Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.

2010
Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5

APPLICATION COMPATIBILITY TOOLKIT 5.5

The Application Compatibility Toolkit can be installed on either a desktop or server. You will also need a database and Internet connectivity for full functionality. ACT 5.5 will work with SQL 2000, SQL 2005, SQL2008 and SQL Express. MSDE versions of SQL are no longer supported.

Verify that the ACT Log Processing Service is Running

1. Click Start | Run 2. In the Open box, type Services& Enter 3. Review the status of the ACT Log Processing Service in the right hand pane and confirm that it has started and status as Started and Automatic Start-up Type 4. If it is not running, right click on the service and select Start. 5. Close the Services console.

Collecting Inventory and compatibility data with ACT

1. Click Start | All Programs | Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 | Application Compatibility Manager 2. Click Collect in the lower left of the Microsoft Application Compatibility Manager 3. From the File menu, select New to create an ACT DCP package. (You can also click on the New icon in the ACT tool bar) 4. Type ACT_001 in the Package Name text box 5. Under Evaluate compatibility when, click Deploying a new Operating System or Service Pack. 5. Under When to monitor application usage, for Duration, configure 60 Minutes. This should be enough time for the agent to collect information and monitor our use of IE8 and other locally installed applications. In production youll want to set this for at least 3-5 days to capture sufficient detail. 6. Click Advanced. 7. Make sure the following items are enabled this gathers hardware and software inventories evaluates User Access Control issues looks for specific compatibility issues including applications that interact with GINA.DLL, applications that depend on deprecated components, and Session0 issues 8. Click OK 9. From the File menu, select Save and Create Package. 10. Save this package as ACT_001 to the \\SERVER2008\ACTPackages share on this computer (D:\ACTPackages). NOTE: In production, you will need to create this location/share. You may want to save your DCP packages to a network accessible location for ease of access by clients. ACT DCP packages can be deployed via login scripts, email, AT commands or software distribution solutions like Microsoft SMS2003 / CONFIGMGR. By default DCP packages are stored in the My Documents folder for the current user. ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

ORGANIZING your inventory:

The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit V5.0 will produce an application portfolio which we will sync with information from the ACT Online Community Exchange. In analyzing this manifest, there will be many types of applications from many different parts of the business. This could include Operating System components, applications, hardware applications, ISV applications, thirdparty applications, and custom Line-of-Business applications. Consider the following Are applications global or specific to particular geographies or departments. What is the percentage breakout of ISV applications versus custom line-of-business applications? How many different hardware platforms are in the environment and are there dependencies? Do applications use special devices or peripherals?

CREATING A CUSTOM CATEGORY AND SUB-CATEGORY 1. If ACT is not already running, click Start | All Programs | Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 | Application Compatibility Manager 2. Click Analyze. 3. Select Computers from the Windows 7 Reports collection. Notice that there are already several entries in the database from computers that have already run a DCP package successfully and have dropped their log files for the ACT Log Processing Service to pickup. 4. Select Applications from the Windows 7 Reports collection. Notice that there are already several entries in the database from computers that have already run a DCP package successfully and have dropped their log files for the ACT Log Processing Service to pickup 5. Select a LOB application, right-click and select Categories. NOTE: You can multi-select applications as well. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. In the Assign Categories dialog box, click Master Category List. Click Add on the Categories side and type Line of Business. Click Add on the SubCategories side and type Legal Department. Click OK. Repeat and create subcategories for Purchasing, and Finance. Click OK. Click OK to close Assign Categories.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

ASSIGNING COMPUTERS TO CATEGORIES 1. This same technique can be used to assign computers to different categories. For example you may want to mark the systems that generate contain patient records as a special group. 2. As an exercise, try creating a custom category for MedicalRecords and add one of the existing computer systems to that category. Youll need to create at least one sub-category . 3. Later, within the Analyze section in the reports, you will be able to use these custom categories as special reports for further analysis, rationalization, and prioritization.

