Bundle shortcut icons in the Start menu of a Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 device

  • Document ID:7005032
  • Creation Date:15-Dec-2009
  • Modified Date:30-Apr-2012
    • Micro Focus Products:
      ZENworks Configuration Management

Environment

Novell ZENworks 10 Configuration Management with Support Pack 2 - 10.2.2
Novell ZENworks 10 Configuration Management with Support Pack 3 - 10.3
Novell ZENworks 11 Configuration Management
Microsoft Windows 7
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

Situation

ZENworks Explorer folders appear as <folder name>.{GUID} with <empty> as the bundle name on Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 devices.

ZENworks bundle icons randomly disappear from the Start menu on Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 devices.

Bundle shortcut icons are not visible at all in the Start menu of a Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 device for ZCM 10.2.2 and ZCM 10.3.0 agents

Resolution

Microsoft have released a hotfix with the solution to this problem - the hotfix can be obtained from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980994 
 
Microsoft has not granted rights for other companies, such as Novell, to distribute this hotfix, so it cannot be included in a Novell patch.
 
There are several steps required to deploy the hotfix, so Novell has provided some sample bundles which can be used as the basis for distributing the hotfix to devices, once the hotfix has been obtained from Microsoft. The sample bundles are available at https://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=PVV-yBtzBPA~
 
For ZCM 10.2.2 and ZCM 10.3.0: Once this hotfix has been applied, it may be necessary to enable the display of bundle shortcut icons in the Start menu of a Windows 7 device (whilst waiting for Microsoft to provide the fix, Novell suppressed the display of bundle shortcut icons in the Start menu by default, to avoid problems for end-users, however this suppression was removed in version 10.3.1 because of the availability of this hotfix).
 
To display the bundle shortcut icons in the Start menu of a Windows 7 device running the ZCM 10.2.2 or10.3 agent, once the hotfix (shown above) has been applied:

  1. Open the Registry Editor.

  2. Go to HKLM\Software\NetWare\NAL

    If the registry key does not already exist, then it must be created.

  3. Create a DWORD called EnableStartMenuView and set its value to 1.

  4. Terminate and restart the explorer.exe process through the Windows Task Manager
    or
    Log in to the managed device again.

If this registry key is applied to a device running the 10.3.1 or later agent, it has no effect.

 
If the sample bundles are not being used, detailed below is one possible scenario for deployment
  1. Visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980994 and apply for the hotfix
  2. When the email from Microsoft is received, follow the instructions to download the hotfix(es) - note that there are 3 possible hotfixes, one for 32-bit, one for Intel 64-bit, and one for IA64
  3. Extract the hotfix(es) for the required platform(s), note that there is a password required for each one, the password is contained in the email received in step #2
  4. Create a bundle for each platform;
    * in the install actions, add an action for "Install file(s)", upload the .MSU file extracted in step #3, and distribute to a location on the device, for example "${WinDir}\temp" - ensure this action is set to run as secure system user.
    * Add a registry edit action, and add the DWORD HKEY_Local_Machines\Software\NetWare\NAL,EnableStartMenuView=1 - (see additional information regarding the possible need to create the key, if required set the action to "Create Always" or "Create if not exist"). Ensure the action is set to run as system.
    * Add a launch action of type "Launch Windows Executable" - the command is "wusa" and the parameters are
    [path to the .MSU file]\filename /quiet /norestart
    e.g., "${windir}\temp\Windows6.1-KB 980994-x86.msu /quiet /norestart"
    the /quiet parameter means there is no user interaction, and /norestart will no prompt the user for a reboot.
    Ensure the action is set to "Run as secure system user (Don't allow system to interact with desktop)".
    * In the Options for the Launch actions, select "Run Once", "For each device"
    * Set requirements to match the platform, e.g.,
    "Operating system - Windows"Version >="6.1"
    and
    "Architecture" = "32"
  5. Save the bundle and assign to devices as required, this works well if the bundle is set to apply on "User Login"
The patch has been delivered by Microsoft as a .MSU file and is applied using Windows Update StandAlone update utility (wusa) - the patch is applied to the device when windows shuts down or reboots - using the approach shown above will ensure that the registry key to display the bundle shortcuts will not be used until the Microsoft patch has been applied.

Additional Information

Note: if Folder Redirection is being used, see TID 7006271"Bundle shortcuts are not visible on Windows 7 when Folder Redirection is being used" for extra information

The registry key HKLM\Software\NetWare\NAL is not created by default on Windows 7 64 bit devices.

Administrators who wish to deploy ZENworks bundles to the Windows 7 Start menu may push out bundles to the Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 devices that create the registry keys specified above and trigger the actions specified above allowing Start menu folders and bundles to appear properly.

Without the Microsoft hotfix, if the registry key shown in the Resolution section is created, the bundles shortcut icons are displayed in the Start menu. However, it is likely that the icons are not properly displayed, and an automatic or manual refresh of the managed device is required. After applying this workaround, Icons may disappear seemingly at random, and a refresh will be needed to bring them back.