Troubleshooting Change and Configuration Management

Published Application Does Not Auto-install

You publish an application with a Group Policy object, and a user who is managed by the Group Policy object logs on. The user has never installed the published application, and when he or she double-clicks a document associated with the published application, the Open with dialog box displays.

Possible Causes:

You did not set the package to Auto-Install in the Software Installation snap-in.
The user is running Terminal Services on the desktop.
The Group Policy object does not apply to the user. For example, the user is filtered out of the Group Policy object by a security group.
The user has not logged on since the Group Policy object was created.
Group Policy or the Appmgmt extension did not run.
The user cannot access Active Directory.
The user cannot access the software distribution point.

Diagnostic Tests:

If the application appears in the Add New Programs list box of Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, then, typically, the cause is that you did not select the Auto-Install check box in the Software Installation snap-in.

Open the Software Installation snap-in for the Group Policy object and check to see that the Auto-install check box is selected.

Run Addiag.exe to see if Terminal Services is running.

Open the Group Policy object with the Group Policy snap-in, and make sure the user is not being filtered out because he or she does not have Read or Apply Group Policy permissions.

Instruct the user to log off and then log back on. Verify that the user does not log on with cached credentials — that is, that the user is authenticated by a domain controller.

Run Gpresult.exe, and verify that the Appmgmt extension runs.