Assigning applications to Priorities

Prioritize applications relative to business impact or deployment efforts and Create a custom report based on Priority. 1. If ACT is not already running, click Start | All Programs | Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 | Application Compatibility Manager. 2. Click Analyze. 3. Scroll down and select the Antivirus application, the entire line should highlight. Notice that weve got some identified issues with this application. 4. Right-click the Antivirus application and select Priority from the pull down menu 5. Set the Priority to Priority 1 Business Critical. 6. Click OK. NOTE: This same technique can be used to assign computers to different priorities. For example you may want to mark the systems that generate payroll as Business Critical. By assigning a Business Critical priority to this application, we can review the overall impact of application compatibility to determine which apps should be tested first. This same technique can be used to assign computers to priorities. For example, you may have a group of computers that handles payroll. Later, within the Analyze section in the reports, you can now select these custom priorities can be used within special reports for further analysis, rationalization, and prioritization of applications. CREATE A CUSTOM FILTER BASED ON PRIORITY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Click Analyze. Select Applications from the Windows 7 Reports collection. From the Filter menu, select Toggle Filter or click on the Toggle Filter button in the menu bar Right-click anywhere in the Application Report pane and select Insert Clause Click on Field and select Priority Click on Value and select Priority 1 - Business Critical Right-click anywhere in the Application Report pane and select Execute. You should now see a list with only Business Critical apps. 8. To save this new report, from the File menu, select Save. 9. In the Save As window, save the report as Business Critical Apps. Notice that all custom reports as saved by default in My Documents.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

ANALYZING an application inventory

It is now time to begin refining the list of applications. There are many things to consider while rationalizing the list of applications. Here are some examples of applications that might be candidates for rationalizing out of the priority application list. Hardware specific applications actually not used in the planned deployment area. ISV applications that the community and ISVs have marked as compatible. Applications that are not in a geography or department planned for upgrade Applications likely to be automatically replaced during a deployment such as older plugins, PDF readers, etc

Synching with the Online Community

The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit V5.5 also provides the capabilities for you to certify applications as compatible, report issues and share that information with the Online Community. Before you can do that though, well want to find out what others in the ACT Online Community may have reported. We can do this by synchronizing our inventory of applications using the ACT to communicate with the Passport-based web service hosted by Microsoft.

Creating a custom solution

ACT and the Online Community Exchange enable testers and developers to identify applications with issues AND provide solutions to those issues. DEFINE AN APPLICATION ISSUE: 1. If ACT is not already running, click Start | All Programs | Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 | Application Compatibility Manager. 2. Click Analyze. 3. Select Windows 7 Reports in the left hand navigation pane under Quick Reports. 4. Click Applications. 5. Double-click on Get Going with Tablet PC. 6. From the Action menu, select Add Issue. 7. Type Application will not respond in Title text box. 8. Select Priority 1 in the Priority dropdown. 9. 10. Select Application stops responding or data loss occurs in the Severity1 dropdown. 11. Select Application is not supported on this version of the operating system in the Cause dropdown. 12. Select Save from the File menu. NOTE: When your application compatibility team determines the cause and hopefully a fix, they can create a custom solution to match this issue.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

CREATE A CUSTOM APPLICATION SOLUTION 1. If ACT is not already running, click Start | All Programs | Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 | Application Compatibility Manager. 2. Click Analyze. 3. Select Windows 7 Reports in the left hand navigation pane under Reports. 4. Click Applications. 5. Double-click Get Going with Tablet PC. 6. Select the Issues Tab and Double-click the issue you created earlier. 7. From the Actions menu, select Add Solution. 8. Type Fix Getting Started with Tablet PC in the Title box. 9. Type New Version Included with Microsoft 7 in the Solution Details box. 10. Click Save. 11. Close the Application dialog box

Creating Custom Filters (Reports)

1. If ACT is not already running, click Start | All Programs | Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.5 | Application Compatibility Manager. 2. Select Applications in the Windows 7 Reports section. 3. Click Toggle Filter on the menu bar. 4. Click anywhere in the filter window. You should see a new set of columns (And/Or, Field, Operator). 5. Click Field and select Company. 6. Click Operator and Contains. 7. In the Value column, type Microsoft. 8. Right-click the row and select Execute. 9. Save the report / filter by clicking File | Save. 10. Enter a filename. This will be saved in My Documents by default. 11. Notice that you have a new item under Open Reports in the left hand navigation window. 12. Try creating new reports for computers and using other variables (Vendor rating, etc) Notice that you can create complex queries by using and/or statements. 13. Click Toggle Filter in the toolbar to turn filters off.

