[German]Windows 10 20H2 administrators using VMware ThinApp should beware. I have received feedback from users that after installing update KB4592438, VMware ThinApps no longer starts. Here's an overview, what I know so far.
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VMware ThinApp
VMware ThinApp is a software for virtualization of application programs. An application is packed into a single, self-contained EXE file, which can then be executed independently. This makes it possible to use various software applications without a locally bound or cumbersome installation on client PCs or servers. With the use of "thinstallisierter" software no entries in the registration data base take place and no DLL files on the computer are created. All information and libraries required for execution are contained exclusively in the specially created EXE file.
User settings and created documents are stored by default in a createable sandbox, this can be located either at the location of the EXE file or at any other location. The EXE file created by ThinApp can be used over a network as well as with rewritable storage media e.g. USB stick, a use on several different computers is thus easily possible. Details can be found on this VMware page.
Update KB4592438 blocks ThinApps
As of December 8, 2020, Microsoft has released the cumulative update KB4592438 for Windows 10 20H2 (see Patchday: Windows 10-Updates (December 8, 2020)). This update addresses various vulnerabilities in the old Edge, in Office products and in various Windows 10 20H2 components. German blog reader Markus Rieglhofer left this comment (thanks for that), where he wrote:
Warning: if Thinapp is used. With the installation of KB4592438 no application virtualized with Thinapp starts anymore. It does not even come the splash screen Thinapp 5.2.8 Win 10 20H2 current. Tested on three devices.
Fix: Uninstall this update again, then they work again.
In the meantime, another user has confirme this error. User Petr writes:
I can just confirm our ThinApp packaged application won't run after KB4592438 was installed. Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\nt0_dll.dll – error is logged in Application Event Log upon each try to run the app. Once KB4592438 is uninstalled, it runs normally. I filled Support Request on Vmware.
Anyone else affected? In a quick search, I have not found any other hits on the Internet so far.
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Yes, I've experienced the same. Rolling back to the state before the update and all thinapps work again. For now I've delayed all Windows 10 updates until late january.
This is the problem with ThinApp, their release schedule is always behind. It's like they never test on the pre-releases Windows to test their application prior and every new version of Windows 10 breaks ThinApp and doesn't get fixed for 6+ months. God I miss the days when it was Thinstall, at least it got updated regularly. Its the same dam error every release, surely they could future proof it a bit better.
Yep, same issue here and it's a business critical application which means our rollout of 20H2 is also having to be delayed. Has anyone found a workaround? We are possibly going to have to push 1903 to machines where they use ThinApp and 20H2 to the rest, which is less than ideal.