro SKU will result in App-V and UE-V binaries to be removed during the OS migration process.

Deployment and configuration tools are consolidated into a single location.   The UE-V Template Generator and App-V Sequencer will be available as part of Windows 10 Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK).

The functionality of App-V and UE-V shipping inside Windows 10 Anniversary Update are the same as the current “out-of-box” versions supporting earlier version of Windows, which shipped in MDOP 2015 – App-V 5.1 and UE-V 2.1 Service Pack 1.   All other components of MDOP remain available for Windows 10 Anniversary Update from the MDOP 2015 installation media, and their supportability on each version SKU does not change; however, future enhancements to App-V and UE-V will only be available for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update or later.

The current App-V Management Server, available on the MDOP 2015 installation media, will support the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.  It does NOT ship within Windows 10 Anniversary Update nor Windows Server 2016.

We’re excited about the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, and the inclusion of App-V and UE-V into Windows Enterprise and Education editions will help make it easier to get more value of your Software Assurance investment.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2016
    Hi,What if we don't want to upgrade to enterprise and continue using MDOP 2015 so can is still use APPv with Professional.
    • Anonymous
      July 07, 2016
      @flyvinni Looks to me like no further development as part of MDOP. You need to use W10 Enterprise or Education edition to get further updates. Doesn't stop you from using what you have now [but unsure about security updates].
    • Anonymous
      July 11, 2016
      Just tried to install the MDOP 2015 version on a Windows 10 Pro build 14385 and Windows reports that UE-V 2.1 SP1 and App-V 5.1 are not compatible with this version of Windows. So if you upgrade to the next Windows version, Enterprise is required for UE-V and App-V.
  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2016
    The comment has been removed
    • Anonymous
      July 12, 2016
      @R. Gijsen'Future updates to App-V and UE-V will be delivered as part of general Windows updates 'So they will still apply to Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 as well as long as those Operating Systems are supported. I think it's safe to make that assumption.
    • Anonymous
      August 26, 2016
      The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    July 06, 2016
    Can you please clarify the situation for App-V RDS Client on editions of Server 2016 other than DataCenter version?
  • Anonymous
    July 08, 2016
    Which team will provide support for these features now that they are baked into the OS?
  • Anonymous
    July 11, 2016
    Does this mean we cannot install the Anniversary Update and then manually install App-V and UE-V since we use Professional and don't plan to upgrade to Enterprise.
    • Anonymous
      August 15, 2016
      If you're using App-V or UE-V, then presumably you are doing it under a SA agreement, which means you can go ahead and upgrade those seats to Enterprise, right?
  • Anonymous
    August 11, 2016
    So what about hotfixes for App-V 5.1? File versions have drastically changed in the Win10 AU, hence hotfixes will not install.
  • Anonymous
    August 11, 2016
    Updated from Windows 10 November Edition to Anniversary Update. Formerly installed UE-V gets deactivated through update. The new (?) agent does not work. Starting the service manually ends in error code 6. If it's build in now, it should work...
  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2016
    So is there a realistic option here for poor application packaging professionals who want to keep up to date & try App-v stuff out at home (particularly when between jobs/contracts)?
  • Anonymous
    September 26, 2016
    we currently use Win8.1 Enterprise with UE-V 2.1 in our environment.we manage and control UE-V by group policyif we upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise, how do we manage the built-in UE-V? assuming group policy can still use to manage the Windows 10 Enterprise UE-V, does the current group policy admin template for MDOP UE-V 2.1SP1 still works with the Windows 10 Enterprise UE-V? or there will be new set of the group policy admin template?
  • Anonymous
    November 02, 2016
    Appvpackageconvereter is not available within this.how to install it on Windows10-AB.
  • Anonymous
    November 07, 2016
    The comment has been removed