MITIGATING APPLICATION ISSUES USING SHIMS

Standard User Analyzer (SUA) Mitigations
The easiest way to align compatibility issues and application fixes is to have your tools perform the alignment for you. SUA performs some of this analysis for you, suggesting Application Fixes (shims) for the issues it discovers when analyzing an application for compatibility with a standard user account. AUTOMATICALLY APPLING APPLICATION FIXES USING THE PROGRAM COMPATIBILITY ASSISTANT 1. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

In the Administrator Rights Warning dialog box, click OK. In the StockViewer application, click Trends. Click OK to close the error. On the Tools menu, click Options. Click Continue to close the error. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates. Click Quit closing the error and the application. On the Program Compatibility Assistant, click Close.

Note : The Program Compatibility Assistant detects after a failure and applies an Application Fix. 10. On the Start Menu, in Start Search, type Regedit, and then press ENTER. 11. In Regedit navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\AppCompatFlags\Layers. 12. In the right pane, click the entry with the data value equal to ELEVATECREATEPROCESS. 13. On the Edit menu, click Delete. 14. In the Confirm Value Delete dialog box, click Yes. 15. Close Regedit. Note: This is the application fix that was just automatically applied. USING THE STANDARD USER ANALYZER TO IDENTIFY APPLICATION ERRORS AND APPLY FIXES. 1. On the desktop, start the Standard User Analyzer. 2. In the Standard User Analyzer application on the AppInfo tab, click the Browse. 3. In the Browse for Application dialog box, navigate to c:\Program Files\StockViewer\StockViewer.exe, and then click Open. 4. In Launch Options, Uncheck Elevate, and then click Launch. 5. Type as user .\administrator and use pass@word1 6. In the AppVerifier Logs warning dialog box, click Yes. 7. In the StockViewer application, click Trends. 8. Click OK to close the error. 9. On the Tools menu, click Options. 10. Click Continue to close the error. 11. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates. 12. Click Quit closing the error and the application. 13. In the Standard User Analyzerapplication, review the following tabs; Registry, Token, Name Space, Other Objects and Process. Note: The above tabs contain the application errors that the Standard User Analyzer detected while it was monitoring the StockViewer application. 14. On the Mitigation menu item, click Apply Mitigations. 15. On the Mitigate AppCompatIssues dialog box, click Apply. Repeat steps you done in part 1 to verify the mitigations have been applied. 16. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. 17. In the StockViewer application, click Trends. 18. On the Tools menu, click Options. 19. Click OK to continue.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

On the Help menu, click Check for Updates. Use Administrator and pass@word1 for authentication. Click OK closing the demo update process. Close the StockViewer Application. Close the Standard User AnalyzerApplication.

Note: Most of the functionality has been resolved with these fixes. You have discovered another issue with the Check for Updates functionality, which you will fix later on.

