Registry Virtualization allows developers to store end-user information in the Windows Registry in a secure and isolated way and to provide authentication-based registry entries.

Additionally, shared registry entries can be redirected to safer places in the Windows Registry.

Similarly to File System Virtualization, Registry Virtualization also involves two steps. The first one is the mapping definition, when the developer creates the relationship between an original registry entry and a redirected registry entry. The second one, the inclusion of the created mapping definition into the application program.

The registry mapping definition is a set of one to one redirection rules that link a real entry to the redirected entry.

There are two types of redirection:

· Shared: for all connected users.

· Private: for a single identified user.

Private redirection entries include the identified user ID appended to the redirected entry.

The configuration is done through the Registry Virtualization Editor, which will be installed with the Standard or server component installation.

Read more:

· Creating Registry Redirections

· The .vreg Files

· Testing Registry Virtualization

· File System Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

Once you are done adding, editing and/or deleting paths, save this configuration by selecting 'File' - 'Save' in the main menu of the Filesystem Virtualization Editor.

This configuration will be stored in a vdir file. The Filesystem Virtualization Editor allows you to create different vdir files to be used in your application.

Read more:

· Creating File System Redirections

· Testing the File System Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

In Thinfinity VirtualUI, each application instance may run under a unique Windows User ID or under a shared one. In the first case, the application may access private folders and private registry entries but, as most applications provide their own credential system (usually based on a database), it is a common practice to run the application instance under a single shared Windows User ID. In this case, all application instances share the same user profile’s folders and the same “current user” key in the registry.

Additionally, in both cases, all users may have access to shared folders that it might be desirable to hide from them.

Thinfinity VirtualUI addresses these potential drawbacks by providing the File System and Registry Virtualization feature.

The main purposes of the Registry and File System virtualization are:

· To show only relevant folders.

· To provide private folders based on the application's credential system.

· To provide registry keys based on the application's credential system.

Read more:

· File System Virtualization

· Registry Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

You can test the Filesystem virtualization outside VirtualUI (the virtualization service must be running, though). In order to test the Filesystem virtualization, choose the 'File' - 'Test' option from the main menu. This will bring up the 'Launch Application' dialog:

After selecting a user and a program to test, press the 'Launch' button. When you access the Windows file system through this application, you should only be seeing the mapped directories, by their original names.

Read more:

· Creating File System Redirections

· The .vdir Files

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

In order to add a path in the Virtualization Editor, right click on the main area of the screen and choose 'New Path...'.

This will bring up the 'Edit Directory' dialog.

Paths can also be expressed using the environment variables defined in Windows:

%public%, %home%, %documents%, etc

For example, you can redirect %userprofile% to %userprofile%\users as a private redirection; "user1"’s files will therefore be stored in c:\users\username\users*user1*

Or you can map c:\temp to %userprofiles%\temp as a shared redirection.

Editing Paths

In order to edit a path, right click on it and choose 'Edit Path'.

You will then be able to edit the path in the 'Edit Directory' dialog.

Deleting Paths

In order to delete a path, right click on it and choose 'Delete Path'.

Read more:

· The .vidr Files

· Testing the File System Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

File System Virtualization helps developers publish only relevant shared folders and provide authentication-based private folders. Additionally, shared folders can be redirected to safer places in the disk and/or be write protected.

Virtualization involves two steps. The first one is the File System mapping design, when the developer creates the relationship between real paths and the redirected path tree that the end-user will see and access. The second one, the inclusion of the created mapping definition into the application program.

The file system mapping definition is a set of one to one redirection rules that link a real folder to the redirected folder path.

There are two types of redirection:

· Shared: for all connected users. It can be defined as readonly.

· Private: for a single identified user.

The configuration is done through the The File System Virtualization Editor, which will be installed with the Standard or server component installation.

Read more:

· Creating File System Redirections

· The .vidr Files

· Testing the File System Virtualization

· Registry Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

Once you are done adding, editing and/or deleting redirections, save this configuration by selecting 'File' - 'Save' in the main menu of the Registry Virtualization Editor.

This configuration will be stored in a vreg file. The Registry Virtualization Editor allows you to create different vreg files to be used with the product.

Read more:

· Creating Registry Redirections

· Testing Registry Virtualization

· File System Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

In order to apply the virtualization filters created with the Filesystem Virtualization Editor or the Registry Virtualization Editor, you have to add some code to your application.

After virtualui.Start(), load and apply the created filters with the current user credentials

Delphi:

virtualui.RegistryFilter.User := 'user identification';

virtualui.RegistryFilter.CfgFile := 'file.vreg';

virtualui.RegistryFilter.Active := true;

virtualui.FilesystemFilter.User := 'user identification';

virtualui.FilesystemFilter.CfgFile := 'file.vdir';

virtualui.FilesystemFilter.Active := true;

C#:

virtualui.Start();

virtualui.RegistryFilter().User = “user identification”;

virtualui.RegistryFilter().CfgFile = “file.vreg”;

virtualui.RegistryFilter().Active = True;

virtualui.FilesystemFilter().User = “user identification”;

virtualui.FilesystemFilter().CfgFile = “file.vdir”;

virtualui.FilesystemFilter().Active = True;

C++:

virtualui->Start();

virtualui->RegistryFilter()->User = “user identification”;

virtualui->RegistryFilter()->CfgFile = “file.vreg”;

virtualui->RegistryFilter()->Active = True;

virtualui->FilesystemFilter()->User = “user identification”;

virtualui->FilesystemFilter()->CfgFile = “file.vdir”;

virtualui->FilesystemFilter()->Active = True;

In order to disable registry or filesystem filtering, set the Active property to false.

Read more:

· File System Virtualization

· Registry Virtualization

In order to add a registry redirection, right click on one of the Server trees and choose 'Add Redirection'.

This will bring up the 'Edit Key Redirection' dialog:

Editing Redirections

In order to edit a key redirection, right click on it and choose 'Edit Redirection'.

You will then be able to edit the redirection in the 'Edit Key Redirection' dialog.

Deleting Redirections

In order to delete a redirection, right click on it and choose 'Delete Redirection'.

Read more:

· Testing Registry Virtualization

· The .vreg Files

· File System Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application

In order to test the registry virtualization, choose the 'File' - 'Test' option from the main menu. This will bring up the 'Launch Application' dialog:

After selecting a user and a program from the test, press the 'Launch' button. This will open the selected application and create a unique key for the user in the redirected key. All the activity of this application in the registry for the source key will be reflected in the redirected key.

Read more:

· Creating Registry Redirections

· File System Virtualization

· Implementing Virtualization in Your Application