CREATING CUSTOM SHIMS TO APPLY APPLICATION FIXES: 1. 2. 3. 4. On the desktop right-click the Compatibility Administrator and click Run as administrator. In the left pane click Custom Databases and then click New Database(1) [Untitled_1]. On the toolbar, click Fix. In the Create new Application Fix wizard, on the Program information page, in name, type StockViewer, in Location, type c:\Program Files\StockViewer\StockViewer.exe, and then click Next. On Compatibility Modes page select None for Operating Systems Modes, and then click Next. On the Compatibility Fixes page, check ElevateCreateProcess, ForceAdminAccess, LocalMappedObject, VirtualizeHKCRLite, andthen click Next. On the Matching Information page click Finish. On the toolbar, click Save. In the Database Name dialog box, type StockViewerFixes, and then click OK. On the Save Database browse window, in filename, type c:\SDBShare\StockViewerFixes, and then click Save. In the left pane expand the Installed Databases node and click the AppCompat shim database. On the File menu, click Uninstall. Click OK to close the Un-install dialog box. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. On the File menu, click Install. Click OK to close the Install dialog box. Repeat steps you done in part 1 to verify the mitigations have been applied. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. In the StockViewer application, click Trends. On the Tools menu, click Options. Click OK to continue. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates. Use Administrator and P@sswordfor authentication. Click OK closing the demo update process. Close the StockViewer Application.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

Run Level Specification

In order to achieve the highest level of legacy application compatibility, Windows 7 includes three layers of installer detection (since most installers require elevation to run properly): SpecificInstaller, GenericInstaller, and SpecificNonInstaller. Since there is some guesswork in the heuristics that Windows 7 runs, there is a possibility for false positives and false negatives. USING SHIMS TO CORRECT RUN LEVEL SPECIFICATIONS: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the toolbar, click Orders. On the taskbar, click the new flashing entry. Use Administrator and P@sswordfor authentication In the Order Update dialog box, click OK. Close the StockViewer application.

Note: The flashing item in the taskbar is another issue, which will be resolved later in this lab. 7. In the Compatibility Administrator click the StockViewer custom shim database. 8. On the toolbar, click Fix. 9. On the Program information page, in name, type StockViewerUpdateOrders, in Location, type c:\Program Files\StockViewer\StockViewerUpdateOrders.exe, and then click Next. 10. On Compatibility Modes select None for Operating Systems Modes, and the click Next. 11. On the Application Fixes, check SpecificNonInstaller from the list, and the click Next. 12. On the Matching Information page click Finish. Note:SpecificNonInstaller is a shim that is ran after GenericInstaller, so it can remove any false positives. This will be used to test the application without elevation. 13. In the left pane click the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. 14. On the toolbar, click Fix. 15. On the Program information page, in name, type StockViewerControlPanel, in Location, type c:\Program Files\StockViewer\StockViewerControlPanel.exe, and then click Next. 16. On Compatibility Modes select None for Operating Systems Modes, and click Next. 17. On the Compatibility Fixes page, check RunAsAdmin from the list, and then click Next. 18. On the Matching Information page click Finish. 19. On the toolbar, click Save. 20. In the left pane click the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. 21. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. Note: The new database will simply over-write the existing database. since the existing database has been modified. 22. Repeat steps 1 8 to confirm that the application fixes have been successfully applied. Repeat steps you done in part 1 to verify the mitigations have been applied. 23. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. 24. In the StockViewer application, click Trends.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

On the Tools menu, click Options. Click OK to continue. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates. Use Administrator and P@sswordfor authentication. Click OK closing the demo update process. On the toolbar, click Orders. On the taskbar, click the new flashing entry. Use Administrator and P@sswordfor authentication. In the Order Update dialog box, click OK. Close the StockViewer application.

Note: You will experience an Access Denied error when attempting to run without elevation. The SpecificNonInstaller shim allowed us to test this application as a non-admin, and here it failed. One option would be to remove the SpecificNonInstaller shim, and instead apply the RunAsAdmin shim. However, it may still be possible to resolve the issue that requires elevation without requiring elevation.

Miscellaneous UAC Application Fixes

UAC fixes primarily revolve around reducing the scope of the request that the application makes to Windows 7, or cleaning up some of the parameters passed to the application to make things run more smoothly. USING CORRECTSHELLEXECUTEHWND TO CONTROL THE UAC BEHAVIOR: 1. In the Compatibility Administrator application, click StockViewerUpdateOrders entry from the left pane. 2. On the Edit menu, click Delete. 3. In the left pane, select StockViewer from Applications in the StockViewerFixescustom shim database. 4. In the right pane, click StockViewer.exe. 5. In the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Edit Application Fix. 6. On the Program Information page click Next. 7. On the Compatibility Modes page click Next. 8. On the Compatibility Fixes page, check CorrectShellExecuteHWND from the list, and then click Next. 9. On the Matching Information page click Finish. 10. On the toolbar, click Save. 11. In the right page select the StockViewerFixes custom database. 12. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. 13. On the desktop, start the StockViewerapplication. 14. On the toolbar, click Orders. 15. On the Order Update dialog, click OK. 16. Close the StockViewer application.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

Note : Correcting the HWND that the application passes to the ShellExecute(Ex) API, the UAC prompt knows which window to place the dialog in front of. Repeat steps from Run Level Specification exercise to recreate the SpecificNonInstaller shim for StockViewerUpdateOrders.exe. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the toolbar, click Orders. On the taskbar, click the new flashing entry. In the Order Update dialog box, click OK. Close the StockViewer application. On the Start menu, click Control Panel, Appearance and Personalization, and then StockViewer Settings. On the Permission Denied Warning, click OK. Close the Control Panel. Close the StockViewer Options application. In the Compatibility Administrator click the StockViewer custom shim database. On the toolbar, click Save. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK.

ELIMINATING THE NEED FOR ELEVATION: 1. In the Compatibility Administrator click the StockViewer custom shim database. 2. On the toolbar, click Fix. 3. On the Program information page, in name, type StockViewerUpdateOrders, in Location, type c:\Program Files\StockViewer\StockViewerUpdateOrders.exe, and then click Next. 4. On Compatibility Modes select None for Operating Systems Modes, and the click Next. 5. On the Application Fixes, check SpecificNonInstaller from the list, and the click Next. 6. On the Matching Information page click Finish. 7. In the Compatibility Administrator, on the left pane, in Applications click StockViewerUpdateOrders. 8. In the right pane, click StockViewerUpdateOrders.exe. 9. On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Edit Application Fix. 10. On the Program Information page, click Next. 11. On the Compatibility Modes page, click Next. 12. On the Compatibility Fixes page, check RetryOpenSCManagerWithReadAccess from the list, and then click Next. 13. On the Matching Information page, click Finish. 14. On the toolbar, click Save. 15. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. 16. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. 17. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. 18. On the toolbar, click Orders. 19. Close the StockViewer application. Note: Correcting the HWND that the application passes to the ShellExecute(Ex) API, the UAC prompt knows which window to place the dialog in front of. ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

Virtual Registry
VirtualRegistry is a multi-purpose shim for simulating the existence of appropriate registry entries for legacy applications. It can be used to redirect registry keys to a separate area in the registry (typically to resolve issues where access is denied), or to return different values when an application is looking for a specific key (that may no longer exist) or a different version (when a version number is hard coded). FAKING APPLICATION VERSIONS: 1. 2. 3. 4. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the toolbar, click Browse. In the Unable to Browse, click OK. Close the StockViewer application.

Note: The application is asserting that it requires IE6, and Windows 7 includes IE8. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. In the Compatibility Administrator, on the left pane, in Applications, click StockViewer. In the right hand pane, click StockViewer.exe. On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Edit Application Fix. On the Program Information page, click Next. On the Compatibility Modes page, click Next. On the Compatibility Fixes page, check VirtualRegistry from the list, and then click Parameters. In the Options for VirtualRegistry, type IE60 in the Command line, and then click OK. On the Compatibility Fixes page, click Next. On the Matching Information page, click Finish. On the toolbar, click Save. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. Onthe desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the toolbar, click Browse. Close Internet Explorer.

Correct File Paths

CorrectFilePaths is another very flexible shim, which includes a number of default file redirections for times when a legacy application may be looking for a known component in one location using a hard coded path, but that component has moved to another location. You can also configure CorrectFilePaths to redirect from one arbitrary path to another, if you want to modify where to place a file.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

CORRECT A HARDCODED PATH INSIDE THE STOCKVIEWER APPLICATION: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the Options menu, click Save Preferences. On the Access Denied Error, click Quit. In the Compatibility Administrator, on the left pane, in Applications click StockViewer. In the right pane, click StockViewer.exe. On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Edit Application Fix. On the Program Information page, click Next. On the Compatibility Modes page, click Next. On Compatibility Fixes page, check the CorrectFilePaths from the list and then click Parameters. Note Include the quotes in the step below. In the Options for CorrectFilePaths, type c:\windows\downloaded program files\stockviewer.ini;%userappdata%\stockviewer.ini in the Command line, and then click OK. On the Compatibility Fixes page, click Next. On the Matching Information page, click Finish. On the toolbar, click Save. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the Options menu, click Save Preferences. On the Preferences Saved dialog box, click OK. On the Start Menu, in Start Search, type c:\users\users1.woodgrove\appdata\roaming, and then press ENTER to view the stockviewer.ini. Close Explorer. Close Stockviewer

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

User Interface Process Isolation

User Interface Process Isolation (UIPI) in Windows 7 helps to protect and isolate processes running at different privilege levels from sending Windows Messages from a lesser privileged process to a higher privileged process. ELEVATING A WINDOWS MESSAGE USING UIPI: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates. On the Application Updates Error dialog box, click OK. Close the Stock Viewer application. In the Compatibility Administrator, on the toolbar, click Fix. On the Program information page, in name, type StockViewerUpdater, in Location, type c:\Program Files\StockViewer\StockViewerUpdater.exe, and then click Next.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

7. On Compatibility Modes page select None for Operating Systems Modes, and then click Next. 8. On Compatibility Fixes page, check the UIPIEnableStandardMsgs from the list and then click Parameters. Note : Spy++ provided the message ID as 0319. Note that this value is the hexadecimal value, while the UIPIEnableStandardMsgs shim requires an input in decimal notation. Using Windows Calculator in scientific mode, we can switch to Hex mode, enter 319, and then switch to Dec mode, which translates to a value of 793. This is what we will enter as the command line parameter. 9. In the Options for UIPIEnableStandardMsgs, type 793 in the Command line, and then click OK. 10. On the Compatibility Fixes page, click Next. 11. On the Matching Information page, click Finish. 12. On the toolbar, click Save. 13. In the left pane click the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. 14. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. 15. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. 16. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates. 17. On the Update Check, click OK. 18. Close the StockViewer Application. Note: By using UIPIEnableStandardMsgs, we can enable delivery of this particular Windows Message to the elevated process.

Windows Resource Protection

Windows Resource Protection protects critical operating system files and registry settings from modification by any user other than the TrustedInstaller identity which is used by Windows Update. To maintain backwards compatibility with applications and installers that attempt to write to critical operating system files and do not handle an Access Denied return value, there is the WRPMitigation shim. This shim lies about writing to one of these files. The application thinks it succeeded, but your critical operating system files remain untouched. FAKING A SUCCESSFUL FILE WRITE: 1. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. 2. On the File menu, click Update Kernel. 3. On the Access Denied Error, click Quit. Note: Typically, applications that try to write a protected operating system file are simply attempting to drop an older version from the operating system they developed the application on, which they detected as a dependency. 4. In the Compatibility Administrator, on the left pane, in Applications click StockViewer. 5. In the right pane, click StockViewer.exe. ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

In the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Edit Application Fix. On the Program Information page, click Next. On the Compatibility Modes page, click Next. On Compatibility Fixes page, check the WRPMitigation from the list, and then click Next. On the Matching Information page, click Finish. On the toolbar, click Save. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the File menu, click Update Kernel. On the Kernel Updated dialog box, click OK.

Version Lies
A very common application compatibility issue is when an application attempts to check the version of the operating system, and then compares this version number to the minimum supported value using equality rather than greater than or equals. To mitigate this issue, we can simply lie about the version of the operating system. We saw something similar in VirtualRegistry, and we see the same thing when an application calls the GetVersion(Ex) API. The VersionLie shims return the value that earlier versions of Windows would return. LIE TO AN APPLICATION ABOUT ITS OPERATING SYSTEM VERSION: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the Tools menu, click Show Me a Star. On the Unsupported Version Check Error, click OK. In the Compatibility Administrator click the StockViewer shim in the left pane. Close the Stock Viewer Application. On the toolbar, click Fix. On the Program information page, in name, type Star, in Location, type c:\program files\stockviewer\DWM Compositing Rendering Demo.exe, and then click Next. On Compatibility Modes select None for Operating Systems Modes, and click Next. In the Compatibility Fixes page, check WinXPSP2VersionLie from the list, and click Next. On the Matching Information page click Finish. On the toolbar, click Save. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the Tools menu, click Show Me a Star. Click the Star to close it. Close the Stock Viewer application.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

Fake Luna Theme

Windows 7 includes the new Aero theme. While we carefully selected the theme colors for appropriate contrast, some existing applications that use themes may have made their color selections not based on contrast guidance, but rather on the appearance of the particular colors while using a particular theme on Windows XP. When this happens, you can shim the application to return the theme colors from the Luna theme in Windows XP, which will cause the application to appear as it used to appear in Windows XP with the Luna theme. FORCING AN APPLICATION TO APPEAR WITH WINDOWS XP LUNA THEME 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the toolbar, click Email. Close the Outlook Look and Feel application. Close the StockViewer application. In the Compatibility Administrator click the StockViewer shim in the left pane. On the toolbar, click Fix. On the Program information page, in name, type Email, in Location, type c:\program files\stockviewer\OLAF.exe, and then click Next. On Compatibility Modes select None for Operating Systems Modes, and then click Next. On Compatibility Fixes page, check FakeLunaTheme, and then click Next. On the Matching Information page click Finish. 11. On the toolbar, click Save. In the left pane select the StockViewerFixes custom shim database. On the File menu, click Install, and then click OK. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. On the toolbar, click Email. 16. On the Outlook Look and Feel application, click close. Close the Stock Viewer application. In the Compatibility Administrator click the Installed Databases in the left pane. In the File menu select Uninstall. Close Compatibility Administrator application.

Deploying custom shim databases to Windows 7

Once you have applied these fixes on the local machine, the next step is to deploy this custom shim database broadly across an organization. To achieve this, we can leverage the sdbinst.exe application installed on every version of Windows 7. DEPLOY CUSTOM SHIMS USING SDBINST.EXE: 1. 2. 3. 4. On the Start Menu, in Start Search, type Notepad. Type sdbinst "\\SERVER1\SDBShare\StockViewerFixes.sdb" q. Select File save. Save the file as c:\SDBShare\sdbinstscript.cmd and close Notepad.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document

5. From the Start Menu, right click on All Programs \ Accessories \ Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator. 6. Type: copy c:\SDBShare\*.* \\SERVER1\SDBshare\. 7. On the Administrator command prompt, type: c:\SDBShare\sdbinstscript.cmd. 8. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. 9. Test the application in the way you have mitigated the issues. 10. In the Compatibility Administrator click the Installed Databases in the left pane. 11. The StockviewerFixes shims database is installed The Compatibility Administrator will provide a real-time view of the installed custom shim databases. You can right-click on any of these databases and uninstall them or you can uninstall them by using sdbinst -u.

Deploying Custom Shim Databases To Windows7:

1. On the desktop, start the Stock Viewer application. 2. Run the same test you done on the 7 Computer. 3. From the Start Menu, right click on All Programs \ Accessories \ Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator. 4. Use the Administrator / pass@word1 credentials. 5. On the Administrator command prompt, type: \\SERVER2008\SDBShare\sdbinstscript.cmd 6. Test the application in the way you have mitigated the issues. 6. In the Compatibility Administrator click the Installed Databases in the left pane. 7. The StockviewerFixes shims database is installed.

ACT 5.5 - Step-by-step document